(NewsNation) — A chance phone call led NPR host Tonya Mosley on a journey to learn the fate of a sister she never knew she had — a woman who went missing in Detroit in 1987 only to be discovered murdered years later.
In 2004, Mosley received a call from Antonio Wiley, who revealed he was her nephew and that her sister Anita Wiley had vanished 17 years earlier as a single mother in Detroit when he was 14.
“I always knew at some point I would receive a call because I was raised by my mother and I didn’t know my father,” Mosley told “NewsNation Prime.” “I did know he had another family and I likely had other siblings.”
For years, Mosley and her nephew Antonio theorized about what became of Anita as he dug into records and interviewed detectives. Finally in 2020, they got confirmation: A body labeled “unknown woman 1987,” found in a burned vacant house not long after Anita’s disappearance, was identified as her through a DNA match.
Authorities believe Anita, who struggled with drug addiction, was murdered.
“We’ve been able to unpack that,” Mosley said of exploring Anita’s life. “Oftentimes when you have a family member who dies tragically, or who suffers from something like drug addiction, we almost erase those memories because they’re so painful.”
Mosley details the search for answers about her half-sister in a new 10-episode podcast called “She Has A Name,” blending memoir and true crime.
The podcast has prompted an outpouring of responses from listeners reflecting on their own experiences of loss and substance abuse.
“When we write about it or talk about it … we realize our suffering is a bridge,” Mosley said, quoting author James Baldwin. “It allows people to then reflect on their own pain.”
