The upstate New York family thought that they had taken their missing sisters to rest years ago.
But three years later, Shanita Hopkins and her family got shocking news. They saddened strangers.
“We mixed mom and this stranger,” Hopkins said. I spoke to WROC 8 this week The family put it in a necklace, referring to her mother’s ashes.
In February 2024, Hopkins and her family were told that the disintegrated body of their missing sister, Shanis Crue, had been found in the empty Rochester lot.
According to an autopsy report reviewed by WROC 8, the two mothers’ death was a cocaine overdose, but her sister alleged that the 32-year-old crew was not drugs.
“Reading an autopsy was traumatic… to hear it is one thing, you know what I’m saying, but it’s another thing to actually read it, and her name is attached to it. [own]? “Hopkins, 36, remembered.
“Your heart is just engrossed,” she lamented.
No one in her family was allowed to see the body because it was disassembled so badly, so she urged a quick cremation, Hopkins said.
The family held a service and funeral for the crew in the summer, mixing together what they thought were with their mother’s ashes.
However, things took an astonishing turn in November when Hopkins received a text from an unknown individual from Detroit.
“Her first message is ‘Ma’am’ – along with a photo of my sister – “Ma’am, I’m worried, your sister is not dead. She volunteered at my event today.” This is just a random message,” Hopkins said. “My first response was, “What, what? What are you reading now?”
Surprised, Hopkins immediately contacted the police. Police pointed her to the Monroe County Clinic Medical Examiner’s Office. There, personnel claimed that the crew’s dental records matched the body.
Unconvinced, Hopkins urged her to investigate by showing her text messages and photos of the crew she received.
The crew sister and the crew son who shared the same mom and dad were brought in for a DNA test to see if the authorities matched the person they identified as the crew.
The outcome was not a match, Hopkins recalled.
Since then, the family has been experiencing a roller coaster of emotions.
“It’s something we still have to relive… You can’t get back the moment the cops came, and we know that Shanice’s crew is dead outside like garbage. You can’t get rid of the first emotions to them, you can’t get it back.
The Monroe County Clinic office told WROC 8 in a statement that “using industry-standard scientific methods, we will timely identify the deceased’s artefacts and prepare appropriate notices for families,” but declined to comment on the allegations.
Still upset by the shocking turn of events, the crew’s family is now seeking legal representation.
“After I came and told her that my sister was alive, she told me that her dental records were identical to the dental records.
“They couldn’t know who this was and wanted to close the case of the missing person,” Hopkins cried, adding that the office of the medical inspector, which subsequently recovered the ashes her family had been given.
The office told the crew’s family they would refund the money spent on memorial and cremation.
According to Hopkins, they have not yet reunited with the crew despite attempts to track her through Detroit authorities.
“We can’t force her to talk to us… but she’s alive and fine,” Hopkins said.
“I love her… I don’t think I’m going to get through my anger, but I know how it feels – sorry – I know I think she’s dead… I want her to know that no matter what we’re doing, it doesn’t matter.
