Lula Cora Hood, Missing Woman, Found After 40 Years

Missing Woman Found After 40 Years

Grace Kivisto was 15 when her mother, Lula Cora Hood, disappeared in 1970 after a family fight.

Forty years later, police in Galesburg, Ill. say they've found her.

"I'm going to see her as soon as I can," Kivisto told local station WQAD. "I can't believe it!"

The exciting news comes more than a decade after Hood's family received word from police that authorities had found human remains in a Galesburg brickyard.

They couldn't perform DNA analysis, but police said they thought it was Hood, who suffered from mental health issues during her adult life. The family buried what they thought were her remains.

Then in 2009, after DNA technology had improved, Hood's family gave DNA to investigators to do a definitive analysis. The results revealed that the remains were not Hood's.

The police then re-opened the missing person's case. On June 30, Kivisto got a visit from a detective who said they had found her mom in Jacksonville, Fla.

Officials have yet to release details on what Hood has been doing in Florida over the last four decades.

The news comes one month after authorities tracked down 18-year-old model Kristian Faith Ward, who had been missing since late May.

Police are still searching for Indiana resident Morgan M. Johnson, who has been missing for more than a month.

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