By Robert Riggs

They were daughters. Mothers. Sisters. Strangers. Their lives ended violently—and their names were lost to time.

For more than half a century, Detroit’s forgotten dead lay buried beneath weeds and silence—unidentified murder victims dumped into paupers’ graves, sometimes stacked in vaults three-deep, known only by numbers in crumbling cemetery logs. No names. No justice. No answers.

This is the remarkable five-year journey of a team of relentless female

investigators who pledged to identify more than 200 victims of Detroit’s

outstanding murder cases.

Led by Detroit Police Detective Shannon Jones and FBI Special Agent Leslie Larsen, this group of dedicated women—detectives, agents, forensic anthropologists, and scientists—literally dug through

the past to bring closure to families and justice to the murdered.

Their quest became known as Operation UNITED, the largest coordinated exhumation of cold case murder victims in FBI history.

Katherine Schweit tells the story of this unprecedented, five-year mission in her book, Women Who Talk to the Dead.

Schweit is a former FBI Special Agent Executive, Chicago prosecutor, and journalist.

She wrote the FBI’s seminal report on mass shooters and is a recognized expert in crisis response and workplace violence.

If you or someone you know is searching for a missing loved one, there’s a tool that can help.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs.

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Click here to purchase my “Texas Crime Stories” audiobook. It downloads into your podcast app.

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Schedule me to speak at your social meeting or corporate event.

My presentation, “Evil Walks Among Us,” features stories about serial killers and notorious criminals and personal safety tips.

Step into the storied halls of the Texas Prison Museum and uncover the gripping tales of infamous inmates, daring escapes, and the history of justice in the Lone Star State.