U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott is still hoping to get the phone call that helps them put all the pieces together.

Last year Elliott’s office discovered the “who,” but the “why” remains a mystery.

The true identity of the man who went by the name Joseph Newton Chandler III was unknown for almost 16 years. The man described as “quiet, reserved and eccentric” by coworkers was found dead in his apartment on July 31, 2002. The landlord called police after a neighbor complained about the odor. First responders needed to wear gas masks in the apartment because of the strength of the stench.

- Advertisement -

Investigators said a week earlier, the man locked all the doors in his Eastlake apartment, turned off the air-conditioning, marked the days off on the calendar, went into his bathroom with a gun he had purchased a few months earlier and killed himself. The body was badly decomposed when first responders found him. Due to the condition of the body, fingerprints were unobtainable, and the body was eventually cremated.

Eastlake Police Chief Larry Reik previously said the death of Joseph Newton Chandler started out as a standard suicide case. Nothing suggested foul play. Then the questions started to come.

It turns out Joseph Newton Chandler III died twice.

“The funeral services for Joe N. Chandler, Mrs. Chandler and their son, Joe Chandler III of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who were all killed Friday night in a collision of the Chandler car with a truck two miles from Sherman (Texas), will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2:30…” a December 24, 1945, newspaper article read.

Joseph Newton Chandler III was 8 years old.

Thirty-three years later, an imposter used the dead child’s personal information to obtain a Social Security card and take over his identity.

That man spent the final 24 years of his life living as Chandler, primarily in the Greater Cleveland area. He worked at Edko Co. in Cleveland and later Lubrizol in Wickliffe as an electrical engineer.

Coworkers told investigators he would occasionally disappear for periods of time, saying “they are getting close,” but he would eventually return.

He would listen to static, white noise for hours. He once drove from Eastlake to Maine to go to an L.L. Bean store, but once he pulled into the lot and noticed there weren’t any parking spots he drove all the way back to Ohio.

Elliott announced at a June 21, 2018, press conference the imposter Chandler’s real identity was Robert Ivan Nichols.

Nichols, who received a Purple Heart in World War II, divorced his wife in 1964, telling her “in due time you will know why.” Handwritten letters, postmarks and other documentation obtained by the Marshals Service show that Nichols resided in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1964 before traveling to the San Francisco and Richmond, California, areas the following years.

He was reported missing by his family in 1965, and numerous attempts by authorities to locate him were unsuccessful. The family never heard from Nichols again after 1965.

Elliott said at the press conference Nichols does not have a criminal history either by his real name or by his assumed name. He said that Nichols worked under his real name until at least 1976, but the IRS is unable to tell him where he worked.

At that press conference, Elliott asked for the public’s help.

“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 said. “There has to be a reason he never again contacted his family; a reason he left $82,000 in a bank account without leaving it to his son; a reason he never wanted to be found throughout his lifetime and even into his death. Someone out there in the public may hold the key as to why.”

A year later, Elliott said his office has received a number of calls, including from various law enforcement agencies. So far though, there’s nothing concrete.

“It led to a number of calls, but nothing we’ve been able with certainty to say ‘this is why he was on the run,’” Elliott said.

Elliott still believes Nichols changed his name for criminal reasons.

“Well, we’re not ruling out anything right now,” he said. “We’ve got a number of calls, we’ve got a number of cases, obviously, way more than this one. We’re doing what we can. Again there’s been contact by different law enforcement agencies so we’re just going to see if it leads anywhere.”

At last year’s press conference, Nichols’ son Phil told reporters that he couldn’t explain why his father left. He described his father as a loner who didn’t interact much with his children. He said he always thought his disappearance had to do with child support. He said he didn’t have any animosity toward his father.

“This has put to rest, at least partially, what has been a mystery in our family: what happened to him, so to speak,” Phil Nichols said.

When asked if he thinks he’ll ever get all of the answers he wants, Phil Nichols replied, “not in this life.”

Forensic genealogy

Cracking the mystery of the imposter Chandler’s true identity was done with the help of forensic genealogists at the DNA Doe Project, who were contacted in 2016 for assistance on the case.

“They were phenomenal, one of the best organizations I’ve worked with in my life,” Elliott said. “Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Dr. Margaret Press not only put us in the ballpark of Joseph Newton Chandler, they told us the exact seat he was sitting in and then told us who paid for the ticket. And the person who paid for that ticket was Mr. Robert Nichols.”

Forensic genealogical work has made headlines over the past few years for identifying suspects in cold cases. Most notably a few months before Chandler’s identity was revealed, authorities in California announced the arrest of the man they believe is the “Golden State Killer.” Joseph James DeAngelo, a retired police officer now in his 70s, is allegedly responsible for 12 murders, 51 rapes and more than 120 burglaries over a dozen-year period beginning in 1974.

Forensic genealogical work also recently helped investigators crack another decades-long mystery in Northeast Ohio.

The alleged mother and killer of “Geauga’s Child” was indicted June 6 on murder and aggravated murder charges. Gail Eastwood-Ritchey, 49, of Euclid, is accused of the March 1993 death of a newborn baby whose partially decomposed body was discovered along Sidley Road in Thompson Township. The infant had been mauled by animals and still had its umbilical cord attached.

Some Geauga County residents used their own money to give the baby a funeral and memorialize him as Geauga’s Child in Thompson Township’s Maple Grove Cemetery.

“Due to recent developments in DNA and the ability to identify potential family members, the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor Jim Flaiz’s office teamed up to explore this new technology,” Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand said.

In September 2018, Geauga County detectives identified distant family members of "Geauga’s Child." Through the process, a family tree was produced consisting of over 1,400 people in an effort to identify the baby’s parents.

The individuals who previously submitted DNA voluntarily to an online database were then narrowed down.

"With their consent, we were able to compare their DNA (to one another and) to 'Geauga’s Child,' " Hildenbrand said.

Eastwood-Ritchey was arraigned in Geauga County Common Pleas Court June 10. She posted a $25,000 cash bond later that day. Her case is assigned to Judge David M. Ondrey.

Flaiz said Eastwood-Ritchey allegedly admitted to authorities she had birthed a child, placed him in a trash bag and left him in a wooded area. She also allegedly confessed to a similar crime that occurred 2 years earlier in Euclid. That case is being investigated by Euclid police, Flaiz said.

This story was updated at 3:11 p.m. June 19 to correct that the DNA Doe Project was the organization that identified Joseph Newton Chandler.