One of the oldest missing persons cases in Cleveland has been resolved. Thanks to modern forensic methods, the identity of a man who disappeared nearly half a century ago has been established. The Ohio Attorney General's Office, the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office, and the county authorities confirmed that the remains found in 1980 belong to 20-year-old Dennis Lee Mitchell.
Mitchell went missing on April 2, 1980. He was last seen walking towards a bar on Euclid Avenue. On May 17 of the same year, skeletal remains were found near the area; however, due to the scientific limitations of the time, investigators could not confirm to whom they belonged. The body showed no visible signs of violent death, and due to advanced decomposition, it was impossible to determine the exact cause or circumstances of death.
The breakthrough in the case came only after decades. In 2017, Mitchell's family paid attention to a press conference held by the Twinsburg police, during which an age-enhanced reconstruction of an unknown individual’s appearance was shown. The family suspected it could be Dennis. Although it was later revealed that the reconstruction was of another person — musician Frank Little Jr. — Mitchell's case again came into the investigators' spotlight.
In 2020, the "cold case" was entered into the national missing and unidentified persons database NamUs. There, a match was recorded between Mitchell’s profile and the unidentified remains. In 2023, a partial DNA profile revealed a genetic link to living relatives, but at that time, the evidence was insufficient.
The search for final confirmation continued. Federal funding allocated to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children enabled further analyses. In February 2024, California-based Astrea Forensics examined hair samples from the site of discovery, which allowed for the creation of a complete DNA profile.
In cooperation with Innovative Forensic Investigations, the profile was uploaded to a relevant database, where it was compared to samples from relatives. This confirmed that the remains indeed belonged to Dennis Lee Mitchell.
“Every life matters. Thanks to advances in forensic science, we were able to give this person an identity,” stated Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. “This case is an example of how interagency cooperation can deliver answers even after decades.”
Despite the long period of uncertainty, Mitchell’s family finally gained the opportunity to say goodbye and find peace, and society received yet another confirmation that no case is hopeless when working with faith and modern technology.
