Remains found in 1970 identified as Canadian woman missing since 1960s
Human remains unearthed in a desert area outside Henderson more than half a century ago have been identified as those of a Canadian woman who may have been an acquaintance of a mob-linked Las Vegas union leader and convicted killer, police announced.
The remains, which were found in 1970, are those of Calgary, Alberta, native Anna Sylvia Just, the Metropolitan Police Department said Friday.
The breakthrough in the decades-long mystery came after Metro was contacted by Calgary cold case detectives in October 2024 to learn more about Just, who was reported missing here in 1968 after her personal belongings were found in the desert, police said in a news release.
On June 7, 1970, children playing discovered human remains buried in a shallow grave about a mile away from where Just’s belongings had been found, Metro said. Although the remains were unidentifiable, the Clark County coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide caused by a skull fracture.
During the investigation of Just’s disappearance, Metro said Friday, several reports suggested she was an acquaintance of Thomas Hanley, who according to UNLV archives was a Las Vegas union leader with ties to organized crime families in the Midwest. A deputy district attorney had also accused of Hanley of being responsible for Just’s killing, according to previous Las Vegas Review-Journal coverage.
Just had reportedly gone to Hanley for money, according to Metro, and it was later alleged that Hanley had associates drive Just into the desert and kill her.
In 1978, Hanley was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1977 murder of former Culinary union secretary-treasurer Al Bramlet, according to Review-Journal coverage from the time.
At an April 25, 1978, sentencing hearing for the Bramlet murder, Hanley said it was unfair to speculate on other killings he was tied to by prosecutors, including Just’s.
“I never even heard of the woman,” Hanley was quoted as saying.
Hanley died in 1979.
In a press release Friday, Metro said Calgary police learned that Just was in the Las Vegas area at some point in the 1960s, and gave Canadian officials the name of Just’s sister who collected the personal belongings that were found in 1968. Calgary detectives were then able to contact Just’s sister, who is still alive, and collected from her a DNA sample that was compared with a sample taken from the remains found in 1970, according to the release.
Genetic genealogical testing confirmed the remains were Just’s, police said.
A March 10, 1968, report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated authorities had discovered a suitcase they believed belonged to Just about a week after finding a purse holding her ID in a desert area near the city dump about four miles from Henderson. The report notes Just was a 29-year-old stenographer who disappeared from Calgary on Aug. 17, 1966.
Police at the time estimated the purse they found had been in the desert for more than six months, the Review-Journal previously reported.
Nobody was ever arrested in connection with the disappearance or suspected murder, a Metro spokesperson said Friday.
Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky. Contact Kevin J. Barr at kbarr@reviewjournal.com.
