Photo: Twinsburg Police Department
Partial human remains discovered in 1982 have been identified as those of O'Jays guitarist Frank "Frankie" Little, Jr, police in Twinsburg, Ohio confirmed.
Forty years ago, a group of employees found Little's remains in a bag behind a now-closed business. Little played and co-wrote songs for the popular R&B group during the 1960s and was last known to be alive in the mid-1970s, People reported. When the remains were found, they were determined to have been at least two to four years old.
The case had a few initial leads but went cold for two decades. It was reopened in 2009 after Sgt. Greg Feketik posed the idea of using DNA technology to identify the partial remains.
Dr. Lisa Kohler of the Summit County's Medical Examiner's Officer confirmed Little's identity using DNA samples of living relatives and that his cause of death as a homicide, though not much is known about Little's disappearance or murder.
"It's amazing," Margaret O'Sullivan, Little's cousin, told the Akron Beacon Journal. "We're glad that we have closure now. We know he's deceased."
"It's definitely nice that we can give some answers to the family and hopefully they have some sense of closure," Twinsburg Detective Eric Hendershott told ABC affiliate WEWS. "He had a life, and ultimately he ended up here in Twinsburg, with his life taken by another."
Reading about Black trauma can have an impact on your mental health. If you or someone you know need immediate mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.