OH OH - Donnell White Jr, 14, Ashtabula, 10 August 1991

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JusticeWillBeServed

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This August will mark 25 years since Donnell was last seen. His father got investigators to reopen the case a few years ago but it still remains unsolved. Hoping something will surface that will help solve this mystery and provide answers for the family.

NamUs

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white_donnell.jpg


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
• Missing Since: August 10, 1991 from Ashtabula, Ohio
• Classification: Endangered Missing
• Date of Birth: Decenver 22, 1976
• Age: 14 years old
• Height and Weight: 5'10, 160 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics: African-American male. Brown hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance
Donnell was last seen in Ashtabula, Ohio on August 10, 1991. His parents were divorced and he lived with his mother in the 900 block of west 38th Street at the time. There were reports that he disappeared after going on a fishing trip with a Hispanic man known in the neighborhood as "Chicago"; however, Donnell's mother stated he went out to play basketball at a nearby court after dinner, never returned home. He has never been heard from again.

Donnell's mother moved to California after his disappearance. The case was reopened in 2012 at the request of his father, who still lives in Ashtabula, but no further evidence was located. Few details are available in Donnell's case.

Another birthday passes for Donnell White Jr. - December 2012

Donnell White Jr. is 36 today.

There will be no birthday cake, no ice-cream and no singing, only sadness for his family.

White has been missing since Aug. 10, 1991.

“We don’t seem to be getting anywhere,” his father said. “I’m frustrated.”

In September, Donnell White Sr. of Ashtabula, pushed to get city police to reopen his son’s missing persons case.

Since that time, police have done just that, but the process isn’t moving along fast enough for White. He has yet to be called in for a DNA sample and he doesn’t believe he’s any closer to finding his son, he said.

Police have contacted his ex-wife, Dora Dean Fields, and talked to her, but can not share what they discovered because of the on-going investigation, police said.
Click to expand...

Missing for 21 Years - September 2012
 
He looks like 1o onthat pic but he's 14 and 5-10.

In a small city like that somebody should know what happened to him. My guess is that he killed in a fight/accident by somebody he knew and that people have refused to talk and with little interest from authorities nothing happened.
 
Missing for 28 years

[Article snipped below, some interesting parts bbm]

White has been missing for 28 years.

“We don’t seem to be getting anywhere,” his father said. “I’m frustrated.”

Last week, Donnell White Sr. of Ashtabula, recently received a letter from Melanie Petty from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children suggesting he contact the FBI in Painesville for help. He’s now working to get an age-progressed photo of his son, hoping that will help identify him.

For years, he pushed Ashtabula police to reopen the case and about seven years ago, they did just that, but the process isn’t moving along fast enough for White. He has yet to be called in for a DNA sample and he doesn’t believe he’s any closer to finding his son, he said.

Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell said, “It’s still an open investigation, but no new findings.”

Police have contacted his ex-wife, Dora Dean Fields, and talked to her, but can not share what they discovered because of the on-going investigation, police said.

Donnell White Jr., of 926 W. 38th St., was last seen on the afternoon of Aug. 10, 1991.

He was 14 years old.

The boy lived with his mother on West 38th Street in Ashtabula.

His mother said the boy didn’t come home from playing basketball that evening.

White said he was led to believe the boy went fishing with a neighbor and never returned, but his ex-wife said that’s not so. She said the boy came home, ate dinner and walked to a nearby basketball court and then never returned home.

The police were then notified, she said.

Three weeks later, on Aug. 31, 1991, the Star Beacon published an article on White’s disappearance.

Fields said she checked with her son’s friends about his whereabouts, to no avail, according to the Star Beacon news article.

Both parents said they were frantic to find their son.

Several months later, his mother moved to California but never gave up hope of finding her son, she said...


I hate to say it, but I feel weird about the mom's story. This article confirms that she moved "several months later" to California, 2,400 miles away. I know everyone deals with grief differently, but how many missing kids' cases have we all seen where parents refuse to move in case their missing child returns? To move away that fast while an investigation is still fresh just doesn't sit well with me.

Also, at first, the father was "led to believe" one story—by whom? the mother?—but the mother recounts a different one. Did she change her story?

Add to that the fact that "for years [the father] pushed Ashtabula police to reopen the case," but the same isn't said about the mother. In fact, police can't even share what they discovered from her because the investigation is ongoing. Yes, it says she "checked with her son's friends", and that she was "frantic" too... but then she moved across the country?? That doesn't make sense to me.
 
JSolt1210 said:
I hate to say it, but I feel weird about the mom's story. This article confirms that she moved "several months later" to California, 2,400 miles away. I know everyone deals with grief differently, but how many missing kids' cases have we all seen where parents refuse to move in case their missing child returns? To move away that fast while an investigation is still fresh just doesn't sit well with me.
Click to expand...

Agreed. That is unusual, IMO.

I wasn't familiar with this case, but upon reading the details, the first thing that jumped out at me is that Donnell was only 14 but already 5'10". Perhaps someone saw him somewhere, mistakenly thought he was older because of his size, and trouble occurred? Yeah, his face is definitely still childlike, but from a distance, from the back, after dark, etc. mistakes can easily be made.
 
Feel for the father.
He seems frustrated and upset with the whole thing.
Taking a look through namus but there is nothing...
 
I grew up a town over from that city and, even in 1991, Ashtabula did have some serious crime. So something could've happened of that nature. Also the city's police force is often overwhelmed with drug crimes and the area is impoverished. Still, I can't help but be perplexed by mother's move all the way to CA just months after son disappeared. I don't think I could leave the area while my child was still missing. And Donnell's father was last asking the closest NE Ohio FBI office to help in the investigation since Ashtabula city police lost records and didn't appear to have completed interviews of anyone back in '91 or soon thereafter. I feel badly for the dad because of the poor police response early on-it just seems like little effort went into looking for this teen boy, mom moved away, no one did searches or advocated for him, records were lost. It's really despicable imo.

Thirty years this week and I'm sharing Donnell's poster on every county and area page in Ashtabula I can think of.
 
Reward and new photo released in Ashtabula cold case investigation

Details of his disappearance remain vague, however, more witnesses have come forward that may have been reluctant back then and renewed efforts in 2020 on Whitle’s disappearance resulted in more interviews with witnesses from across the country.

“Records are difficult to find, potential witnesses may have moved or even passed away. On the other hand, we have people talking to investigators now who weren’t willing in 1991 and that has helped ignite life into the case” said U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott.

One of the biggest obstacles in the case is that investigators say they don’t have a very good image of White, and no one has provided police with a better one. The picture they had been using over the years is not an accurate likeness, according to people who knew the child, and investigators are hoping that a new image showing age progression might help.
 
Bumping up for Donnell and his family.
His profile in NamUs:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov

I think it's a tragedy how little attention his case received. His father should not have had to push for LE to take it seriously. He is the only missing person's case in NamUs in Ashtabula.
 
This is an unlikely one (because the note found in this Doe’s shoe indicates he was a father), but do we think this has any chance of being a match? The estimated height is also a little shorter and age a few years older. The Doe was found in Garfield Heights, which is about an hour from Ashtabula in Sept of 1991 with a PMI of a month (which is when Donnell was reported missing):

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov

I’ve been shocked for years that this Doe has remained unidentified given the distinctive clothes and names mentioned in the shoe note.

I would really hope they have Donnell’s father’s DNA in CODIS now so maybe bringing this up is dumb on my part
 
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