Boardman police Captain Albert Kakasick, right, speaks as police Chief Todd Werth looks on Tuesday afternoon at a news conference at the Boardman Township Government Center at which they announced that the 1972 murder of 12-year-old Brad Bellino had finally been solved.

BOARDMAN — More than 50 years after the killing of 12-year-old Brad Bellino, Boardman police are confident they know the identity of his killer, Chief Todd Werth announced Tuesday.

Werth identified Joseph Norman Hill, deceased, of Yucapia, Calif., as the man who killed Bellino on Easter weekend 1972 at a news conference Tuesday.

Police used DNA evidence collected in 2001 to link Hill to the crime.

“While Hill cannot be fully held accountable for his horrendous crime, our hope is that after 50-some years, knowing who was responsible brings some closure to the people involved in this case,” Werth said.

Said retired Boardman police officer Robert Rupp, who was an original investigator on the case: “Ever since that day that I stood at the dumpster and saw them pull that boy out, I’ve thought of this case every day of my life.”

Now, he said, when he thinks about the case of Bellino going forward, he will do so knowing the boy is finally at peace.

THE CASE

Bellino was last seen leaving a friend’s house on Teakwood Drive around 7:30 p.m. March 31, 1972. Reports indicate he was walking to his family’s house on McClurg Road. After he did not arrive, his family reported him missing around 3:20 p.m. the next day, Werth said.

A worker collecting garbage found his body around 8 a.m. April 4 in a dumpster behind what was Isalay’s Dairy Store at Boardman Plaza. A belt was wrapped around his neck, his pants were pulled down and there were indications of sexual assault, according to reports.

Despite rumors Bellino was held captive for up to a day, he died within hours of leaving his friend’s house because an autopsy revealed the undigested dinner he had eaten there, said Boardman police Capt. Albert Kakascik. There were also no marks on his hands or feet that would indicate he was bound.

Over the following years, police would develop many leads and conduct many investigations and polygraph tests, but none would lead to conclusive evidence, Kakascik said.

DNA

In 2001, the case was reopened. The boy’s body was exhumed and DNA evidence was collected. DNA was also taken from the clothing Bellino was wearing at the time of the murder. Investigators found DNA that did not belong to Bellino.

Police later submitted the suspect’s DNA to the Combined DNA Index System, but never got a match, Werth said.

In 2018, Boardman police began working with Parabon Nanolabs, a Reston, Va.-based company that provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement agencies.

Phenotyping uses DNA to narrow down suspects a group of people with certain physical characteristics or an extended family tree.

Parabon told Boardman police they were likely looking for a man of European descent with fair or very fair skin with freckles, brown or hazel eyes and black or brown hair, according to Kakascik.

Working through a family tree of suspects, police first looked at people who fit the profile as they began collecting DNA and eliminating possibilities. It was a difficult process, in part because family trees don’t necessarily take into consideration births out of wedlock or adoptions, and because not every suspect would willingly give DNA, Kakascik said.

HILL

When investigators looked into the most recent branch of the family tree provided by Parabon, a relative voluntarily gave DNA that showed Hill as a 98 percent match for the DNA found on Bellino’s body.

A 100 percent match is not possible because Hill was cremated after his death in July 2019 and he has no DNA on record to test, Kakascik said. However, a forensic scientist with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation was comfortable agreeing it was Hill’s DNA, according to Kakascik.

Hill was 32-years-old and living on Shadyside Drive in Boardman at the time of the murder, according to Werth. He drove a truck for a bottled water company and moved to California around 1978 for work reasons, Kakascik said.

Police could find no connection to the Bellino family or the boy. Werth and Kakascik said they believe Hill acted alone.

Hill’s only criminal background was a 1986 conviction in Los Angeles for disorderly conduct and solicitation for a rude act, Werth said. His wife died in 1993, and he had “very limited family,” leading to “very limited information.”

Still, there was no indication that Hill lived anything but a normal life when he was in Boardman, Werth said.

Hill’s last address was in an assisted living facility in California. He died of natural causes.

CLOSURE

Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova said Tuesday her team had reviewed the evidence compiled by the Boardman police. She said that, were Hill still alive, she would have been comfortable presenting it to a grand jury.

“You know, 50 years a child is lost — and I have children — I can’t even imagine what it would be like, and what the family must have gone through having no closure for such a long time,” DeGenova said.

She praised the work of the Boardman police officers who didn’t give up after half a century and who utilized technology as it improved.

Werth said investigators over the years followed “several hundred, if not thousands of leads,” and thanked a number of officers who worked on the case, including Rupp, who was at the news conference, and former police Chief Jack Nichols.

Of Kakascik, Werth said, “I can’t say enough about his professionalism, initiative, diligence and perseverance on this case.”

The yearslong effort to track DNA evidence cost, in total, just over $29,000 — but it was money well spent to bring closure to the family, Werth said.

He said the family did not want to issue a public statement and asked that no one attempt to contact them while they processed the new information and continued to heal.

OTHER CASES

Boardman police have been in contact with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in California to see if any additional unsolved cases can be linked to Hill, Werth said.

He encouraged anyone who knew Hill during his time in Boardman to reach out to the Boardman police department at 330-726 4144.

During Tuesday’s press conference, Werth and Kakascik also fielded questions about two other unsolved 1970s murders of boys from Boardman — Thomas Baird, 15, who died in 1970, David Evans, 13, who died in 1975.

Kakascik said police don’t believe that Thomas’ death was related to Bellino’s because the circumstances were different. Thomas was beaten and was able to communicate a little with police before dying in a hospital, he said.

Werth said the department is currently revisiting Evans’ case and that he could not comment on an open investigation.