Notably, there was a memento of Carroll left behind in the Google Drive that contained all of their work. “If Susy had created a folder, there was a little circle on it with her picture and her name. It motivated us to know that she was watching—we knew we had to finish the story for her.”

We at @NBCNews are proud to have Susy Carroll’s byline on this investigation. Susy, our beloved Senior Enterprise Editor, died earlier this year.

She launched this project, and @Mike_Hixenbaugh and @jonschuppe saw it through.https://t.co/c5zmr8gK5r https://t.co/NziSO21oRD

— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) September 16, 2024

In addition to the published NBC News article, the story aired as a segment on Monday’s NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, reported by national correspondent Liz Kreutz. Hixenbaugh says that filmed piece was also months in the making, and credits the Nightly News team for “taking great care” with the sources he and his enterprise colleagues had cultivated. And he’s already noticed a significant uptick in responses and new leads since the piece hit the airwaves, a boon for locating the next beats in the story.

“We’re going to continue reporting on this,” Hixenbaugh says, pointing to the racial demographics of the families impacted by the Health Science Center’s actions as an area for further investigation. “The counties did not have good demographic records, but we do know that unclaimed bodies broadly in this country are disproportionately black, disproportionately male, often mentally ill and often homeless.”

Even as they continue the work that Carroll started, Hixenbaugh says that the late editor’s decision to pursue the story has already made an impact. Just before the piece was set to publish, the Health Science Center announced that it was ceasing its body donation program and firing the officials in charge.

“That’s the best tribute to Susy,” Hixenbaugh notes. “She was the type of journalist who wanted to change the world for the better—and this story led to significant change.”