For 33 years, the story of Anita Wiley’s disappearance was unresolved. After firefighters found her remains in a vacant house in Detroit that had been set on fire, she was buried in a cemetery for the unidentified, and her case was named “Unknown Woman 1987.” In 2020, through a cemetery DNA program, Anita’s remains were identified and linked to her son, Antonio Wiley, and her sister, Tonya Mosley, who never knew she existed.
Together, Antonio and Tonya have produced a new podcast series, She Has a Name, that aims to tell Anita’s story with attention to not only grief and trauma, but to beauty and joy. The series also paints a multilayered picture of Detroit in the 1980s, giving space to the warmth and spirit the city’s residents sustained through a time in history that is commonly associated with violence.
Antonio and Tonya came on the Stateside podcast to discuss the experience of producing this podcast together, and what they hope the podcast can mean for others who have lost loved ones to violence.
GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:
- Tonya Mosley, Emmy award-winning journalist; cohost of Fresh Air; founder of TMI Productions
- Antonio Wiley, executive producer of She Has A Name
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