When multiple matches point to the same common ancestor — when the trees of several different matched individuals converge on the same great-great-grandparent or their sibling’s lineage — the convergence identifies the relevant family. The descendants of that family in the appropriate generation become the candidate pool for identification.
In the Chandler case, the convergence pointed to the Nichols family of Indiana. The specific generation indicated by the DNA evidence pointed to a son of Silas and Alpha Nichols — a man who would have been born in the late 1920s, consistent with the approximately 75-year-old deceased who had died in 2002.
Research into the children of Silas and Alpha Nichols identified Robert Ivan Nichols, born September 12, 1926, who had left his family in 1964 and had never been heard from again. The disappearance, the approximate age, the surname, and the Indiana origin all aligned. Additional documentary research found that Nichols had been associated with a false address on a rental agreement — a detail that provided additional investigative confirmation that the candidate had lived in Ohio under circumstances consistent with concealment.
The genealogical case was strong enough to justify seeking biological confirmation. Investigators identified Philip Nichols, one of Robert’s sons, as living in Cincinnati, Ohio, and contacted him in March 2018.
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## Philip Nichols in Cincinnati: Fifty-Three Years of Silence Ends
Philip Nichols was somewhere in his mid-fifties when investigators contacted him in early 2018. He had been, in a real sense, fatherless since 1965 — since the letter from Napa, California, with the penny inside, which was the last communication any of his family received from his father.