Human remains found in a shallow grave in Ohio in 1991 are those of a missing Columbus man, officials said Tuesday, marking another cold case homicide broken open by advancements in DNA and genealogical research.

The man was Robert Mullins, 21, who had vanished two or three years earlier, state prosecutors and Pickaway County sheriff’s deputies said.

“Thirty-one Christmases have come and gone, and I was thinking about the headstone with no name on it,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told reporters.

“We’re all going to die at some point. That’s the only thing that’s certain about our lives on this Earth. But what a tragedy to die unknown, to not have a name to put on the memorial. Today that circle closes.”

A pair of hunters stumbled upon Mullins’ skeleton north of State Route 56 just west of State Route 159 in Pickaway County on Nov. 1, 1991, state and local officials said.

Investigators originally believed the remains were those of a long-dead Native American woman, about 25, because the person was no taller than 5-foot-4 and because of the region’s connection to indigenous communities.

Eventually, anthropologists determined that the remains hadn’t been in the ground for more than three years. And it wasn’t until 2012 when University of North Texas researchers tested the DNA and determined that the body was that of a male with Indian ancestry, officials said.

In 2021, Pickaway County Sheriff’s Lt. Jonathan Strawser…