WOIO Cleveland: New forensic technique and WD-40 help solve John Doe case in Akron

Someone discovered human remains in the brush in the heart of the city, just outside of the University of Akron back in February.

They were found on an embankment near a bridge by train tracks. Investigators with the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office headed to the scene.“ In this case there was not much information, it was very skeletonized remains. Some clothing, but really no personal effects or identification attached to the body,” said Dr. Robert Shott, Chief Deputy Medical Examiner. Dr. Shott said they estimated this John Doe had been dead since the fall. So they interviewed people nearby and looked for clues to find his identity. He was found right near a homeless shelter called Haven of Rest.“ It really we’re trying to identify-- who is this person? We don’t even know if there’s any injury or trauma. So we take this series of X-rays, we’re looking for bullets, any kind of weapons that may be you know in the body, anywhere like a knife tips, stuff like that and anything that could give us an idea if there’s a traumatic death,” he said.

Investigators found he had dental fillings, but they had no X-rays to compare those to. After they cleaned up his clothing, they found he wore sizes 5 and 6 extra-large.“ The fact that he did not, his physical description did not match any reported missing people, that tells us something maybe he’s estranged from family. Maybe he’s not local to this area,” Dr. Shott said. Investigators couldn’t get fingerprints because of decomposition, so they sent his DNA samples to a BCI lab. It takes weeks to get those results back. Meanwhile, Jason Grom, a forensic death investigator, tried something new. He had just gotten back from a 2-day training conference in Miami put on by the FBI on fingerprinting techniques. Grom decided to try out what he just learned.“ So with application of some boiling water, I could temporarily enhance the ridge detail of the print,” Grom said. Then, he used a fingerprint scanner and a common household item to pick up that detail and get his fingerprints.“And anything with water on it, will you just it won’t read appropriately, you won’t get a nice clear print. But WD-40, being WD is water displacement, it takes away all the water. That way it can scan nicely,” he said.

We profiled these new fingerprint scanners at the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office just a few months ago. They’re connected to databases with Ohio BCI and the FBI. Two fingerprints, one from each hand, can get a hit from the databases if the person had a criminal history, identifying them in a minute or two. In this case, Grom got a hit back and Ohio BCI confirmed this man’s identification.“ I was proud of my work. I was happy that I could make good with my skills and was able to enhance the fingerprint and be able to put a name to the person and of course notify family of their loved one,” he said. Thanks to a new technique and new technology, investigators gave John Doe his name back--Emil Joseph Colosimo, 54.He was from the Cleveland area and last known to be homeless around Akron.“ It’s for the family. It’s for closure. It’s for letting the people know who are-- really, really need to know,” Dr. Shott said. The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office said this case will be closed soon, even though the cause and manner of his death may still be undetermined because of the condition of the remains.19 Investigates has profiled more than a dozen John and Jane Doe cases from here in northeast Ohio that remain unsolved in our series Unidentified.