Help for disinterment, cremation, and shipping

Hello my name is Christa Long, and I am asking for help in disinterment, cremation, and shipment of my sisters ashes back to home in North Carolina with me. I received a message from a Facebook group Unidentified & Unclaimed on late Saturday night and was asked if I knew a Tonya Ratliff. I responded with yes she is my sister and they proceeded to tell me that she was listed in their group under the NamUs website of being deceased and that she has been unclaimed. I followed up with this and looked this information up and indeed found my sister which has been deceased since December 31,2020 but no next of kin has been able to be located. One of the members contacted me from one of her Facebook posts and conversation that we had a few years ago. I called and left a voicemail at the CMEO of NY and they contacted me back and I gave some identifiers and have now claimed her. She has been buried in Hart Island Cemetery with all other individuals with no identity or haven’t been claimed like her. I am wanting to get a disinterment, then have her remains cremated and sent to our home in Roxboro, North Carolina. After speaking with several funeral homes in the area this is going to be a little bit of a tedious process due to the age of the remains they are having to be handled differently than they would have been if it had been closer to her death. I am asking for any help with this so I can give her the respect and dignity that she deserves besides laying in a cemetery with others only being identified by a case number. What happened to her and why so long before me finding out if she was my sister?

She struggled badly with mental health issues and was non compliant with therapy and medications instead self medicating with drugs and alcohol. Apparently on December 31,202 she collapsed on a sidewalk in front of a store in Brooklyn NY. Was transported to NYU Lutheran where there they attempted to resuscitate her but was unsuccessful. Her cause of death was acute intoxication. Her toxicology report states death was caused by accidental overdose of fentanyl, heroine and benzodiazepines. Since they could not locate any next of kin she was buried at Hart Island after a period of time. We had contact off and on but when she was on drugs and going through these depressive aggressive outbursts she would not contact me. I had attempted to contact her through Facebook and never had any luck and hit dead ends every direction I went or any avenue that I would take. I’m sorry for the graphic picture but I could only post one and this one was the only one that I have that could show proof of the validity of this story and the request.

Sincerely,

Christa Long