Feds Won't Say If Newly Identified Ohio Mystery Man Was Zodiac Killer

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U.S. Marshals Service

U.S. Marshals have revealed the identity of an Eastlake man who killed himself in 2002 while using the name of an 8-year-old boy who died in a 1945 car accident. 

 U.S. Marshal Pete Elliot says DNA testing and genealogy helped determine that Joseph Chandler III was actually 76-year-old Robert Nichols. 

Elliot says it's not known why Nichols broke contact with his family in 1965 and appeared in Ohio 13 years later as Chandler. He says a records search found no crimes committed by Nichols under either name. 

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Elliot hopes tips from the public provide more clues. Elliot confirms Nichols spent time in San Francisco before coming to Ohio. He also refused to confirm or deny speculation that Nichols may have been the Zodiac Killer.  

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Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.