Article Date: November 8, 2025, 07:17h.

Updated on: November 8, 2025, 07:26h.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced on Friday that they have positively identified human remains that were discovered 55 years ago.

Anna Sylvia Just, who was 27 years old and worked as a stenographer, had been an outpatient at a mental health facility in Calgary, Canada, before she vanished in August 1966.

In March 1968, her possessions—including a purse, suitcase, clothing, and a bloodstained cloth—were discovered in the desert south of Las Vegas. At that time, then-Clark County Sheriff Ralph Lamb expressed his belief to reporters that she had been murdered.

During the initial inquiry, it was revealed that Calgary police had already issued a missing person report for Just.

On Friday, Las Vegas police shared that “multiple reports indicated she had a connection with Thomas B. Hanley and that she sought financial assistance from him.” They alleged that Hanley instructed his associates to take Anna to the desert, where she was allegedly murdered.

Who was Thomas Hanley?

Hanley was a prominent figure in organized crime and labor leadership, notably heading the Federation of Casino and Gaming Employees as well as the Gaming and Office Employee Union. His tenure was tainted by corruption and violence.

Although he was not formally affiliated with a traditional crime syndicate, Hanley maintained links to the Binion family and mobsters from the Midwest, using tactics like bombings and beatings to maintain union compliance.

He was suspected of the 1954 murder of James Hartley and the 1966 killing of Ralph Alsup, both union leaders whose bodies were discovered buried in shallow graves. Hanley was never charged in Hartley’s case, and the allegations against him regarding Alsup were dropped before trial.

Finally, in 1977, Hanley and his son, Andrew “Gramby” Hanley, were convicted of kidnapping and murdering Al Bramlet, who led Nevada’s AFL-CIO and Culinary Union Local 226.

Prosecutors asserted that Bramlet had contracted Hanley for bombings of non-union businesses but did not pay for the services, leading to his fatal outcome.

Justice for Just

On June 7, 1970, the remains of a woman were discovered by children playing in the desert, approximately a mile from where Just’s possessions were located. The Clark County Coroner’s Office determined the death to be a homicide, indicated by a depressed skull fracture.

Las Vegas police however did not link Just’s disappearance to the remains found two years later due to the inability to identify them, as genetic fingerprinting didn’t come into use until 1986.

In October 2024, Calgary Cold Case Missing Persons detectives contacted the Las Vegas police relating to Just’s case, and they provided the name of the individual who collected her personal items in 1968.

This individual turned out to be Just’s biological sister, from whom Calgary detectives obtained DNA samples. The DNA matched the remains discovered by the children in 1970.

Hanley passed away in 1979 from chronic hepatitis at age 63, while in custody at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas.