TAMPA, FLA. - The search is over for relatives of a 56-year-old Orangeburg native who died Oct. 28 of natural causes in a homeless shelter in Tampa, Fla.

Two first cousins of Ethel Lee Sistrunck, who was born in Orangeburg on July 14, 1952, contacted the Medical Examiner’s Department of Tampa, Fa. after reading the article published in The Times and Democrat Friday reporting that authorities were trying to find Sistrunck’s next of kin.

Pete Bihorel of the Medical Examiner’s Department of Tampa said Sistrunck was a hospice patient at the time of her death. Sistrunck did not have any family members listed, but the ME’s office was able to determine from her Social Security records that she was born in Orangeburg to Lewis C. Sistrunck and Ethel Harvey. But Bihorel told The Times and Democrat Thursday that his office had not had any luck tracking down any of Sistrunck’s surviving family members.

Then on Friday, Bihorel received calls from two of Sistrunck’s relatives who read The T&D article and immediately called him.

“The family had been looking for her. They knew she was in Tampa. One of them had talked to the Tampa Police Department about filing a missing person’s report,” Bihorel said.

“Since she (Ethel Sistrunck) was only 56, I knew someone must be out there,” he said.

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