NY NY - Leonard Edward Johnson Jr. 24, Manhattan, 1 Mar 1975

[AirForceVet24]

Glad to know! Was there any confirmation of a photo?

Yes!! There is a photo of him from his days in the US Coast Guard. It was an ID photo.

 

[Aurora90]

Yes!! There is a photo of him from his days in the US Coast Guard. It was an ID photo.

That’s fantastic! I look forward to a future update.

A special thank you to @AirForceVet24 for your dedication to this case.

 

[AirForceVet24]

Leonards case was modified today.

 

[madamx]

An update to my September 28, post. I did receive the file today and its much more extensive than what we thought. The incident report is 18 pages long, external documents cover about 50 pages.

Starting out, so he was not reported missing until 2011. He was last seen in New York City going out for a walk and never returned ( 1975)

On September 8, 2025, it was reported that their was a DNA match to him in South Carolina from 1975 with strong dental associations. This case has now turned into a homicide investigation. My goodness...this is crazy.

OMg @AirForceVet24 incredible find Thank you! Iam late in the game here but wow just wow… so he goes out for a walk in NYC and ends up a unidentified homicide case in South Carolina ?! Oh crazy is right!

Do you know if the South Carolina guy found in March of 1975 also?

 

[The4TierBridge]

An update to my September 28, post. I did receive the file today and its much more extensive than what we thought. The incident report is 18 pages long, external documents cover about 50 pages.

Starting out, so he was not reported missing until 2011. He was last seen in New York City going out for a walk and never returned ( 1975)

On September 8, 2025, it was reported that their was a DNA match to him in South Carolina from 1975 with strong dental associations. This case has now turned into a homicide investigation. My goodness...this is crazy.

Are you sure it was South Carolina? There are no bodies from South Carolina found in 1975 in NamUs. There was one until recently, also a black male, but that case was resolved last year and the person was identified as Oscar Nedd through DNA.

Does the report you were given have any other details? There’s a case out of NORTH Carolina from 1975 which would match him pretty well, discussed earlier in the thread, and that profile was modified around the same time as the DNA match you discussed.

 

[AirForceVet24]

Are you sure it was South Carolina? There are no bodies from South Carolina found in 1975 in NamUs. There was one until recently, also a black male, but that case was resolved last year and the person was identified as Oscar Nedd through DNA.

Does the report you were given have any other details? There’s a case out of NORTH Carolina from 1975 which would match him pretty well, discussed earlier in the thread, and that profile was modified around the same time as the DNA match you discussed.

So I am looking at his case file now and yes it is South Carolina. If you want me to send the file that they gave me let me know and I can send it your way.

For what it is worth, this is the wording that they used,

"On September 8, 2025, at approximately 1540, I received a phone call from the cold case team in South Carolina, Sgt. Irwin regarding our missing person investigation of Leonard Johnson from 1975.
New DNA and dental records show a likelihood identification of Leonard Johnson was discovered gruesomely murdered in South Carolina (1975)."

 

[The4TierBridge]

So I am looking at his case file now and yes it is South Carolina. If you want me to send the file that they gave me let me know and I can send it your way.

For what it is worth, this is the wording that they used,

"On September 8, 2025, at approximately 1540, I received a phone call from the cold case team in South Carolina, Sgt. Irwin regarding our missing person investigation of Leonard Johnson from 1975.
New DNA and dental records show a likelihood identification of Leonard Johnson was discovered gruesomely murdered in South Carolina (1975)."

I would be very interested in seeing the file. Thank you for offering!

 

[The4TierBridge]

The documents provided to me by @AirForceVet24 [edited to say POSSIBLY] confirm he was identified as #UP998.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

EDIT: looking at them more closely again, I may have been mistaken (but still not entirely sure; the lay-out of some of them is confusing). It appears however that dental records comparison done in 2013 suggested a possibility they were the same person but could not confirm it. The most recent document does say the body was found in SC and not NC though. I hope that a public clarification of the circumstances will be made soon.