The Cleveland John Doe Case by Thibault Raisse (Author) and Laurie Bennett (Translator)
Joseph Newton Chandler III was found dead of an apparent suicide in 2002. But this man who was only known as odd by those who'd met him left even more questions after the police began to investigate his death.
Who was Joseph Newton Chandler III?
Turns out, he was actually Robert Ivan Nichols. The Robert Ivan Nichols who had abandoned his wife and three sons saying only that one day, she'd know why. The Robert Ivan Nichols whose family waited years before reporting him missing. The Robert Ivan Nichols who never contacted any of them again.
Not much is sure about why Nichols turned into Chandler by 1978 despite leaving his family in the early 1960s (the real chandler had died in a car crash when he was 8).
Of course, there are theories.
Author Thibault Raisse moves through quite a few of those theories ranging from Nichols simply being a deadbeat dad and changed his identity to escape any threat of child support all the way to Nichols actually being the Zodiac Killer who terrorized San Francisco in the late 1960s.
While Raisse endeavored to clarify which theories had more support, I did find myself getting a little bogged down and lost between them. What did stick with me though is that despite Nichols true identity being uncovered in 2018, no one came to claim his remains--not even his children.
All told, Raisse's exploration of this case felt a bit uneven in terms of clarity, but it is a poignant case both for the evolution of DNA science and for the perils of cutting all ties.
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