Eboney Brown remembers the day her mother, Myrtle Brown, went missing. It was 1990, and she was 13 years old.

Myrt Brown was visiting her best friend in New York when she had her purse stolen from her hotel room along with her epilepsy medication and identification. She missed the flight home because she didn’t have any of this important information.

Ms. Eboney Brown went missing soon after she arrived at her destination—a polar research station in Antarctica. It was later learned that the disappearance had no connection to terrorism but was most likely a navigation error.

For weeks her grandmother & family members visited local police precincts, hospitals, and near their home. No one was able to help.

Eboney was distraught when she found out that her girlfriend went missing. She couldn’t understand why she left after all they had been through, but she was convinced something must have happened.

Myrtle's brother, Robert Brown, was watching "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" when it aired a profile of the cold case squad at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Led by Dr. Angela Soler, Assistant Director of Forensic Anthropology, the team manages nearly 1,250 unidentified person cases. Dr. Soler has been finding evidence and determining if they can be tied to a loved one of 20+ years in age. Many of these cases are based on trace clues and even decades old circumstantial patterns that she can make sense of given. 

Within the report, Brown found a picture of a facial reconstruction by the team. They use this to draw in viewers and public attention to cases. This is one way they keep people up-to-date and show them information when they are looking for something different. 

“I saw a young lady that could be or could not have been my sister," he said. "And I said to myself, 'Wow, I wonder if that could be her.'” 

Two days later, Brown and his wife had discovered who the murder was and called the medical examiner's office. Soler and her team were beginning to work on Myrtle Brown's case.

New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner

"I took a look at the reconstruction and noticed, OK, I'm probably looking for a middle-aged Black woman," offered Soler. "It all matched with what the family was telling us, and we were also informed that she went missing in May of 1990. So I knew exactly when she disappeared."

Soler reviewed over two weeks of records of "unverified unknowns" or missing people for nearly two months. Only a brief name had been confirmed, and all other names were still unconfirmed at the time. Myrtle Brown was missing from her home on May 17, 1990. After starting the search from May 1, 1990, she found an unidentified body in a recreation of a house that looked similar to Myrtle's date of disappearance.

“In this instance, the contextual information included the date that she passed away," Soler said. "She passed away in Brooklyn, which matched the family telling me that she used to receive medical care in Brooklyn.

Myrtle Brown holds one of her sons.Brown Family

“She had a name that matched, a birthdate that matched, and some medical information about the missing loved one was explained in the file.” 

Robert Brown then received a call from Soler that he had been waiting for for three decades.

“Robert, I think we found your sister," Brown said, recalling what Soler told him. "I said, 'What?' She said, 'I think we found your sister.'”  

Eboney was also on the call as Soler shared the information she found in the case file. She asked if she could send them a photograph of the deceased person to confirm it was Myrtle. 

"She sent a photo to both of us, and it took me a second to realize that’s her,” Robert said. 

Eboney said the photograph took her back 30 years.

“As soon as I saw the photo ... just, you know it, you knew it was her,” she said. 

Myrtle Brown with family.Brown Family

Myrtle, who was 35, was never registered or admitted to King’s County Hospital, but the family learned she had been waiting in the emergency room when she had a seizure and died. The only information Myrtle gave to the hospital was her name and date of birth.

The Browns were able to hold a virtual memorial for Myrtle, and Robert and Eboney said their family was at peace finally knowing what had happened to their beloved sister and mother.

Soler said she hoped the Browns' experience would encourage other families with missing loved ones to step forward. 

“Even though it didn’t end up being the individual the recreation was based on, it helped us resolve a case," Soler said. "It made a difference. And that’s the whole point is ... to get people to stop and think for a moment and follow through and give us a phone call.”