Identified! OH - Celina, Male Skeletal UP14649, 20-35, at Grand Lake St Mary's, Jan'16 - Ryan Zimmerman

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Bones recovered in a state park south of Celina, Ohio, near Coldwater Creek have been identified as human, specifically that of a 20-35-year-old man. They are believed to have been placed in the wooded area sometime within the last six months.

It is one victim – a 25-30-year-old man, 5-feet-7 to 6-feet-11 tall. A race was not determined.

January article: http://wlfi.com/2016/01/15/officials-bones-found-in-state-park-are-human-foul-play-suspected/

DNA pulled from human bones discovered in a western Ohio state park at the beginning of the year has not been hitched to anyone within the FBI’s database.

Officials are working to identify any missing 20-35-year-old men that went missing between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2015 that matches the description that investigators determined the bones belonged to. Grey said officials searched for missing persons in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and found six people who match those characteristics.

April article: http://wane.com/2016/04/13/dna-from-human-bones-finds-no-match-in-fbi-database/
 
I expanded that age range by a few years, and have 112 matches returned. That height estimates is cray cray. I think I'd need more info to even begin to narrow the list down.
 
Yeah the height range is buck wild, I bet its a typo and actually should read 5'7 to 5'11.

The articles editing is clearly not the sharpest, seeing as the age range is listed as 20-35 in one place and 25-30 in the other (im assuming 20-35 is correct bc thats what is noted in the second article).
 
Still unidentified: http://wane.com/2016/09/08/sheriff-bones-found-in-state-park-still-unidentified/
Grey asked for the public’s help. Anyone with any tips can reach out to the sheriff’s office through email at www.mercercountysheriff.org or call its tip line (567) 890-TIPS (8477) or the detectives at (419) 586-1450. Grey said his office is dedicated to solving the case.

“I still have my fingers crossed and my hopes up that we’re going to get a DNA hit on the computer system,” said Grey. “I don’t like having unsolved deaths in this county.

“This case if difficult for me because there’s a family out there. We owe it to that person to do the best we can and we owe it to their family to do the best we can do give them closure, even if it’s not the closure they want.”
Click to expand...
 
[h=1]Sheriff: Body found near Grand Lake St. Marys in Jan. 2016 was dismembered[/h]
Investigators don’t think the victim was killed where he was found, and say he was placed there sometime in 2015, and likely between August and October.
The sheriff revealed some of the details about the remains that had not been made public before Wednesday. Sheriff Grey said DNA from the remains was sent to a new lab to come up with a potential sketch based on traits, but the lab could not do anything with it.

A sample was sent to another lab to develop the bone oxygen isotopes. The test is able to predict potential places where the victim lived for the past decade. Several geographical areas were possible, including one in central Kentucky.
Click to expand...
Next will be a Strontium (Sr) isotope test, also known as the tap water test because the ions are unique to certain areas. The sheriff hopes to have that test complete by the end of July.

The sheriff’s office will then overlay the Strontium test against the bone oxygen isotope map to further narrow down where the victim was from.

The sheriff also discussed the condition of the body when it was found. Grey says the body was dismembered. There was no skull and the limbs had been sawed off below the knees and elbows. The sheriff says it’s possible wild animals got some of the bones and that’s why they are missing. Grey says the body was dismembered somewhere else then dumped. They don't know if dismembered before or after death.
Click to expand...

http://fox45now.com/news/local/sher...and-lake-st-marys-in-jan-2016-was-dismembered
 
To help find the man’s identity, the Sheriff’s Office reached out to a group known as IsoForensics. The organization performed geolocation services that predicted the man may have spent the last 10 years before his death in various portions of the United States.

