COLD CASE

40-Year-Old Remains Identified as Member of The O’Jays

Frankie Little went missing sometime in the 1970s.

Remains first discovered in 1982 in Twinsburg, Ohio, have been identified as belonging to a one-time member of a band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Frank “Frankie” Little Jr. wrote songs and played guitar with R&B group The O’Jays in the 1960s, but he disappeared sometime in the 1970s. His incomplete remains were found in a garbage bag behind a Twinsburg business, though his skull was found in nearby woods separate from the rest. An anthropologist estimated they were years old even then. A cause of death has not been identified. Authorities were able to trace and identify his bones via DNA and genealogical databases, which led them to Little’s cousins. Little’s cousin Margaret O’Sullivan told the Akron Beacon Journal, “We’re glad that we have closure now. We know he’s deceased.” Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said of the breakthrough, “I’m very excited we were able to put a name to these remains and to get him back to his family and give his family that piece of closure.”