KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A family is frustrated that it took almost four years to identify the remains of their missing loved one.
Angela Burris went missing from her home in Kings Mountain in 2021, but it wasn’t until this week that authorities identified her body.
Katira Burris says she still doesn’t really have closure because she doesn’t know what happened to her mom. Someone found remains in Ferguson Park in Gastonia three years ago, but they went unidentified until just months ago.
A grandmother missing the major milestones is what hurts the most for Katira Burris.
“I don’t have this significant person to guide me through this process, so that’s the hardest thing,” said Burris.
She can just picture her mom, Angela Burris, with her grandkids.
“She was very lively and energetic. She brought a lot of joy,” said Katira Burris.
She has been stuck for four years not knowing what happened to her mom.
“When it really hit for me it was my oldest son, it was his birthday, and she didn’t come and she didn’t show up, I knew something was really wrong, and she would never have done that,” said Burris.
Thirty-six-year-old Angela Burris was reported missing from her home in Kings Mountain in April 2021.
In August of last year police searched a massive property near her home.
“It made me feel like she was being seen, and my family was being seen and heard,” said Burris.
But searchers came up empty-handed.
“I’ve just been in shock through this whole process, and it’s been hurting me in different ways,” said Burris.
On the heels of that search came the break detectives needed but no one wanted to hear.
“It was shocking; as soon as they told me, I just froze, basically I couldn’t express any emotions,” said Burris.
Detectives say last September they continued to search through the missing persons’ database and found a possible hit.
It was a distinctive feature that they thought was a match between unidentified remains found three years ago in Ferguson Park in Gastonia and Angela Burris.
After DNA testing, investigators announced Monday that the remains belong to Burris.
“I just know that she’s happy and she’s no longer hurting, and I want her to be remembered in that way,” said Burris.
She says she continues to feel her mom’s presence.
“I know she’s still supporting me and looking after me and being here for me.”
Detectives are still trying to figure out what led up to Burris’ death and how she got all the way from Kings Mountain, 12 miles away, to Gastonia where her body was found.
But they don’t believe her death is suspicious.
