Steven Sickman was 17 when he disappeared from Houston, Texas, on July 17, 1972, after leaving a party. His remains were later recovered from one of Dean Corll’s mass grave sites and decades passed before forensic work identified him in 2011.

Corll, with teenage accomplices Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks, was linked to the abduction, sexual torture, and murder of at least 29 young males in what became known as the Houston Mass Murders. Corll was killed on August 8, 1973, when Henley shot him; that event led to the discovery of many victims’ remains. Henley and Brooks were arrested and convicted for their roles; Henley received six life sentences and Brooks was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Steven’s mother, Erma Sickman, and his sister, Sandy Henrichs, spent years seeking answers and were frustrated by what they describe as a lack of urgency from law enforcement, in part because Steven was thought to have run away.