Detroit transgender missing teen body was in morgue for weeks unclaimed

Detroit, MI-When the news broke that the missing transgender teen body was found, it had been lying in the morgue for weeks unclaimed. Police announced that Henry “Shelly” Hilliard 19, the missing transgender teen from Detroit had been missing since the morning of October 23, 2011 from the area of Woodward and Longfellow, on Detroit’s Westside.

It wasn’t until weeks of searching passed, it was discovered that Hilliard’s body was found the same night she went missing. No one knew who she was. The teen, who was born Henry Hilliard, disappeared in the early hours of Oct. 23 and was last seen on the 900 block of Longfellow on Detroit's west side. Hilliard, a native of Chicago, had been living in Detroit for the past seven years, with her mother, Lyniece Nelson.

Someone dumped Hilliard’s body into a field on Detroit’s eastside, after setting it ablaze. With no identification on the body, Hilliard was taken to the morgue, where her body stayed until police sent a media advisory last week with Hilliard's information, including the description of a cherry tattoo.

Now this is more frightening then just knowing that a killer is still walking around free on the streets of Detroit or its surrounding community. How could a body just be sent to the morgue without news coverage of a badly burnt body was ever found?

Is it that Detroit see so many unsolved crimes until this isn’t nothing new to those working in the police department? Or is it simply a case of someone’s lack of concern over Detroit resident safety and this is something done on a daily basis?

Why there was no media coverage of the found burnt body in the first place? Once Hilliard was reported missing, then maybe the police could have searched the morgue and possibly tied the two together.

The Medical Examiner's Office in Detroit reports getting about 10 to 12 cases per year that are just a torso or body parts, and It receives another 10-12 unclaimed bodies a year.

The Hilliard family will not have a funeral, but there will be a memorial in the near future.