Joe Burnic Hill, also known as Joe Banks, was 29 when he was last seen in Detroit on September 1, 1981. He was a father of three, about 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, roughly 170 pounds, Black, with black hair, brown eyes and a scar on the left side of his neck. Family remembered him as athletic and inventive; he held a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Within days of his disappearance a human torso was recovered in the 1500 block of Harper Avenue on Detroit’s east side. The remains were initially not linked to Hill because they were described as belonging to a white male. On September 8, 1981 a gray or silver 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am belonging to Hill was found at a Clinton Township car wash; it had been parked there since about September 3 and was missing wheels, the T-top cover and license plate.

Decades later the torso was exhumed and identified by DNA testing in March 2018 as Joe Burnic Hill, converting a long-running missing person case into a homicide investigation. The circumstances of his death remain unsolved. If anyone knew Joe, saw his Trans Am in early September 1981, or has information about what happened, please contact the Detroit Police Department.