Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office’s G.O.L.D. Unit (Genetic Operations Linking DNA) has identified seven cold case sexual assault offenders through familial DNA searching and forensic genetic genealogy since November 2024.
In all these cases, a unique male DNA profile was successfully developed from a victim’s sexual assault kit. However, at the time, the profile but did not produce any leads from the offender DNA database. As a result, prosecutors obtained a “John Doe” indictment against the DNA profile to ensure that the statute of limitations did not expire before authorities were able to identify the man associated with the profile.
Through familial DNA searching and forensic genetic genealogy, DNA results over the last five months have now identified seven of these “John Does”. Arrests have been made where possible, with two of the suspects already deceased. A second suspect from one of the below cases is still unidentified.
- John Doe 112 has been identified as suspect Douglas Freeman
- John Doe 180 has been identified as suspect Ellis Williams
- John Doe 95 has been identified as suspect Darien Eiland
- John Doe 134 has been identified as suspect Gary Tennyson
- John Doe 188 has been identified as suspect Vinson Miller
- John Doe 18 has been identified as suspect Bruce Williams
- John Doe 100 has been identified as suspect Edmund Scott Sr.
John Doe 112
On June 11, 1996, an 18-year-old female was waiting for the bus near West 98th Street and Lorain Avenue in Cleveland. Two unknown males approached the victim and offered her a ride. She asked if they could drive her to a specific location, and they agreed. They then drove her to an abandoned house in Cleveland, and sexually assaulted her.
After the sexual assault, they drove the victim near West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue and kicked her out of the vehicle. A good Samaritan picked up the victim and drove her to a nearby hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected. A unique, unknown male DNA profile was developed from the victim’s sexual assault kit—identified as John Doe 112 with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office’s (CCPO).
The CCPO submitted John Doe 112’s DNA profile to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office (AGO) for familial DNA searching. AGO was able to connect John Doe 112’s DNA profile to that of Douglas Freeman, now 61. Freeman was arrested by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department on Nov. 8, 2024.
Steven Ward, now 53, was previously identified as the second assailant and was prosecuted by this office in 2017.
John Doe 180
On April 13, 2012, a 22-year-old female victim attended a party with her friends near Denison Avenue and West 69th Street in Cleveland. Two unknown males approached the victim and offered her a drink that made her feel paralyzed. The two unknown males then sexually assaulted the victim. After the sexual assault, the victim’s friends found her and transported her to a hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected. Two unique male DNA profiles were developed from the victim’s sexual assault kit but did not produce any leads. Thus, the DNA profile became known as John Doe 180 and John Doe 181.
The CCPO submitted John Doe 180’s DNA profile to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for familial DNA searching. AGO was able to connect John Doe 180’s DNA profile to that of Ellis Williams, now 35. Williams was arrested by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department on Nov. 18, 2024.
John Doe 181 remains unidentified.
John Doe 95
On Oct. 4, 1995, a 19-year-old female victim was walking near East 110th Street and St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland. Two unknown males approached the victim in a car. They pointed a gun at the victim and ordered her to get inside their vehicle. They drove to a motel on Euclid Avenue and entered a motel room. One of the males then sexually assaulted the victim. After the sexual assault, the two unknown males robbed the victim and fled the scene.
The victim went to a hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected. A unique male DNA profile became known as “John Doe 95” when no identifying matches could be found.
The CCPO submitted John Doe 95’s DNA profile to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for familial DNA searching. AGO was able to connect John Doe 95’s DNA profile to that of Darien Eiland, now 54. Eiland was arrested by the West Chester Township Police Department with assistance from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department on Dec. 2, 2024.
John Doe 134
On May 17, 1998, the 26-year-old female victim was walking on Old River Road in the Flats in Downtown Cleveland. An unknown male approached the victim, grabbed her, and forced her into a semi-truck. He then beat and sexually assaulted the victim. After the sexual assault, he released her from the vehicle. The victim went to a hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected. A unique male DNA profile was developed from the victim’s sexual assault kit but did not produce any leads in the offender DNA database—becoming known as John Doe 134.
AGO was recently able to connect John Doe 134’s DNA profile to that of Gary Tennyson, 28, at the time of his death in September 1998. Tennyson died in a motor vehicle accident four months after the attack. Because Tennyson is deceased the charges against him were dismissed as abated by death.
John Doe 188
On Aug. 15, 2012, a 24-year-old victim went with family members to an establishment near Urbana Road and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Later in the evening, the victim exited the establishment, got into their car, and fell asleep in the back seat. An unknown male entered the vehicle and sexually assaulted her. The victim woke up during the assault but lost consciousness again. The unknown male then fled the scene. The victim’s family transported her to a hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected.
A unique male DNA profile was developed from the victim’s sexual assault kit but did not produce any leads. As a result, prosecutors obtained a John Doe indictment against the DNA profile—John Doe 188.
Through familial DNA searching, AGO was able to connect John Doe 188’s DNA profile to that of Vinson Miller, now 39. Miller was arrested by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department on Dec. 9, 2024.
John Doe 100
On Nov. 13, 1995, a 28-year-old female victim was walking near East 105th Street and St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland when a vehicle pulled up. An unknown male exited the vehicle. He asked the victim if he could walk with her, then he grabbed her throat, pushed her down and sexually assaulted her. After the sexual assault, he fled the scene, and a passerby observed the victim crying and shaking and walked her home, where she called 911. The victim was transported to a hospital and a sexual assault kit was collected.
A unique, unknown male DNA profile was developed from the victim’s sexual assault kit—“John Doe 100.”
This month, AGO used familial searching to connect John Doe #100’s DNA profile to that of Edmund Scott, Sr. He was arrested by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department on March 14, 2025.
John Doe 18
While the other six leads came from familial searching, CCPO used genetic genealogy to identify John Doe 18.
On Jan. 29, 1994, a 21-year-old female victim got off the bus near East 131st Street and Corlett Avenue in Cleveland and started walking to her first day of work at a new job. An unknown male approached the victim and forced her at knifepoint behind the former Alexander Hamilton School. He sexually assaulted her then fled the scene. After the sexual assault, the victim walked to work and called the police. She was transported to a hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected.
Less than a year later, on Sept. 25, 1995, another 27-year-old female was waiting to get into a shelter near East 30th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. An unknown male approached her and asked her for a lighter. When the victim handed him her lighter, he grabbed her and forced her inside his vehicle. He held her at knifepoint as he drove to an area near East 32nd Street and Cedar Avenue in Cleveland, where he sexually and physically assaulted her. After the sexual assault, he pushed her out of his vehicle and fled the scene. The victim was transported to a hospital where a sexual assault kit was collected.
The DNA from both sexual assault kits match one unknown male. With no leads in the offender database, the profile became known as “John Doe 18.”
The CCPO and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s DNA lab (BCI) reviewed the evidence and sent John Doe 18’s DNA profile to genealogy laboratory Gene by Gene. From there, investigative genetic genealogists at Firebird Forensics were able to connect John Doe 18’s DNA profile to that of Bruce Williams, age 53 at the time of his death on Sept. 30, 2017.
As a result of additional investigation and forensic analysis, including DNA comparisons, CCPO determined that Bruce Williams is John Doe 18. The original John Doe 18 indictment was amended to reflect his true name as the defendant. Because Williams is deceased, the charges against him were dismissed as abated by death.
Information from CCPO