On February 18, 1982, partial human remains were discovered in a garbage bag behind a machine shop in Twinsburg, Ohio. For nearly 40 years, these remains went unidentified, labeled only as a "John Doe" by authorities. It wasn't until December 2021, through genealogical research led by the DNA Doe Project, that the remains were finally identified as belonging to Frank "Frankie" Little Jr., a guitarist and songwriter for the famous R&B group, The O'Jays, in the 1960s.
Frankie Little Jr.
was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1943, and had a brief but notable stint as a musician with The O'Jays, penning several songs during their early years. However, his life took a different turn after leaving the band. He returned to Cleveland, where he seemingly lost contact with both his family and his former bandmates. His remains showed signs of blunt force trauma and had been dismembered before being placed in garbage bags, indicating a violent death. This led the Summit County Medical Examiner to rule his death as a homicide.
The discovery of his remains was originally made by employees of the machine shop, who stumbled upon his skull while disposing of metal shavings in the woods. Initially not believing it was human, they eventually notified law enforcement, who uncovered additional body parts. Despite multiple attempts over the years to identify the remains, it was not until genetic genealogy techniques became available that his identity was confirmed. This breakthrough provided a sense of closure to his family, who had long wondered what happened to Frankie.
The Twinsburg Police Department has expressed its determination to continue the investigation, despite many challenges. Detectives suspect that Frankie may have died in the late 1970s, well before his remains were found. The case remains open, and law enforcement is hopeful that with modern investigative techniques, they might still uncover more details about how and why he met such a tragic end. The circumstances of his death—how he ended up in Twinsburg and who was involved—remain a mystery.
