The Mystery of Addie Mae Collins’ Remains

Andrew Yeager | September 16, 2013

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While Birmingham marked the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing this weekend, a mystery lingers about one the victims. Three of the four girls killed in the bombing were buried in Greenwood Cemetery near the Birmingham airport. There’s a gravestone for Addie Mae Collins, but her remains are not actually there.

Liesa Healy-Miller is a forensic genealogist with a company called Unsolved Histories in Boston, Massachusetts. She learned about the missing remains while visiting Birmingham for a convention and is now trying to solve the mystery. Healy-Miller tells WBHM’s Andrew Yeager how the case developed.