Tuscarawas County investigators say a son admitted cutting up his father’s body after finding him dead.
DOVER TOWNSHIP, OH — A 1998 cold case involving human remains found in two suitcases in Tuscarawas County has been solved after advanced DNA testing identified the victim as Lawrence A. Drotleff, sheriff’s officials said.
The breakthrough closes a case that began with a roadside discovery by children and stayed open for more than 28 years. Investigators said the remains belonged to Drotleff, who was born Aug. 6, 1904, and would have been 93 when the suitcases were found. Authorities identified his son, 81-year-old Larry J. Drotleff of Euclid, as the person who disposed of the body and later became the focus of federal financial charges.
The case began Feb. 1, 1998, when a group of children found a suitcase along Winkler Hill Road in Dover Township. Deputies who responded found a pelvis and part of one leg inside. About a week later, a second suitcase containing a torso was found along Boltz Orchard Road in Jefferson Township, roughly 10 to 15 miles away. Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis L. Campbell said the case stayed with investigators because of the condition of the remains and the lack of a name. “It remains difficult to comprehend that the greed of theft could cause someone to treat their father’s body in this manner,” Campbell said.
Investigators collected evidence from the suitcases and remains in 1998, including DNA and fingerprints, but the technology available at the time did not identify the man or point to a suspect. Leads came in over the years, officials said, but none solved the case. In 2023, Campbell assigned Detective Sgt. Ryan Hamilton and the sheriff’s detective bureau to review whether newer DNA methods could help. The office worked with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and criminal intelligence analysts Lisa Savage and Jen Dillion, who helped locate a possible living family member in Euclid. Further DNA testing tied that relative to the remains and confirmed the body was Lawrence A. Drotleff.
The family link led investigators to Larry Drotleff, who authorities said had already been investigated for collecting Social Security and retirement funds after his father’s death. During the earlier financial inquiry, officials said, Larry Drotleff told investigators his father had moved away. Detectives later said that statement hid the central fact in the case. When investigators interviewed him again in January 2024, he told them he came home from work in 1998 and found his father dead. Officials said he denied killing his father but admitted using a hand saw to dismember the body.
Larry Drotleff told investigators that some body parts were small enough to place in trash bags and throw into dumpsters near where he worked, officials said. Other remains, including larger body parts, were placed in suitcases and left in Tuscarawas County. Authorities have not said they found evidence proving Lawrence Drotleff was killed, and the case has not been described by the sheriff’s office as a solved homicide. The cause and manner of death remain limited by the age and condition of the evidence. Sheriff’s officials said the investigation instead resolved the identity of the remains, the disposal of the body and the alleged financial motive that followed.
The sheriff’s office said state charges for abuse of a corpse are not available because the statute of limitations has expired. Investigators worked with federal authorities on financial charges tied to benefits collected after Lawrence Drotleff’s death. Federal filings accuse Larry Drotleff of stealing $111,485 in Social Security benefits and $135,040.36 from his father’s General Electric pension. Together, the alleged thefts total more than $246,000. Capt. Adam Fisher of the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office said the delay did not mean the case was forgotten. “We do care. We don’t forget,” Fisher said.
The case drew attention in Dover Township and Jefferson Township because of how the remains were found and because children made the first discovery. For years, the unidentified man was known only through the two suitcases and the evidence inside them. The sheriff’s office said seized drug money from an older case helped pay for advanced DNA work that finally produced a usable path forward. The DNA results gave investigators a name, restored the victim’s identity and connected the remains to a family member who had been living more than 80 miles north of Tuscarawas County.
Officials said the case now moves through the federal court process on the financial charges. No state charge related to the handling of the remains is expected under the current statute of limitations. The sheriff’s office said the investigation showed how older evidence can still matter when new forensic tools become available. The office also said the case remained a priority because of the treatment of Lawrence Drotleff’s body and the long effort to learn who he was.
The remains found in 1998 have now been identified, and the man authorities say disposed of them has been named. The next milestone is the federal case against Larry Drotleff, where the benefit and pension allegations will be handled in court.
Author note: Last updated April 27, 2026.