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Family seeks answers in Mpls. woman's death

Amber Hopkins, 31, was last seen alive on Jan. 14.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — A Minneapolis family is looking for answers after a missing woman's body was found last week behind an abandoned home.

Amber Hopkins, 31, had been missing for months before her body was found last Tuesday. 

"I didn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it," said Kelsey Torrence. "Who wants to believe that their sister was found dead?"

Sunday afternoon, friends and family gathered at the Minnesota Chippewa Tribes Building in Minneapolis for Hopkins' wake. 

Previous story: Woman found dead behind Mpls. home

Hopkins was last seen alive on Jan. 14. At the time, Hopkins was five weeks pregnant. More than two months after she was last seen, someone spotted her body behind a boarded-up home in north Minneapolis near 35th Ave. and Dupont Ave. 

Neighbors said the home had been vacant since last fall. 

"I was shocked. I was stunned," said Alfred Melton, who lives across the street. 

Credit: Devin Krinke
Amber Hopkins' body was found behind a boarded up home near 35th Ave. and Dupont Ave. in north Minneapolis.

Family said Hopkins' body was found underneath leaves and debris. Torrence said the snow melting around her sister's body makes her wonder how long Hopkins had been there before she was found. 

"I have tons of questions like... Who was she with? Where was she at?" Torrence said.  

According to Torrence, her big sister had been hopping between houses and at one point was living at the Hiawatha Avenue homeless camp. She was pregnant with her fifth child when she died. 

Hopkins was a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe and had worked in the past as a personal care attendant. 

Credit: Devin Krinke
Friends and family gathered at the Minnesota Chippewa Tribes Building in Minneapolis Sunday afternoon for Amber Hopkins' wake.

"She was the type to... live life, be happy, because she was a happy person," said Torrence, adding "that she was beautiful and that she was strong and that she loved everybody. "

The Minneapolis Police Department said it is an open death investigation. Police do not know how she died or how she got there. 

Autopsy results have not come back yet. 

Hopkins' funeral will take place Monday, April 1 at 10 a.m. at the Minnesota Chippewa Tribes Building at 1113 E. Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. 

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