Human remains discovered in a wooded Akron parking lot last fall have been identified as a 36-year-old Stark County man who previously had a confrontation with deputies while wearing a black gown and white mask and carrying a knife.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office said the badly decomposed body found Sept. 30, 2025, near a parking lot at 1 Gojo Plaza was Jacob Paul Weisgarber. Authorities confirmed the identification Feb. 18 after DNA testing and notification of next of kin.
An autopsy was performed Oct. 1, 2025. Two days later, investigators publicly described the unidentified man as a white male about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing between 170 and 200 pounds, with brown crew-cut hair and visible chin hair. He had natural teeth with no dental work and was wearing extra-large West Loop sweatpants and Fruit of the Loom boxer shorts. The body also bore a star tattoo on the upper back and an abdominal tattoo reading “Family 1st.”
DNA samples were submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Oct. 23. When no immediate match was found, the profile was entered into the Combined DNA Index System on Jan. 29, 2026, and into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System on Feb. 10. Investigators received a positive DNA match Feb. 18, allowing the medical examiner’s office to confirm the identity.
Officials said the identification was possible because Weisgarber’s DNA profile was already on file from a prior arrest.
Court records show Weisgarber was involved in a Stark County incident on Sept. 17, 2024, in the 1400 block of Raff Road Southwest in Canton Township after callers reported a person in a costume carrying a knife. Deputies said the suspect, wearing a black gown and white mask, brandished the weapon and fled on foot.
Authorities said he ran from Raff Road onto U.S. Route 30 into active traffic, prompting deputies to stop vehicles to avoid a collision. He was eventually subdued with a Taser and taken into custody.
A Stark County grand jury indicted Weisgarber on Oct. 31, 2024, on charges of resisting arrest, obstructing official business, aggravated menacing and inducing panic. He pleaded guilty Nov. 27 and was sentenced to one year in prison with 65 days credit for time served. He was incarcerated at the Lorain Correctional Institution and would have been nearing release around the time his body was discovered. It’s unclear when his official release date was.
Authorities have not released a cause or manner of death, and the investigation remains ongoing.
