I buried my mother 15 years ago... but now she's turned up ALIVE

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 10:42 EST, 1 July 2011

A woman who thought she had buried her mother 15 years ago got a shock when the old woman turned up alive and in Florida.

Grace Kivisto, 56, from Knox County, Illinois, had been told human remains found in a local brickyard in 1996 belonged to her mother, who disappeared over 40 years ago

But investigators using DNA analysis last week told her family the remains were not those of their missing relative.

Shock: Grace Kivisto, left, thought she had buried her mother, Lula Cora Hood, pictured right in an old photograph, 15 years ago

Then, yesterday, detectives told Mrs Kivisto her missing mother had been found, alive and well, in Jacksonville, Florida.

She told WQAD.com: 'I was out gardening, and a detective came to tell me that they had found my mother. Alive!'

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Mrs Kiviston was just 15 years old when her mother, Lula Cora Hood, disappeared in 1970, after a family feud.

'It just comes down to a family squabble' she told kwqc.com. 'She left but she had left many times before that and had just come back.'

Cora, as Mrs Kivisto's mother was known, suffered from mental health problems and was in and out of her children's lives even before she disappeared.

But this time she never returned to her family, who believed they would never hear of her again.

Then, 15 years ago, mushroom hunters found human remains in a Galesburg brickyard.

After making a facial reconstruction, detectives told Mrs Kivisto they believed the bones belonged to her missing mother

However they were unable to confirm this through DNA analysis as testing on bones could not be done at the time.

Human remains: The Galesburg brickyard where police thought they had found Cora's body

Nonetheless Cora was assumed dead and the family buried the remains and held a memorial service to say goodbye.

Mrs Kivisto thought the matter was closed until two weeks ago, when a fresh DNA analysis showed the remains interred 15 years ago were not those of her mother.

She thought the hunt was back to square one, until yesterday. Now Mrs Kivisto's missing mother has effectively been brought back to life.

After DNA ruled out Cora as a match for the remains, police reopened their investigation with an online database search using her first and middle names and her date of birth.

Now they are convinced they have found Cora, aged 84 and living in Florida.

Sergeant Jason Landers from Knox County Sheriff's department told cbs4qc: 'During the interview I had with her on the phone, I had her confirm facts about the family and life reasonably speaking no one else would have known.'

Awaiting a reunion: Mrs Kivisto, left, with her cousin, is looking forward to meeting her mother again after 40 years apart

Mrs Kivisto cried when she heard the news that her missing mother was alive.

'I was in total disbelief because even before all of the brickyard stuff she had been gone so long we already figured she passed,' she told kwqc.com.

She said she now intends to travel to Florida to visit the woman detectives say is her missing mother as soon as she can, adding: 'I can't believe it!'

But one mystery still remains. Police still do not know the identity of the woman whose remains were found in the brickyard 15 years ago.

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