Do you know what happened to Greta? In the summer of 1991, a young African American woman named Greta Laura Riles vanished from Tulsa, Oklahoma. At 22 years old, Greta disappeared around June 21st, but inexplicably, she wasn't officially reported as a missing person until more than two decades later, in July 2012. Family members later cited concerns with Greta's lifestyle as the reason for the significant delay in reporting her missing.
For years, her whereabouts remained a mystery, with friends and associates assuming she had met an unfortunate end.
On a December day in 1992, a hunter walking through a wooded area at 5800 North Harvard Avenue in Tulsa stumbled upon skeletal remains. Alongside the remains, investigators found a hair net and a distinctive “seashell” styled hair clip. The Medical Examiner's Office determined the remains belonged to an African American female, estimated to be between 18 and 26 years old at the time of her death. They also determined she was between 5'0' and 5'5' tall and had never given birth. The examiner estimated that the death had occurred one to six years before the discovery of her body. With no matching missing person reports at the time, her identity remained unknown, and the case grew cold.
For years, the unnamed woman's case languished until advancements in forensic technology and the eventual missing person report filed by her family provided a breakthrough. In March 2017, authorities publicly announced that the remains found in 1992 were those of Greta Laura Riles. While her identity was finally restored, the circumstances surrounding her death remain shrouded in mystery. The manner of her death is officially classified as unknown, and her case is considered a homicide. While no arrests have been made and no specific suspects have been named, investigators have suggested that the person or persons responsible for her death may have been known to Greta. The investigation into her death remains open.