The predictions already provided by IsoForensics indicated the man may have also spent time in portions of Michigan. Because the body was found near U.S. Route 127, which runs through Michigan, the Sheriff’s Office contacted multiple counties in the area to check on missing persons.
The Sheriff’s Office was directed to the Michigan Intelligence Operations Center, but the agency was unable to provide any new information. The office previously requested missing persons information from a 250-mile radius around Mercer County. There were six missing persons who fit the profile, but they have all been ruled out.
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http://limaohio.com/news/248664/bones-found-in-mercer-county-indicate-man-was-dismembered
 
2017-06-14_1_full.jpg

The forensics test, conducted by IsoForensics Geo-location Services, tested the oxygen in the bones, which helps narrow down the approximate area where the victim had lived in the last 10 years.

Grey showed the map provided by the company, pointing out two specific areas of interest.

"What has us intrigued right now is this area in Michigan and a little dot on the map in Kentucky," he said. "Both of those are on U.S. 127. We've cut down our search area from the whole United States to this area."

Another test is being done on a bone fragment to measure the minerals in the water. Results are due back in about a month to six weeks. Grey said, he will be very interested to see if the results from the bone oxygen map will intersect with the results from the water minerals test.

Grey said he is publicly releasing these details as the focus of the investigation has shifted from trying to identify the killer to identifying the victim.
Click to expand...
http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/2017-06-14/stories/32390/bones-victims-origin-narrowed
 
Announcement on police FB page from their press conference:

Press Release

Celina, OH-Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey today gave an update on the murder investigation that was discovered in January 2016. Skeletal remains were located on January 3, 2016 on US 127 near Coldwater Creek by someone walking their dog.

The bones, after examination by Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Murray, were determined to be human bones. A two day search of the area resulted in more skeletal remains being found.

Dr. Murray then completed an autopsy of the skeletal remains. She was able to determine that the victim was a male, age range 20-35, 5’7”-6’1”. She also concluded the remains were left in the elements less than 12 months, but probably only 3-4 months.

Evidence showed the victim was dismembered and a complete skeleton was not recovered. A full DNA profile was extracted by the University of North Texas at the request of the Sheriff’s Office.

The DNA information was loaded into CODIS (FBI’s Combined DNA Index System) and into NAMUS (National Missing and Unidentified Person System). The DNA did not match anyone in either system.

In May 2017 the Sheriff’s Office requested ISO Forensics to pull oxygen isotopes from the remains to predict areas of the United States that the victim could be from.

Detectives continued to work the case, following up on any found skeletal remains from throughout the country and maintained contact with Ohio BCI analysts. In January 2020, an analyst at Ohio BCI became intrigued about a missing person case from Columbus, OH. The person had went missing in the time frame suspected in our case and the person fit the description Dr. Murray gave.

It was determined that the missing person did not have a DNA profile in the databases. Columbus Police Department then reached out to the parents of the missing person to request their DNA. After receiving their DNA, Ohio BCI Labs were able to make a positive match that our victim was, in fact, the person missing from Columbus.

Our Victim is Ryan R. Zimmerman, age 22 at time reported missing, from Corbin, KY, which matches an area that ISO Forensics suggested that he could be from. Ryan moved to Columbus, OH in August 2015, to meet some friends he had met on the Internet.

Ryan’s family had not had contact with him since September 27, 2015, and when his father got a letter that his vehicle, the one Ryan was driving, had been impounded, he reported Ryan missing after not being able to get in touch with him.
Attached is a photo of Ryan taken shortly before he moved to Columbus.

The Mercer County Sheriff’s Office is looking for anyone who may have seen Ryan in Mercer County or Columbus, OH. If anyone has any information or remembers seeing Ryan, please contact the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at 419.586.1450 or by calling the tip line at 567.890.TIPS (8477).

103643316_1353030611574474_1896828911861287801_o.jpg


Direct link - https://www.facebook.com/MercerSheriff/posts/1353031088241093
 
Man's bones finally identified

Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey announced a major break in the homicide case during a Tuesday afternoon news conference, saying Zimmerman had moved from Corbin, Kentucky, to Columbus in August 2015 because he had met and developed friendships with some people on the internet.

