Identified! Oh - Eastlake, Whtmale 454umoh, 70, Alias 'jnchandler Iii', Jul'02 - Robert Ivan Nichols

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Force Ten said:
Something happened with Nichols in or around 1978 to compel him to steal an identity and completely disappear. I don't believe for a minute that Nichols was the Zodiac. But looking at him from that angle, he resided in Rapids City, South Dakota when he applied for the Social Security card under Chandler. Rapids City has an unsolved murder from 1977 of a teenaged boy who was gunned down. The murder weapon was a .22 caliber.
Click to expand...
What is the name of the victim in this murder?
 
omg this is great news!.. I really do hope this encourages states o go through their old missing persons files and post them on Namus! I wonder how many old missing persons cases are sitting in folders in cardboard boxes..
 
He stole the identity of a dead 8-year-old. Police now want to know what he was hiding from | The Star
chandler.jpg

According to Elliott, Robert Ivan Nichols had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, suffering serious injuries in the Japanese bombing of the USS Aaron Ward. He returned from combat with a Purple Heart, yet still burned his military uniforms after leaving the service. He was married and had three children, but filed for divorce and left in 1964, only telling his wife she would know why “in due time,” Elliott said.

The last trace of Nichols was a letter he sent to Phillip in 1965, postmarked California, and containing a single penny. The family never heard from him again, eventually filing a missing person’s report later that year. Internal Revenue Service records show Nichols worked under his real name until 1976."
"Elliott, however, said it was clear the lonely man was willing to abandon his life in Cleveland at a moment’s notice. Nichols always kept a packed suitcase in his apartment, the marshal said.

What he may have been running from, however, is still a tangled mystery."
 
Gardener1850 said:
I wonder if this is something from one of his sons. Maybe something he kept to remember them?
Click to expand...
Actually, that sticker is most likely from the 80s or 90s. For years Peanuts merchandise had this quirk where the copyright notice would list the year that the featured character was introduced instead of the year that the item was actually made
 
dotr said:
He stole the identity of a dead 8-year-old. Police now want to know what he was hiding from | The Star
chandler.jpg

According to Elliott, Robert Ivan Nichols had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, suffering serious injuries in the Japanese bombing of the USS Aaron Ward. He returned from combat with a Purple Heart, yet still burned his military uniforms after leaving the service. He was married and had three children, but filed for divorce and left in 1964, only telling his wife she would know why “in due time,” Elliott said.

The last trace of Nichols was a letter he sent to Phillip in 1965, postmarked California, and containing a single penny. The family never heard from him again, eventually filing a missing person’s report later that year. Internal Revenue Service records show Nichols worked under his real name until 1976."
"Elliott, however, said it was clear the lonely man was willing to abandon his life in Cleveland at a moment’s notice. Nichols always kept a packed suitcase in his apartment, the marshal said.

What he may have been running from, however, is still a tangled mystery."
Click to expand...

Divorcing his wife then telling her she will know why in due time makes me wonder if his reason was because he was gay. Maybe he himself never fully accepted it. I personally think he was running from himself. Much like Lori Ruff not really having a reason to obtain a new identity.
 
coffeeandacig said:
Thanks dotr! That is one horrific story of what he survived on Okinawa! He had to have suffered some sort of breakdown from going through that experience.
Click to expand...
Reading that war report was a reminder of how sometimes, and in this case, simple luck can be the difference between life and death.
With that in mind, wondering if the mysterious reason for RIN sending a single penny to his son, was to pass on something more important than money itself, but luck, symbolized with a " lucky penny" ?
imo, speculation.
Mystery of Identity of Ohio Man Who Hid Behind Fake Name for Years Solved, Mystery of Why Remains
Philip Nichols told them he lost contact with his dad in 1965. His last interaction came in the form of an envelope postmarked from Napa, California, that contained nothing but a single penny.

Without these pennies a soldier would not have survived the Battle of the Somme
"Ivanhoe Avon owed his life to these two pennies - without them he would not have survived the horrors of the Battle of the Somme.

The dented coins - a Queen Victoria penny dated 1862 and a 1907 King Edward VII - stopped a bullet which otherwise would have claimed his life.

They still bear the damage of the shot which left him scarred, but alive."
Battle of Waterloo artefacts: See the coin that saved a soldier's life
"A penny that saved the life of a British soldier at Waterloo by intercepting a French musket-ball is among dozens of artefacts in a new collection created to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. The George III 'cartwheel penny' was unusually large and thick and came in very handy for one British soldier"
 
dotr said:
Reading that war report was a reminder of how sometimes, and in this case, simple luck can be the difference between life and death.
With that in mind, wondering if the mysterious reason for RIN sending a single penny to his son, was to pass on something more important than money itself, but luck, symbolized with a " lucky penny" ?
imo, speculation.
Mystery of Identity of Ohio Man Who Hid Behind Fake Name for Years Solved, Mystery of Why Remains
Philip Nichols told them he lost contact with his dad in 1965. His last interaction came in the form of an envelope postmarked from Napa, California, that contained nothing but a single penny.

Without these pennies a soldier would not have survived the Battle of the Somme
"Ivanhoe Avon owed his life to these two pennies - without them he would not have survived the horrors of the Battle of the Somme.

The dented coins - a Queen Victoria penny dated 1862 and a 1907 King Edward VII - stopped a bullet which otherwise would have claimed his life.

They still bear the damage of the shot which left him scarred, but alive."
Battle of Waterloo artefacts: See the coin that saved a soldier's life
"A penny that saved the life of a British soldier at Waterloo by intercepting a French musket-ball is among dozens of artefacts in a new collection created to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. The George III 'cartwheel penny' was unusually large and thick and came in very handy for one British soldier"
Click to expand...

It certainly seems symbolic. I'm assuming he figured the son would know what it meant. Perhaps it's what Nichols thought of himself - worthless. I couldn't see him telling his son that he was worthless. That would be cruel. Although, he did completely abandon all of them.

Nichols had been with the father for some years after coming home from the war. Unless he never, ever discussed it, the family members have to have some insight about what happened? Did he not interact at all with his children? And his wife would "understand" why he left? Huh?
 
Force Ten said:
It certainly seems symbolic. I'm assuming he figured the son would know what it meant. Perhaps it's what Nichols thought of himself - worthless. I couldn't see him telling his son that he was worthless. That would be cruel. Although, he did completely abandon all of them.

Nichols had been with the father for some years after coming home from the war. Unless he never, ever discussed it, the family members have to have some insight about what happened? Did he not interact at all with his children? And his wife would "understand" why he left? Huh?
Click to expand...

I agree...I'd like to believe it's a good luck symbol.
My dad was a WW2 vet and he never spoke about the war until he was very old. And men of that generation, from my experience, rarely, if ever spoke of their feelings.
Maybe he did tell his wife something, and she just chose to keep it from the kids. Just seems a sad story all around, except that his kids now know what happened to him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Staff online

Members online

... and 205 more.
Total: 1,934 (members: 206, guests: 1,728)

Online statistics

Members online
206
Guests online
1,728
Total visitors
1,934
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
599,321
Messages
18,094,499
Members
230,848
Latest member
devanport
Back
Top