Anthony Bernard Gulley’s 1994 disappearance was solved this year by police and forensic experts in Ohio.
In a Tuesday press conference, Stark County Sheriff Eric Weisburn said the Pontiac man’s remains were found on Dec. 22, 2001, in Canton, Ohio, but remained unidentified until recent efforts by several agencies starting on Sept. 7, 2023. The sheriff’s office continued asking for tips from the public while working with Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Ohio State University’s advanced computing center for the arts and design and others.
BCI created a clay facial reconstruction and OSU created a digital image of what the man might have looked like.
Gulley was known only as Stark County’s John Doe until advanced DNA testing and other technology helped find his family.
Weisburn said the suspect in Gulley’s murder is George Frederick Washington, known as Ricky Washington, also from Michigan.
Stark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Johnson said Gulley, 24, had a job and four children.
“Overall, he was a good person. He wasn’t into any criminal activities that we found,” he said.
He was last seen by his sister on Sept. 3, 1994. But he didn’t report for work on Sept. 5 and on Sept. 11, his sister went to the Pontiac police to file a missing persons report.
A forensic investigation found Gully was shot dead, with a bullet wound to his left shoulder blade and collarbone, Johnson said.
He said Oakland County Sheriff’s Office had kept Gulley’s missing-person file after the Pontiac police department was disbanded in 2011. Stark County deputies were able to meet Gulley’s family in Pontiac and work on making connections.
Police said it appears that Washington killed Gulley in Pontiac in September 1994, then drove Gulley’s car to Ohio to dispose of the body.
Akron police detectives were looking for Washington, a suspect in two rapes and an armed robbery. Washington had childhood ties to Akron. He died in a Sept. 30, 1994, confrontation with police that led to a gunfight and ended with his self-inflicted gunshot. Investigators suspected him in Gulley’s disappearance. Gulley’s burned car was found in Akron on Sept. 12 but a search for his body was unsuccessful.
Although a DNA profile was developed, it did not match any identities known to law enforcement through a shared database, the Combined DNA Index System.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said it’s one of those bittersweet announcements.
“It’s a sobering reminder that behind every cold case is a family – and a victim with friends and loved ones. My heart goes out to the family … and I hope this gives you some sense of closure after all these years,” he said.
Yost called BCI a force multiplier for the sheriffs’ offices and local police departments.
Samantha Reeb, a BCI criminal intelligence analyst, said she’s seen the toll on a family waiting to learn what’s happened to a missing loved one. She said there’s a lot of new technology that can be used on every missing-person or unidentified-remains case.
Traci Onders, an investigative genetic genealogist and search specialist with the DNA Doe Project, said she hoped the news would provide solace to Gulley’s family and friends. The DNA Doe Project provides free services to help people gather DNA and share results with two websites, GEDmatch.com and FamilyTreeDNA.com to find potential matches in cases of unidentified victims. Onders said they also build a family tree based on DNA to find unique qualities that help confirm a match. In Gulley’s case, they also used a 1993 news report of his disappearance to line up dates.
Once the lab results were returned, she said, Anthony Gulley’s remains were identified within 24 hours.
She said she was glad the family could have some relief from the ambiguity of his loss and the opportunity to bring him home.
Weisburn said Gulley’s daughter cried when police gave her the news.
“It’s been an honor for us to give Mr. Gulley his name back. I hope it has given him a measure of peace,” Weisburn said.