This article is part of “Lost Rites,” a series on America’s failed death notification system.
RAYMOND, Miss. — Gretchen Hankins came to the Hinds County pauper’s field Friday morning for her son’s body, and for answers. She got neither.
Hankins’ son, Jonathan David Hankins, 39, died of a drug overdose in May 2022, and his body went unclaimed for more than a year as family, friends and police searched for him. Without anyone notifying his mother of his death, he was buried in a grave marked only with a number: 645. He was one of several men who were buried without their families being told, triggering widespread public outrage after NBC News exposed the issue last year.
Early Friday, Gretchen Hankins stepped onto the pauper’s field, on the grounds of the county jail’s work farm, for the first time, to witness her son being exhumed so that his body could be prepared for a proper funeral. She said a staff member at the Hinds County coroner’s office had told her she could attend the exhumation.
Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart was there as well, and Hankins began pressing the coroner on why no one had told her her son was dead.
As Hankins’ sister recorded on a phone, Grisham-Stewart said the lapse was not her fault.
“I don’t know about missing persons,” said Grisham-Stewart, who has held the elected office of Hinds County coroner since 1999. “I don’t know how to find people. I know how to determine cause and manner of death. But if I fall short of looking for people, I apologize. I don’t know how to find people.”
“But it’s your job,” Hankins replied, “and when you take that job on, you’re supposed to learn how to do that.”
Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for the state medical examiner, said county coroners are required to take a 40-hour training course every four years that includes instruction on locating and communicating with next of kin.
Although each county has its own procedures, Martin said that…
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