With advanced DNA testing a decades old case has been solved.
Investigators with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office have identified the dismembered human remains found in two suitcases along Winkler Hill Road in Dover Township and Boltz Orchard Rd in Jefferson Township back in 1998.
Advanced DNA testing confirmed the remains belonged to Lawrence A. Drotleff, who would have been 93 years old at the time.
In January of 2024, Captain Adam Fisher and Sgt Ryan Hamilton travelled to Euclid and interviewed his son, Larry J. Drotleff, who’s now 81, and he told detectives he did not kill his father, claiming he discovered him deceased when he came home from work. He admitted to cutting up his father’s body and disposing of the remains. Investigators say he continued collecting his father’s retirement and Social Security benefits afterward.
Although the statute of limitations has expired for an abuse‑of‑a‑corpse charge, federal prosecutors have now charged him with stealing more than $246,000 in Social Security and pension funds. The case is currently pending in federal court.
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