LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Ann Arbor Police Department are jointly investigating a 1986 homicide after confirming the victim’s identity as 25-year-old Robert Lee Stuewe.
Stuewe, who was reported missing to Ann Arbor police in June 1986, was found dead two months later on a property in Norvell Township in Jackson County. The body couldn’t be identified at the time due to decomposition and a lack of identification. An autopsy determined the manner of death was homicide, and the case was listed as “John Doe” for decades.
Investigators now say a series of developments led to the identification:
- June 1986: Ann Arbor police take a missing report for Stuewe, 25.
- August 1986: Norvell Township police respond to the 12000 block of Wamplers Lake Road for a decomposed body. The victim is not identified; the death is ruled a homicide.
- Late 1980s: Dental records used to compare the missing person and the John Doe are mistakenly from a relative of Stuewe—a fact only discovered years later. The case remains “John Doe.”
- 2008: The Norvell Township case is turned over to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
- 2015: Sheriff’s detectives work with the Michigan State Police Biometrics Unit to develop a facial sketch, enter it into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS), and release it to the media. Tips come in, but none match.
- 2019: An Ann Arbor Police Department analyst connects Stuewe’s missing person case to the NAMUS sketch. With the correct dental records, investigators make a conclusive match: the John Doe found in Norvell Township in 1986 is Robert Lee Stuewe.
Nearly four decades later, detectives say advancements in forensic testing may yield new clues. Evidence recovered from the Norvell Township scene has been sent to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab for further analysis. Investigators aren’t releasing additional details to protect the integrity of the case…