(NewsNation) — The family of Joyce Malecki, a 20-year-old woman who went missing in November of 1969 after a shopping trip just outside Baltimore, said her body has been exhumed and evidence gathered by the FBI.
Joyce Malecki’s brother, Darryl Malecki, spoke on the exhumation of his sister, praising funeral home staff and the FBI for handling the procedure compassionately. He said at a news conference that after investigators did their work, the casket was taken to a chapel for the family to say a few words before pallbearers took the casket back to the cemetery for reburial.
That includes the belief that the body was exhumed to collect DNA, as well as theories that Joyce Malecki’s death was connected to a serial killer.
After 54 years, it appears federal investigators believe they may have a theory as to what happened to the 20-year-old back in 1969. By exhuming her body, investigators would be able to prove or disprove their working theory by using Malecki’s DNA.
Malecki’s body was found two days after her disappearance in a wooded area near Fort Meade, according to WBAL-TV. It was bound and partially submerged in water with signs of strangulation.
Investigators exhumed her body on Thursday morning at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore.
“We remain committed to bringing justice for Joyce and her family. Because the investigation is ongoing, we cannot provide any additional information,” the FBI said in a statement Thursday.
Malecki’s killing was featured prominently alongside the death of nun Catherine Cesnik in the 2017 Netflix series “The Keepers,” which argues the two cases are connected. Cesnik, a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, went missing days before Malecki did.
NewsNation was informed that Malecki’s family supports the FBI’s exhumation of her body, and hopes to get answers or some kind of closure after all these years.
Kurt Wolfgang, one of the founding members of the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center, told reporters the FBI had not communicated their intentions or theories about the case and stressed that all information his group has is based on conjecture.
In addition to the exhumation of the body, Wolfgang noted a previous Freedom of Information Request from an individual not connected with his organization revealed the FBI file on Malecki’s death was 4,000 pages long. He said a file of that size is not typical and that someday, he would like to learn what it contained.
Wolfgang said his organization is proud that it was able to get the FBI “up moving and taking another look” at what happened to Malecki.
“For many, many, many years, the Maleckis heard nothing from the FBI,” Wolfgang said.