Lula Cora Hood, Missing Woman, Found After 40 Years

Grace Kivisto was 15 when her mother, Lula Cora Hood, disappeared in 1970 after a family fight.

Forty years later, police in Galesburg, Ill. say they've found her.

"I'm going to see her as soon as I can," Kivisto told local station WQAD. "I can't believe it!"

The exciting news comes more than a decade after Hood's family received word from police that authorities had found human remains in a Galesburg brickyard.

They couldn't perform DNA analysis, but police said they thought it was Hood, who suffered from mental health issues during her adult life. The family buried what they thought were her remains.

Then in 2009, after DNA technology had improved, Hood's family gave DNA to investigators to do a definitive analysis. The results revealed that the remains were not Hood's.

The police then re-opened the missing person's case. On June 30, Kivisto got a visit from a detective who said they had found her mom in Jacksonville, Fla.

Officials have yet to release details on what Hood has been doing in Florida over the last four decades.

The news comes one month after authorities tracked down 18-year-old model Kristian Faith Ward, who had been missing since late May.

Police are still searching for Indiana resident Morgan M. Johnson, who has been missing for more than a month.

Comments

[Amy Levine]

06:53 PM on 08/22/2011

Children go MISSING, Adults go INTO HIDING.

[Amy Levine]

06:45 PM on 08/22/2011

It amazes me how they can use the word "Missing" ..when in actuality she was trying to get away from her past and it has unfortunately caught up with her. Maybe she can still move again?

[RockyMissouri]

09:27 AM on 07/12/2011

I feel bad for her daughter.....apart from whatever reason her mom may have had to leave, her daughter never knew what happened to her mother.

[Ron Cee]

01:59 PM on 07/11/2011

Nice, after countless man hours scouring the country for this broad they finally find her. How about making her pay for all the costs associated with this disappearance.

[dadw5boys]

01:00 PM on 07/22/2011

It is a Fundmental Right of every Citizen to be left alone !
Just because you want to know where I am is not a good enough reason.
For Child support I agree that is good enough.

[mlondeaux]

10:15 PM on 07/10/2011

Not to downplay anything, but there's a HUGE difference between being missing for a couple of months and being missing for 40 years. How does the writer of this story even see a correlation between the missing model (who is is now found) and a woman who had been missing for 4 decades?

[RockyMissouri]

09:34 AM on 07/12/2011

What difference does it make? Both missing people.... On a human level - people care....and we can all relate ON SOME LEVEL to anothers' heartache...we may have a similar story, and can be helped in some way....

[Balzy26]

03:31 PM on 07/10/2011

deadbeat dads and missing people always turning up in Florida

[dadw5boys]

01:01 PM on 07/22/2011

not dead beat moms ?
Where do they go Vagas ?

[arago]

03:19 PM on 07/10/2011

To have your mother missing, then to bury remains of a woman you thought was your mother, then to find out they are not, then to find out where she is at, what a roller coaster ride.

Of course I would like to know the where's and the why's but frankly I think this between her and her family. Adults in this country do have the right to walk away from their lives.

What I really want to know did they ever figure out the who the woman was that they thought was her.

[mlondeaux]

09:43 PM on 07/10/2011

arago - I'm sure some family out there would like to know that information too!

[arago]

10:12 AM on 07/11/2011

I agree

[desertmother61]

10:34 AM on 07/11/2011

Who says she 'walked away?' Did you ever once consider the possibility that maybe this woman is/was a victim of domestic violence and maybe was forced out of her home and told if she tried to returned she'd be killed? Stranger things have happened, and keep in mind DV was not on the mainstream consciousness back in the 70s like it is today. Don't be too quick to judge her. We don't know the entire story yet.

[Deruist]

02:04 PM on 07/10/2011

Wonder is this is a fugue state disappearance? Wish there were more details.

[Oilygarch]

02:02 PM on 07/10/2011

So, again, here, you made us look, and, in doing so, sold a few more ads.

Congratulations Huffp0!! :\

[ArtsyJane]

10:49 AM on 07/11/2011

Right to the point.

[Bruce Negron]

11:02 AM on 07/10/2011

? This is news or a filler?

[Oilygarch]

02:00 PM on 07/10/2011

or filler on news

[Tom Carwie]

10:16 AM on 07/10/2011

This reminds me of the book The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.

[Isenki]

02:37 AM on 07/10/2011

Isn't it funny that, from listening to the news, it seems only women and children 'disappear'?

[NMidcap]

10:09 AM on 07/10/2011

What, are you going to have some sexist remark about men being rapist and kidnappers?

[Lam56]

10:32 AM on 07/10/2011

What, you mean they're not?

[Isenki]

04:45 PM on 07/10/2011

No, I'm saying there is a tendency in the media to focus on the disappearances of white, middle class, photogenic women and children.

[Styxtap]

10:10 AM on 07/10/2011

I can hold my own against assailant! Time for self defense classes ladies!

[Elecktra001]

01:12 AM on 07/10/2011

I need more information.

[bklyn54]

12:30 AM on 07/10/2011

Oops. I should have finished reading the article before posting.

[mlondeaux]

09:59 PM on 07/10/2011

Lesson learned. Or, as my mother used to say, THINK before you SPEAK!

[bklyn54]

12:29 AM on 07/10/2011

There's a big difference between finding a missing person and finding a missing person's remains. I hate misleading headlines.

[Blexican]

01:31 AM on 07/10/2011

Welcome to HuffPo!

[Oilygarch]

02:01 PM on 07/10/2011

Huffp0+A0-Hell

[alaskan]

01:43 AM on 07/10/2011

There's also a big difference between reading the first few paragraphs and reading the whole article.

[LadyLL]

02:09 AM on 07/10/2011

LofL..

[DenaSilver]

06:31 AM on 07/10/2011

Very true: misleading headline, misleading headline, misleading headline.
Happens too often.