40 Year Cold Case Murder Victim Dumped in Garbage Bag Turns out to be Former Bandmate of The O’Jays
In 1982 Twinsburg, Ohio, police found the remains of a black man between the age of 20 and 35 (he would be 78 today) in a garbage bag.
There was no DNA in those days, and his body was decomposed.
Frank “Frankie” Little Jr. disappeared in the mid-70s without a trace. He was a bandmate and co-writer for the O’Jays.
Recently the case was reopened, and they found Little’s cousin after Twinsburg detective Eric Hendershott brought the nonprofit DNA identification group the DNA Doe Project on board in late 2019. They determined the deceased man’s last name was Little.
They also found his cousin still living in the Cleveland area who referred detectives to his brother living in Georgia.
Detectives got his DNA, and it was a match. Little’s body was found in 1982 and it is now being ruled a homicide, and the case has been reopened to investigate and find the killer.
The O’Jays from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1958 and got their group name from radio dj Eddie O’Jay. The group originally consisted of Eddie Levert (born June 16, 1942), Walter Lee Williams (born August 25, 1943), William Powell (January 20, 1942 – May 26, 1977), Bobby Massey (born 1942, Canton) and Bill Isles (January 4, 1941 – March 28, 2019).
The O’Jays made their first chart appearance with the minor hit “Lonely Drifter” in 1963, but reached their greatest level of success once Gamble & Huff, a team of producers and songwriters, signed them to their Philadelphia International label in 1972. With Gamble & Huff, the O’Jays (now a trio after the departure of Isles and Massey) emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with “Back Stabbers” (1972), and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 the following year with “Love Train.”
Several other US R&B hits followed, and the O’Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2013 they were inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.
