The long-standing mystery of the Stark County John Doe has been resolved after decades of investigation. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Stark County Sheriff Eric Weisburn are slated to give a news conference at 2 p.m. to announce the identification of remains found in 2001 as Anthony Gulley from Pontiac, Michigan. This announcement brings closure to a case that has perplexed detectives for over twenty years, with skeletal remains originally discovered just days before Christmas back in 2001 near an oil well road in Canton Township. According to a FOX19 report, the remains were found in a remote area and had limited clues for identification, causing the case to go cold eventually.
The breakthrough came after a clay facial reconstruction was shared in September 2023 by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and Stark County Sheriff deputies. Stark County's investigators worked persistently to warmly pursue all available leads, even as hope dimmed over the years. Details of the case released to the public described John Doe as a Black male, aged between 21 and 44, and standing anywhere from 5 feet 4 inches to 6 feet tall. No clothing was found with the remains, making the identification even more challenging. A WKYC report stated that no additional details such as weight, hair color, and eye color were known, further complicating the case.
Elizabeth Gulley, the sister of the victim, had long hoped for the day when the fate of her brother would be unearthed. "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," she stated in an interview offered to News 5 Cleveland. Gulley was 24 years old when he was murdered in Michigan in 1994, and his remains were discovered about 250 miles away in Ohio seven years later, creating a complex interstate investigative scenario.
Anthropologists from Ohio State University played a pivotal role in steering the case in the right direction after re-evaluating the remains. Initially thought to belong to a female, it was determined in 2023 that they were indeed Anthony Gulley’s. “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,” Sgt. Bryan Johnson, with the Stark County Sheriff's Office, explained in a statement given to News 5 Cleveland. A facial reconstruction released that same year shifted the direction of the case, and although leads from the public did come in, it was ultimately DNA testing that helped to identify the victim conclusively.
