"There has to be a reason he assumed the name of a deceased 8-year-old boy and went into hiding for so many years," Elliott says. Why did Nichols abandon his family? Why did he end his life? What accounts for the rest of his odd behavior? Although it's clear he wasn't a Nazi war criminal, there's still a chance-however slight-that he could be connected to crimes in California, given his residence at the time of the Zodiac Killer's activities. Phillip said at a news conference today that he instantly recognized photos of "Chandler" as his father.Īlthough the cold case has been solved, mystery remains. The sample matched with that of the dead man, indicating the pair were father and son. In March 2018, authorities tracked down a Phillip Nichols in Ohio, who provided a DNA sample.
#ZODIAC KILLER VICTIMS BODIES CRACK#
(Fitzpatrick also helped crack the case of identity thief Lori Erica Ruff in 2016.) Despite a badly degraded sample, they used Y chromosome genealogy to trace a family line that indicated the dead man's last name was likely Nichols or some variation. Margaret Press of California-based IdentiFinders and the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit humanitarian initiative created to help identify Jane and John Does and return them to their families. Stumped, in 2016 Elliott turned to forensic genealogists Dr. Unfortunately, there were no matches between the profile and various national criminal databases. He sent tissue samples taken at that time to the local medical examiner, who obtained a DNA profile. When Elliott took on the case in 2014 at the request of the Eastlake police, he discovered Chandler had had colon cancer surgery in 2000. The break in the case came only after painstaking detective work that involved both sophisticated DNA techniques and pounding the pavement. Robert Ivan Nichols circa 1992 Peter Elliott At the time, such frauds were easier to pull off, since Social Security cards were rarely given to children, and so the real Joseph Newton Chandler III had never been given a Social Security number. He assumed the Chandler identity in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1978, when he applied for a Social Security card using personal information (including the birthdate) of the boy who died in 1945. He kept a bag packed and ready in his apartment at all times.Īfter disappearing from his family, he traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, and then to the San Francisco and Richmond, California areas. Co-workers said he would frequently disappear for days, and even weeks, at a time. Associates who worked with him as "Chandler" described him as a loner, someone who refused to let others get close. It was the last his family would ever hear of him.Īccording to family lore, the war had taken a heavy toll on Nichols, and he burned his uniforms in the backyard after returning from service. The same month, he mailed an envelope to his son Phillip, which contained only a penny. In March 1965, he wrote to his parents, saying he was "well and happy" and asking them not to worry about him. He had left his wife and sons the year prior, telling her, "In due time, you'll know why," according to Elliott. A Purple Heart Navy veteran who served in World War II, Nichols had disappeared from his family in 1965. Their research shows that the man known as Chandler was actually Robert Ivan Nichols of New Albany, Indiana. Yet they've only solved the first part of the mystery‚ and are appealing to the public for help connecting the rest of the dots.
#ZODIAC KILLER VICTIMS BODIES CRACKED#
Marshal Peter Elliott announced that his office and a team of forensic genealogists had cracked the case. (And, in fact, Chandler was in California at the time of the crimes.) But after the initial round of research following the suicide, the case went cold. Others thought that he could be the Zodiac Killer, based on his likeness to a police sketch of the infamous murderer who left a trail of terror through Northern California in the 1960s and 1970s. Police felt the man was most likely a fugitive on the run-who else leaves $80,000 in a bank account and hides behind a stolen identity? Some said he might have been a Nazi war criminal. A private investigator, hired by a probate judge to find surviving family members, soon discovered that the man known as Chandler wasn't Chandler at all-he'd stolen the identity of an 8-year-old boy from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who died in a car crash in Texas in 1945. He hadn't left a note, and police found more than $80,000 in his bank account. His body wasn't found for a week, by which point it was badly decomposed, and police were unable to obtain fingerprints. In 2002, a man known as Joseph Newton Chandler III fatally shot himself in the bathroom of his tiny apartment in Eastlake, Ohio. One of the strangest cold cases in Ohio, if not the United States, has now been solved-but pieces of the puzzle remain.
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