Authorities to reveal man’s true identity

Solving ID of deceased Eastlake man one of NEO’s ‘biggest and most complex mysteries’

Deceased Eastlake man took identity of 9-year-old Texas boy. The case was recently solved by detectives.

U.S. Marshal for Northern Ohio Peter J. Elliott once compared attempts to find the true identity of Joseph Newtown Chandler III to chasing a ghost.

On June 21 at 1 p.m., Elliott along with Eastlake Police Chief Larry Reik among others will announce the solving of one of Northeast Ohio’s “biggest and most complex mysteries.”

Chandler committed suicide in his Eastlake apartment in 2002. Except Chandler wasn’t really Chandler. The real Joseph Newton Chandler III was a 9-year-old boy who died in a car crash with his parents in Texas in 1945.

Authorities didn’t learn of his alias until after his death.

The imposter used the dead child’s personal information to obtain a Social Security card and take over his identity in 1978. He spent the next 24 years living as Chandler.

In a 2014 Plain Dealer article, Elliott said he believed the imposter Chandler was a violent fugitive. According to that article, on work forms, he listed co-workers as the only people to call in the event of an emergency. He had worked at Edko Co. in Cleveland and later Lubrizol in Wickliffe as an electrical engineer.

Chandler had peculiar behavior, never feeling comfortable in public. He would listen to static, white noise for hours. He once drove from Eastlake to Maine to go to an L.L. Bean store, but once he pulled into the parking lot and noticed there weren’t any parking spots he drove all the way back to Ohio.

He said he had a sister living in Columbus, but the given address led to a vacant lot.

In 2016, U.S. Marshals said Y-Chromosome genetic information linked the man to the surname Nicholas or Nichols.

After years of investigation, Chandler’s true identity will be revealed in a news conference at the United States Court House in Cleveland.

Chandler