Katherine Schweit

A true story of the largest exhumation of murder victims ever undertaken by the FBI, seeking justice for 200 families
In the shadows of Detroit's abandoned buildings and beneath the soil of county cemeteries lay hundreds of murder victims-buried anonymously, their killers uncharged, their families not knowing why they disappeared. For decades, only decaying police files hinted at what happened to these forgotten cold cases murders.

Until two women decided to listen to the dead.

Women Who Talk to the Dead chronicles the remarkable journey of Detroit Police Detective Shannon Jones and FBI Special Agent Leslie Larsen. Surrounded by skepticism and bureaucratic roadblocks, these women spearhead Operation UNITED—the largest coordinated exhumation of unidentified murder victims in FBI history.

Through rain-soaked cemetery digs, crumbling case files, and bone-filled body bags, Jones and Larsen assemble a team led by female forensic anthropologists, scientists, and investigators who methodically unearthed Detroit's painful past. Their primary goal: to identify the nameless dead and bring closure to families who had spent decades wondering what happened to their loved ones. Their ultimate goal: solve 200 murder cases.

Evelyn McCauley

82 Stories

Women Who Talk to the Dead: The True Story of 200 Forgotten Murder Victims and the Relentless Pursuit of Justice by an FBI Agent and a Detroit Police Detective