A family from New York went through the cremation and mourning process, believing that the remains they had belonged to their missing family member. However, they received a shocking text message revealing that she was actually alive.
The family had reported Shanice Crews missing when she was 28 years old in 2021. After three years, they received heartbreaking news that what they thought were her remains had been discovered in a vacant lot near Hudson Avenue, as reported by WROC 8 News.
Due to the advanced state of decomposition of the body, the family decided to cremate the remains promptly and held a memorial service to bid their final farewells.
However, in 2024, the family was rocked by a disturbing revelation – the person they had cremated was not Crews at all, but rather a complete stranger.
‘We dealt with the ashes and stuff, we put them in necklaces and we mixed my mom with this stranger,’ Shanita Hopkins, Crews’ sister, told the outlet.
‘You can’t take back the moments where the cop came and told us Shanice Crews has been found dead outside, like trash,’ she added.
‘You can’t take away them initial feelings… we can’t get that back. We can’t get them seven months back. We can’t get them tears back.’
In July of 2024, the family filed a missing person’s report for Crews after growing concerned when they hadn’t heard from her, especially since she had cut off all communication with her two children.
For three long years, they held onto hope – until police officers informed them that her remains had been found discarded in an empty lot, and that she had reportedly died back in February.
The autopsy report determined her cause of death as a drug overdose, citing an extremely high level of cocaine in her system.
However, Hopkins grew suspicious of the ruling, as her sister had never gotten herself involved with cocaine.
‘Reading the autopsy was traumatic… It’s one thing to hear it, but then it’s another thing to actually read it, and then see her name attached to it,’ Hopkins told WROC.
‘So we’re thinking, this is how she died,’ she added. ‘And then we’re trying to think, did somebody lace her? It’s so much that goes into it. Your mind just goes crazy.’
The family was unable to view what they were told were Crews’ remains due to the advanced state of decomposition, and instead had her body cremated followed by a heartfelt memorial service.
Yet, things took an extremely disturbing turn in November 2024 when Hopkins received a message from a complete stranger.
‘Ma’am I’m concerned, your sister is not dead,’ the message said. ‘She just volunteered at my event today.’
Attached to the unexpected message was a recent photo of a smiling woman – the same woman they had been grieving for the past three years.
‘My initial reaction was like… what the… what? What am I reading right now?!’ Hopkins told the outlet. ‘This is just a random message.’
Hopkins immediately contacted police, who then directed her to speak with the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office for answers.
However, the ME assured her that dental records of the body matched those of her sister.
Unconvinced, Hopkins showed the Medical Examiner’s Office staff the pictures and text messages she had received, leading to an investigation.
‘We went the next day. They wanted my youngest sister, because her and Shanice has the same mom and dad, and then they wanted her son,’ Hopkins told the outlet.
‘So both of them went and they did a DNA test, and when the results came back, they said it wasn’t a match.’
DNA testing confirmed what the family had suspected – Crews was alive, and the remains they had mourned, which had been mixed with their mother’s and distributed between them in the form of jewelry, ultimately belonged to an unidentified stranger.
Crews was ultimately found to be living in Michigan – alive and well.
‘I almost feel like they couldn’t find out who this was and they wanted to close a missing person’s case,’ Hopkins said.
Following the shocking discovery, the Medical Examiner’s Office requested the return of the ashes and offered to compensate the family for the money spent on the memorial and the cremation – a total of $1,605.
Although the office has since retrieved the ashes, which had been sitting in a purple urn in the family’s home, the family declined the offer of compensation and instead chose to seek legal representation.
‘After I came and told you that my sister was alive and for you to tell me that her dental records are identical to the dental records y’all are looking at is just a lie – like you’re lying to my face,’ Hopkins expressed.
‘My family was like, no, we need to get a lawyer… If it’s for anything it’s just really for pain and suffering, because this is crazy,’ she added.
‘Then my nephew is still going, we’re all still dealing with this. And, you know, now we can’t force her to talk to us… she’s just still a missing person to us, but she’s alive and well.’
The family ended up reaching out to the Detroit Police Department in an effort to track down Crews, yet they still haven’t been able to make contact with her.
Hopkins shared that if she had the chance to speak with her sister now, she would simply say, ‘I love her’.
‘I’ve been angry for… I’m still angry,’ Hopkins explained. ‘I don’t think I’m ever gonna get over the anger, but I know how it feels… I know how it feels to think she was dead, and that, I just want her to know that.’
‘I just want her to know that whatever we had going on, it doesn’t even matter,’ she added. ‘I love her, that’s it. That’s all I would want her to know.’
In response to the discovery, the Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement: ‘The Monroe County Office of the Medical Examiner uses industry standard scientific methods to identify remains of deceased individuals in a timely manner and make appropriate notifications to families,’ WROC reported.
‘Due to restrictions on the disclosure of information contained in the records of the Office of the Medical Examiner, we are unable to comment on specific cases,’ the statement added.
The Monroe County did not respond to the outlet’s inquiry regarding the identity of the remains that were given to Crews’ family.
