503: The Body in the Sand (from "Naming the Dead")
True Crime Obsessed
True Crime Obsessed
4.2 • 35.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The body of an unidentified young woman was found in the Arizona desert in August 1992. Over thirty years later, the incredible efforts of the forensic genealogists at the DNA Doe Project would identify her as Melody Harrison. But how they pieced together her story traces a puzzle that brought together long-lost relatives and shed light on a little known adoption program from post-WWII Germany.
Learn more about the DNA Doe Project's work on this case here, and for more information on Mabel Grammer's work, check out this article.
Find and watch "The Body in the Sand" on Hulu
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Girl, it's 70 degrees in sunny out. |
| 0:02.3 | I wanted to check in with you. |
| 0:03.6 | Happy fake spring. |
| 0:04.6 | Happy fake spring. |
| 0:05.8 | It's full spring. |
| 0:07.2 | I know. |
| 0:20.3 | I know. It's going to be 40 on Friday. It's a very nice reprieve. Yeah. Well, also, this is, we're recording this in early March. Yeah. This is coming out months after because high bonus episodes. Oh, right. It'll be like a solid 95 the day this episode comes out. |
| 0:21.7 | By, yeah, by the time this comes out, |
| 0:23.7 | it'll be the actual season that you're hoping. |
| 0:24.0 | Yeah. I like, Oh, right. It'll be like a solid 95 the day this episode comes out. But, yeah, by the time this comes out, it'll be the actual season that you're hoping. |
| 0:23.8 | Yeah. |
| 0:24.2 | I, like, I bikes to the studio today. |
| 0:26.4 | It's a gorgeous day outside. |
| 0:27.7 | It's so beautiful. |
| 0:28.5 | Okay, just making sure you're okay. |
| 0:29.7 | I'm not like the witch under the front bridge. |
| 0:31.9 | I know. |
| 2:01.6 | Hi, Jillian Bezavali. Hello, Patrick Hines. But check back in August when I'm fucking over. I know. It's like me. Like, you know, we had Daisy's birthday party this weekend. And all the parents were like, sorry we haven't seen you in two months. We haven't been able to get off the couch. And I don't want to hear a single one of you, like Team You. No. I don't even come to me about how hot it is in the summer. I will never. I know. I know. I know. I know. I will not. I'm the king of like it's 110 and humid and I'm so happy. Well, enjoy it. I wanted to congratulate you on something. What? Congratulations to you. I was heave sobbing at my computer at 7.30 this morning watching this. No problem. This is, this is, um, so welcome to the bonus episodes. This is, uh, the series naming the dead. It is, I think, probably my favorite series that we cover. It started to play the next episode when this one ended. I'm like, no, I can't. I've got other work to do. We're doing the next episode. Are we? Eventually. It is so good. I love the series so much. This is season one, episode three, The Body and the Sand. It's on Hulu. I don't know if there's more of this series coming. I think it is excellent. It's all about these amazing women. They're all women, so far, at least, who are finding, like, dead bodies and giving them their names back through genetic genealogy. The DNA Dole Project specifically is working on these cases. It's incredible. Their website is amazing. Like, they have updates on the case. Yeah. The show is, I cry every time we cover it. I mean, too, but this one especially got me. I was like, head down. |
| 2:03.1 | Steve had to come in and check on me. |
| 2:03.3 | I know. |
| 2:03.9 | Like, what's happening? |
| 2:04.5 | It's crazy. |
... |
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