Grey added that Zimmerman liked to play internet games that involved communication with others. Zimmerman's parents last had contact with their son on Sept. 27, 2015, Grey said.
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"We do have some information on what I'll call subjects of interest," Grey said. "At this point we're not going to disclose that information … as we want to locate them."
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Investigators basically found the skeleton of a torso without a skull or any bones below the elbows or below the knees.
"We don't have a complete skeleton, but it's very clear that the body was dismembered," Grey said. "We can show that the head was actually cut off at the spinal column. We have the saw marks that indicate that."

Investigators have not located the skull, though, and believe it was discarded in another location, Grey said, adding this fact suggests whoever is responsible was trying to prevent identification of the remains.
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A woman walking her dog on Jan. 3 near state park land, east of U.S. 127, in a wooded area along Grand Lake reportedly found several bones and notified the sheriff's office. The skeletal remains were lying in plain view near the mouth of Coldwater Creek.

"There has to be a connection to bring people up here. If you're not from this area you wouldn't have known about that location … or if you weren't with somebody from this area," Grey said.
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"We do have some ideas on why (he was killed) and the circumstances surrounding (the homicide)."
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The time frames also aligned, Grey said. Zimmerman's father on Nov. 17, 2015 filed a missing person's report with the Columbus Police Department after learning that the father's car the son had been driving had been impounded in Columbus.
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Grey said his office may in the future release photos of people of interest in the case.

Man's bones finally identified
 
I’ve followed this case since Ryan’s body was identified using ISOforensics. I was wondering if anyone noticed the string of dismembered body parts and people that have been found in Ohio in the past 5 years. First there was Ryan’s body, found in January 2016. Then there was the death and discovery of the body of a woman found in Cleveland, Ohio, this year in February.

Burning body found in Ohio missing head, hands, feet, sources say | News Break

Could there be a serial killer, authorities don’t want us to know about?



Recently I also learned about the murder and dismemberment of Cecily Cornett, whose killer was apprehended after neighbors complained of a smell in a barrel behind the culprits home.

Man dismembered woman’s body before discarding in barrel, arrest report states



I don’t know if these cases are related. The lack of effort that went into disposal of Cecily‘s body is what makes me think they aren’t connected. Though we won’t know until further investigation.
 
Marion woman arrested in dismembering; her wife/second suspect dies by suicide

The Mercer County Sheriff’s Office Thursday morning announced a major break in a five-and-a-half year old homicide case. A Marion, Indiana woman has been arrested in connection with the dismemberment killing of Ryan Zimmerman back in 2015.

Sheriff Jeff Grey opened the news conference by saying he had some “sad news, good news, and bad news,” before announcing that Sarah Buzzard, 30, was taken into custody Wednesday. Buzzard’s wife, also a suspect shot herself dead when police served an arrest warrant.
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They spoke with his parents and learned Zimmerman had moved to Columbus in the months before his death. He had moved in with Sarah Buzzard and her ex-husband who he had met on social media. Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey Mercer said he made a promise to the parents that they would get an answer concerning their son’s death.
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Sheriff Grey said in the last 14 months numerous search warrants were served on various tech companies, specifically social media firms, some of which Grey admitted he had never heard of, meaning sites other than Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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Detectives then established that possible suspects lived in Marion, Indiana. They also learned of a possible witness who lived in North Carolina and they interviewed that person. Earlier this month they were able to find out exactly where the killing and dismemberment took place.
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On Wednesday, Sarah Buzzard was taken into custody and faces four counts of tampering with evidence, one count of grand theft auto and two counts of abuse of a corpse. When detectives served the search warrant on Buzzard’s wife, Naria Jenna Whitaker pulled a handgun from her purse and shot herself dead in front of five police officers.

Marion woman arrested in dismembering; her wife/second suspect dies by suicide | WANE 15
 
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