Writer Carolyn Berardino, author of the exclusive Porchlight Project article about the identification of the Paris Township John Doe, appears on WFMJ to speak about the discovery. Click here to watch. The post WFMJ Covers the David Kaziateck Case appeared first on Providing a new chance at closure for cold cases ..read more

By Carolyn Berardino After 35 years, The Portage County Sheriff’s Office, with help from Ohio’s BCI, has identified a John Doe, whose remains were found partially buried in a shallow grave in Paris Township in 1988. In August 2023, detectives finally learned their cold case victim’s name is David Ralph Kaziateck. He was 36 years old and living in nearby Warren, Ohio at the time he was killed. And now, the Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to provide them with any information they might have about David that could help them identify his killer.  David’s remains were found o ..read more

Congratulations to Lead Genealogist for the Porchlight Project, Val Bogart, who received a special reward for service from the Youngstown Police Department at their annual awards ceremony. Earlier this year Val successfully identified an unknown homicide victim from a 46 year old cold case as Robert “Earl” Sanders. She also assisted Youngstown police detectives in identifying a John Doe found in the Mahoning River, in 1980. Val is currently reviewing several new cases for The Porchlight Project. The post Val Bogart, Lead Genealogist for the Porchlight Project, Awarded by Youngstown PD. appear ..read more

BINDER 1, PAGE193 Exactly 43 years to the day after a woman’s body was found on the shores of Lake Erie, in Sandusky, Ohio, police have verified her identity as that of Patricia Eleanor Greenwood, born 1948. She has previous addresses listed in several Michigan towns, including Traverse City, Bay City, and Saginaw. On March 30, 1980, the partially decomposed body of a young woman was discovered on the beach near Cedar Point Road. She was determined to be Caucasian, between the ages of 20-30 and estimated to be about 5’5” tall and 120lbs. The young woman was wearing a size 12 “disco style” dres ..read more

Val Bogart for The Porchlight Project The Porchlight Project’s own genetic genealogist, Val Bogart, tracked a DNA profile from a 1976 Youngstown John Doe to a specific family tree, and identified Robert “Earl” Sanders as the victim. This is the first solve for our in-house genealogist and we’re extremely proud of Val. This case was brought to us by our friends at Othram. From the Vindicator: “It was 17,000 days ago to this day exactly — 46 years, six months and 15 days, Aug. 13, 1976 — that a missing report was filed on Youngstown John Doe,” Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Departme ..read more

Last week, police in Boardman, Ohio, held a press conference where they identified the killer of Brad Bellino, a twelve-year-old boy who was abducted and murdered there in 1972. Genetic genealogy led them to Joseph Hill, who lived nearby at the time of the murder before moving to California. Hill died in 2019. Brad’s murder was the subject of an exclusive article by Caroline Berardino for the Porchlight Project, which you can read in its entirety here. Caroline believes the man who killed Brad may be responsible for other murders in Boardman area. The post Boardman Police ID Brad Bellino’s Ki ..read more

Newspapers and TV stations around Paulding, Ohio are covering The Porchlight Project’s efforts to have the body of Nancy Eagleson exhumed for DNA testing. Toledo Blade Article ABC WPTA The post Media Covers Our Efforts to Exhume Body of Nancy Eagleson appeared first on Providing a new chance at closure for cold cases ..read more

Nancy Eagleson was murdered in 1960. Paulding County, Ohio – August 8, 2022 – Lawyer John DeMuth has filed a motion in Paulding County Probate Court to allow the body of Nancy Eagleson to be disinterred from the local cemetery where she was buried nearly sixty-two years ago. A hearing is set for September 20th, in front of Judge Michael Wehrcamp. Fourteen-year-old Nancy Eagleson and her five-year-old sister, Sheryl, were walking home from a movie in downtown Paulding, Ohio, around seven p.m. on November 13, 1960 when a driver stopped beside them and asked if they needed a ride. In a flash, the ..read more

Thank you to Kent State, for this wonderful article about the founding of The Porchlight Project! Renner put out a message on Facebook asking for help; it was answered by Alexa Doutt, a director of advancement at Kent State. The two met at a coffee shop in West Akron—and the idea of the Porchlight Project was born.  “I was always a fan of James’s work, and this was a way for me to make a difference,” says Doutt, who handled the back-end legal work of setting up the nonprofit and began fundraising. The two assembled a board, which includes graphic designer Dan Marks, BA ’99, a friend from ..read more

Gloria Pointer will forever be 14, says her mother, Yvonne, a Porchlight Project board member and victims advocate. Gloria was murdered in 1984. In 2013, DNA from the crime was matched to convicted rapist Hernandez Warren. Says Yvonne: “It was then that I realized something important about my grief, my life and my daughter’s life: Hope had the power to carry me through this. And hope could transform communities and lives far beyond my own.” Read the full article online here. The post Porchlight Board Member Yvonne Pointer Writes Personal Op-Ed for Cleveland.com appeared first on Providing a n ..read more