On the afternoon of July 30, 2002, the body of Joseph Chandler was discovered in the bathroom of his spartan studio apartment in Eastlake, Ohio. It had been an unusually hot summer in Northern Ohio—where Eastlake is a suburb of Cleveland sitting on the shoreline of Lake Erie—and Chandler had been dead for almost a week when a maintenance man discovered his body. The air conditioning in his room had been turned off and the fetid odor of rotting flesh filled the apartment. It was obvious to the investigating detective that Chandler had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but what he didn’t realize at the time was that Joseph Newton Chandler III had died in Texas as a young boy and the dead man was someone else entirely.

The Cleveland John Doe Case adeptly introduces Chandler—he had lived in the Dover Apartments for 17 years and worked at a nearby chemical factory for just as long, but he was like a ghost because no one knew anything about him—and the investigators working the case from when the body was discovered in 2002 until the early-2020s when DNA helped identify Chandler’s birth name. And there were five separate investigators, including a couple private eyes and the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio.

The investigative question changing over the years from "How did Chandler die?", to "Who was Chandler?", to "Why did Chandler live under an assumed identity?" It is an intriguing case from beginning to end and Raisse wrings the facts out with precise and fluid writing and an obvious high dosage of research gleaned from interviews with the investigators, Chandler’s family, police records, and other documents.

The only disappointment, and this hardly anything at all because it only adds to the mysterious nature of the case, is that the final investigative question, "Why did Chandler live under an assumed identity for so long?" is yet to be solved. But I tell you, as Raisse details in The Cleveland John Doe Case, there are a bevy of high-profile theories about what made Chandler take a new name. And each, as well The Cleveland John Doe Case in its entirety, are worth your reading time.

The Cleveland John Doe Case was translated into English from its original French by Laurie Bennett. It is part of Crime Ink’s 50 States of Crime series where French journalists reevaluate major American crimes; one for each of the 50 states of the U.S.

This review will be posted at darkcityunderground.blogspot.com and gravetapping.blogspot.com on April 14, 2025

I had the honor of reading an advance copy of this book thanks to NetGallery.

This a strange story surrounding a man who killed himself in 2002. They had began to investigate this man who lived a very quiet life only to find he was not who they believed. He seemed to have some things to hide and the book takes you on the journey of digging to find his true identy. A private investigator is hired. The pirvate investigator finds that this man isn’t actually the man he claims to be. Instead, He stole the identity of a young boy who died at 8 years old.

This has been a interesting case in the Fifty States of Crime series, it had that true crime element that I was looking for and had never heard of this case before. Thibault Raisse was able to tell the facts and story in a respectful manner and was engaged with what was happening. I'm excited to read more in this series as each book has been a strong true crime story.

This book is about a strange story surrounding a man who killed himself in 2002 in a sparsely furnished studio apartment. When they began investigating the man, they found that he had lived an overly quiet life. He seemed to have some things to hide, and the digging began in earnest. It turned out that he’d “borrowed” his identity and the search was on to find out who he really was, and why he’d hidden his true identity. Very strange story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

As a fan of true crime who watches Dateline, 48 Hours, and 20/20 all the time, this one caught my eye. It’s about a man whose body is found decomposing in his apartment. The death looks quite obviously like a suicide. Case closed? Not so much. As part of the process of dealing with his death, the state needs to find an heir. A private investigator is hired. And he finds that this man isn’t actually the man he claims to me. Instead, he stole the identity of a young boy who died at 8 years old. But why he did that remains a mystery.

I thought this book was interesting at times, but I thought some chapters were filler sections. The writing style is very much written as to-the-point-stated-facts and doesn’t have any kind of theatrical vibes to it. Personally, I would have enjoyed if other materials, like interviews, were included.

Overall, an interesting read!

I received a free copy of, The Cleveland John Doe Case, by Thibault Raisse, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Robert Ivan Nichols has quite a story, he left his wife and kids, and started a new life with a new name Joseph Newton Chandler III. This was an interesting read, but we have no real answers, about this con man.