Lost Rites

Most recent stories in Lost Rites

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  NBC News

  

  Mississippi coroner behind botched death notifications says she'll retire

  NBC News - By Jon Schuppe

  Sharon Grisham-Stewart has been Hinds County's coroner for 25 years. She has never spoken publicly about the failures to tell families about loved ones' deaths. The longtime elected coroner in Hinds County, Mississippi, who faced withering criticism last year for burying men in pauper's graves …

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  NBC News

  

  DOJ takes action after Mississippi coroner buried men without families’ knowledge

  NBC News - By Jon Schuppe

  The Justice Department's intervention in Hinds County follows NBC News' reporting on failed next-of-kin notifications there. This article is part of “Lost Rites,” a series on America’s failed death notification system. The Justice Department said Thursday it would help authorities in Mississippi …

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  NBC News

  

  More outraged families say loved ones were wrongly buried in a Mississippi pauper’s field

  NBC News - By Jon Schuppe

  This article is part of “Lost Rites,” a series on America’s failed death notification system. FLORENCE, Miss. — For more than 10 months, James Aaron Moran’s family searched homeless encampments and shelters for a glimpse of his dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. They reported him missing to police. …

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  NBC News

  

  Coroner's office that buried men without telling families releases a policy that leaves questions unanswered

  NBC News - By Jon Schuppe

  It's unclear when the Hinds County, Mississippi, next-of-kin notification policy went into effect, but it appears not to have been followed in the deaths of Dexter Wade and others. This article is part of “Lost Rites,” a series on America’s failed death notification system. A Mississippi coroner’s …

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  NBC News

  

  Families across the U.S. are going months or years without being told their loved ones are dead

  NBC News - By Mike Hixenbaugh, Rich Schapiro and Jon Schuppe

  This article is Part 5 of “Lost Rites,” a series on America’s failed death notification system. In Louisiana, parents spent eight months searching for their 34-year-old son, only to discover this summer that his body had been identified soon after his disappearance and cremated without their …

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  NBC News

  

  A mother searched for her son for months — until NBC News discovered he’d been buried in a pauper’s field

  NBC News - By Jon Schuppe and Mike Hixenbaugh

  This article is Part 3 of “Lost Rites,” a series on America’s failed death notification system. FLORENCE, Miss. — Gretchen Hankins was in bed on a Friday night in May 2022 when her 39-year-old son leaned down with a hug and kiss and told her he was going to meet friends for the weekend. He promised to …