In 1987, a woman named Anita Wiley disappeared from her home in Detroit when her son Antonio was just 14 years old.
Her body wasn’t recovered until 33 years later, when a first-of-its-kind DNA program matched Antonio’s DNA with “Unknown Woman 1987,” his mother’s remains that were buried in a mass grave for unidentified bodies just a few miles away from where Antonio grew up.
Anita was one of nearly 700 people killed in Detroit that year at the height of the crack epidemic. But what happened to her? And why did it take more than three decades to find her body?
Her story is the subject of a new podcast from “Fresh Air” co-host Tonya Mosley, called “She Has A Name.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.