CANTON, Ohio — A mysterious John Doe Case that baffled Stark County investigators for a few decades has been solved. The skeletal remains of a man found in 2001 have been identified as Anthony Gulley from Pontiac, Michigan.
Authorities held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss the case. Watch below:
The identification finally provides some answers for Gulley's relatives, who desperately tried to figure out what happened to the young father for more than three decades.
"I always said, 'I pray before I go, I can find out whatever happened to my brother.' I wanted some answers. I wanted some closure," said his sister, Elizabeth Gulley.
Investigators told News 5 that Gulley was 24 years old when he was murdered in Michigan in 1994. His remains were discovered about 250 miles away on private property near an oil well on Trump Avenue in Canton Township in 2001.
"The bones were bleached white back in 2001 which would indicate that they had been out there for some time and had a large exposure to the sunlight," said Sgt. Bryan Johnson with the Stark County Sheriff's Office.
For more than 20 years, the identity of the person bewildered investigators. In fact, detectives originally thought it was a woman.
However, in 2023, Johnson sent the remains to Ohio State University, where anthropologists determined this was a John Doe, not a Jane Doe.
A facial reconstruction revealed in 2023 showed the remains were that of a Black male between the ages of 21 and 44. Leads from the public came in, but possible names were ruled out through DNA testing.
RELATED: Stark County releases facial reconstruction of man whose body was found in 2001
"Once again, we hit a wall," Johnson said.
But Johnson didn't give up. He sent DNA from the remains to the DNA Doe Project, and using genetic genealogy and social media searches of missing people, the organization came up with Gulley's name as a possible match.
"When they told me they had a name for our John Doe, I was ecstatic," Johnson said.
For Gulley's two daughters, Raven Williams and Yoshi Carroll, it finally brought an answer to the question that haunted them for 31 years: Where is my dad?
When asked if she thought the day would ever come that her dad would be found, Williams said, "Absolutely not."
After Johnson told the family about a possible match, relatives agreed to DNA swabs, which ultimately confirmed Gulley's identity.
"It's life-changing. It's something that you just never think you're going to receive," Carroll said. "It's a different type of weight lifted off our shoulders."
For Elizabeth, it's hard to put into words what it meant to find her brother after all this time.
"I shed a few tears, but it was more of— finally," she said. "It didn't seem real. It felt like in the moment, I was living like a CSI moment."
She told News 5 that her brother didn't show up for his job at a car dealership in September of 2023. Less than two weeks later, his rental car was found burned up in Akron, but there was no sign of Anthony.
Wiliams and Carroll were ages three and four at the time and have little to no memories of their dad.
"We've had to spend, again, over 30 years just trying to cling to each other, Carroll said.
Detectives determined the victim was shot and killed in a Pontiac hotel before his remains were dumped in Stark County.
Johnson said the suspect, George Washington— who also went by Ricky— got into a shootout with Akron police in 1994 before shooting and killing himself.
While charges can't be filed against Washington following his death, a report from the Stark County Sheriff's Office indicates "it is believed that Anthony Gulley was killed by Ricky Washington.
For the family, giving Anthony Gulley his name back doesn't bring justice. The family believes they'll finally experience closure when they bring him back home within a month.
"He's not home with us yet. When he's here, his remains are here, then maybe I can use the word closure," Williams said.
In an interview with News 5, Stark County Sheriff Eric Weisburn spoke about the importance of working towards closure.
"Just to get that closure— nobody's going to be able to bring him back. No one is expecting that. I know that, but the family needs us," Weisburn said.
At a news conference Tuesday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said it took a team to crack the case.
"Our playbook for cold cases remains the same, the three T's: teamwork, technology and tenacity," Yost said.
Traci Onders, from the DNA Doe Project, explained that information gained from Gulley's DNA was uploaded to platforms where people can share their DNA history.
"By doing that then we build family trees for each of those matches," Onders said.
She also addressed the family, who watched the news conference on line by referencing a statement made by Carroll. She told News 5 that the identification was "a different type of weight lifted off our shoulders."
"We hope that she, and all of Anthony's relatives, find some comfort from the efforts of so many," Onders said.
Last year, another Stark County John Doe was identified with help from the DNA Doe Project.
The remains of Mike Leach were found in remote area of Pike Township in 2020.
Investigators suspect Leach was murdered, but no one has been charged in his death.
"Michael Leach's case will never be closed until the family gets justice. At this point in time, we do still have some leads," Sgt. Johnson said.
Leach's sister, Rae Ann Calai, said her family was grateful to have a service Leach last October and she's hanging onto hope that his case will be solved one day.
"We feel whoever is responsible for this, our family would very much like to know this so they can be brought to justice," Calai said.
