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Identified! OH - Twinsburg, BlkMale 20-35, UP5830, Feb'82 - Frank “Frankie” Little, Jr.

Just saw this in the news today, I'm so glad he's been identified. I wonder what happened?

Reading that he returned to Cleveland because he was in love with a woman makes one wonder if it was a jealous ex boyfriend, etc. I wonder if any of Frankie's old friends recall anything about what might have happened in the late 1970's.

The thought is just a little bit ironic - the O'Jays "Back Stabber" was #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1972. This is after Frankie spent time as a band member and songwriter.

Will have to watch for updates on this unsolved murder case.
 
What am I missing? He grew up in the area, moved to CA with the band but soon returned to OH following his heart. Then he goes stone-cold silent for decades and nobody ever came forward asking if the county had any unidentified bodies that might be my son, brother, friend? :eek:

You know, I wondered the same thing - was there no official Missing Person notice about him? Seems kind of odd to me. And very sad.

Now instead of thinking about the O'Jays incredible music and their close to a dozen music awards - not counting the gold and platinum records received - I'll be thinking about poor Frankie Little jr and what happened to him. :(
 
You know, I wondered the same thing - was there no official Missing Person notice about him? Seems kind of odd to me. And very sad.

Now instead of thinking about the O'Jays incredible music and their close to a dozen music awards - not counting the gold and platinum records received - I'll be thinking about poor Frankie Little jr and what happened to him. :(

Me too. Also wondering where/if his royalties have been going/gone all these years. Someone should have missed him.
 
Going back to that Youtube post I made upthread on Frank's vocals in the band The Raging Storms - sounds like a band he was with pre-O'Jays. I could not locate much information at all but I wonder if anyone in this band kept in touch with him post-O'Jays.
 
What am I missing? He grew up in the area, moved to CA with the band but soon returned to OH following his heart. Then he goes stone-cold silent for decades and nobody ever came forward asking if the county had any unidentified bodies that might be my son, brother, friend? :eek:
And Frankie had two kids, his daughter died a few years ago and the police is trying to locate his son. I wonder if police had already located this woman he was in love with and for whom he moved from Florida back to Cleaveland.
 
Did some digging on Frank's pre-O'Jays work in The Raging Storms - this band was based out of Toledo, Ohio, with Donnie Bryan as the band leader. There is a grainy photo of the band here but probably from the mid- to late 1950's minus Frank. Attaching some ads regarding appearances of the band dating from 1962 when Frank was probably with the band.

I have to wonder...
 

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Sounds like Frankie was with the group briefly and returned to Ohio after a short time. (Around 1965)

I would not be surprised if he did not have had much in royalties due to the way the music industry was set up back then.
  • Black musicians in particular struggled financially.
  • Many didn't see much, but kept working. (Even Jimi Hendrix was swindled)

O'Jays lost contact with Frankie after he left the band.

He served in Vietnam
 
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There might be some jurisdictional issues. The crime likely happened in Cleveland, Cuya hoga County, but his body was found in Summit Co.

Part of the difficulty in identifying him was due to lack of clothing or other personal items. He was killed and stuffed nude into a trash bag. It sounds like he may have been attacked while sleeping. Seems unlikely a killer took the time to undress a deceased male victim before disposing of his body, JMO
 
There might be some jurisdictional issues. The crime likely happened in Cleveland, Cuya hoga County, but his body was found in Summit Co.

Part of the difficulty in identifying him was due to lack of clothing or other personal items. He was killed and stuffed nude into a trash bag. It sounds like he may have been attacked while sleeping. Seems unlikely a killer took the time to undress a deceased male victim before disposing of his body, JMO

I have a feeling the person who did this knew him. JMO
 
The partial remains of an African American male discovered in 1982 in Twinsburg, Ohio have been identified as Frank Little, Jr. Detective Eric Hendershott of the Twinsburg police partnered with the DNA Doe Project to locate potential relatives of the John Doe based on DNA samples taken from the remains, which showed evidence of stabbing, blunt force trauma, and postmortem fire. At the time of discovery, authorities believed the man had been dead for several years.

Mr. Little, born August 23, 1943, had lost contact with his family when he was in his 20’s. Investigators in 1982 theorized that he or his killer may have worked in the former Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, but they were unable to confirm his identity. The case went cold, but the third detective to take over, Eric Hendershott, was determined to generate new leads and reached out to the DNA Doe Project in December, 2018. The DNA profile uploaded to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA generated no close family matches, but did identify Laurens County, South Carolina as a possible location of the John Doe’s relations.

Volunteer genealogists with the DNA Doe Project constructed over 70 family trees while trying to narrow a list of more than 4,000 distant matches. The case was finally solved after familial matches submitted DNA samples and Detective Hendershott was able to locate a cousin who remembered some details about Mr. Little.

“It was a particular pleasure to co-lead this case with Dt. Hendershott from the Twinsburg Police Department. Our tight-knit researching group synergized well, and that sustained us through a long-haul and into pandemic times,” shared team leader L. Elias Chan. “Right out of the gate, the two top matches had unknown paternity. Eventually we were able to tease out important family groups that intersected with Twinsburg John Doe’s. From those, we began to systematically look for people to volunteer to upload to GEDmatch or FTDNA with the hope of narrowing the family groups further. All of us would like to extend heartfelt condolences to Frank’s family and friends at this difficult time.”

DDP wishes to acknowledge the contributions of those groups and individuals who helped solve this case: Detective Eric Hendershott of the Twinsburg, Ohio Police Department; the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation forensics team for DNA extraction; HudsonAlpha Discovery for DNA sequencing; Greg Magoon of Full Genomes Corp. for bioinformatics; GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA for providing their databases; our generous donors; and our extraordinary team of DDP investigative genetic genealogists.

About the DNA Doe Project

The DNA Doe Project, Inc. is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to identify John and Jane Does and return them to their families. The genealogy research is pro bono, but the organization relies on donations to fund lab costs when agencies cannot afford them. To date DDP has made over 70 identifications. Discover more at DNA Doe Project .

https://www.dls.com/forensic-genomics/grisly-1982-twinsburg-case-identified-using-genetic-genealogy/
 
Poor guy! This definitely seems highly personal to me as well. I heavily suspect that a "love rival" (possibly an ex of his girlfriend/wife in Ohio) may be involved. Sad that such a talented young man was taken too soon, and so violently.
 

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