Mother's remains go unidentified for 19 years until DNA match relaunches homicide investigation

CANTON, Mich. – The family of a woman who went missing 19 years ago is finally starting to get answers into her disappearance.

Delilah Hopkins went missing March 1, 2000. It wasn't until her son took a DNA test that new clues started to emerge in the case.

One month after Hopkins went missing, a body was found shot and burned. The body remained in the medical examiner's office for years, unidentified.

Delilah Hopkins' son, Bennett Hopkins, saw an Identify the Missing event advertised on Facebook around two years ago. He went to the Detroit Police Department to give his DNA to investigators and a match was been found.

His mother's remains were identified. She had been listed as a Jane Doe at Knollwood Cemetery in Canton. Confirming her identity has reignited her homicide investigation.


About the Authors:

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.