Decades-old remains in Wilmington identified as 1907 victim after DNA and facial reconstruction
Police in New Castle County confirmed that skeletal remains found in Sellers Park belong to Hannah Graham Kleitz, a woman who died in 1907.
Skeletal remains uncovered in Sellers Park, Wilmington, in June 2011 have been identified as those of Hannah Graham Kleitz, who died of illness in 1907. After initial DNA analysis yielded no match, the Cold Case Squad revisited the case in 2019, benefiting from advances in genetic testing. A three-dimensional scan of the skull enabled forensic artist Joe Mullins to produce a facial reconstruction that aided public outreach.
Genealogical volunteers helped build a family tree, revealing a connection to a grave that had been illegally opened at Riverview Cemetery in 2002. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed the remains were Kleitz's. On August 27, her relatives and police reinterred the bones in her original mausoleum, providing closure after more than a century.
