(MENAFN) A former anthropology student's curiosity about a box of unidentified human bones she had seen in her classroom led to the identification of two sets of remains in Ohio, which had been cold cases for decades. The former student, Alisa Yelkin, called the Youngstown Ohio Police Department after reading an article about Youngstown's cold cases and shared her long-held desire to know more about the bones that had "haunted" her since her forensic anthropology class in the early 2000s at Youngstown State University.

The call reignited the case that had grown cold for years, leading to the identification of Theodore "Teddy" Long and Robert Earl Sanders, who had gone missing in the late 1970s and early '80s. Their remains were found in Ohio counties 180 miles from each other. The use of facial reconstruction technology and a clay model assisted in identifying the remains.

At a news conference, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost highlighted that cases like these are why he created Bureau of Criminal Investigation's cold case unit, as it is to put the pieces together and assist local law enforcement in bringing closure to loved ones.

Sanders' family filed a missing person report on Aug. 13, 1976, but Youngstown police were unable to locate any leads or a body at the time of his disappearance. In 1987, a grandfather and grandson found a human skull and other bones while hunting squirrels near the old Mount Hope Cemetery, which led to police's search for identifying the remains. The anthropology department of Youngstown State University identified the bones as most likely belonging to an African-American male between 30 and 44 years of age, which matched Sanders' description. However, with no further leads, the investigation went cold for decades until Yelkin's call in August 2021.

In 2022, the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Mahoning County Coroner's Office, and the Youngstown Police Department released a forensic facial reconstruction image to jump-start leads. A relative of another missing man contacted detectives, and investigators thought the tip was connected to human remains found in Layette, a county in the northeastern part of the state. With the new information, the Fayette County Sheriff identified Long, who is believed to have been killed.

Detectives in Youngstown continued to work on their case and partnered with the Porchlight Project, a nonprofit organization that offers support to families of missing and murdered persons. Using DNA, authorities were able to determine the Mahoning County John Doe was Sanders, but the cause of his death remains unknown. There are currently 150 cold cases being investigated in Ohio, according to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

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