No will, what can we do now?

My aunt died last month and no one can find her will. She filed everything away including tax returns from the 1970's and every other important doent imaginable, but no will. She had lung cancer, emphysema, and COPD, and knew she was dying and even told us she was leaving a will, but no one's been able to find one. She helped raise me and another woman and promised to leave us many things including houses and other belongings, and now since there is no will we will get nothing and relatives that she had no relation with and even disdained will get everything. My grandmother is her only remaining sibling alive and is too tired to deal with everything right away, so we haven't gone to all the banks, or checked if there's anything in safety deposit boxes or things like that. And the other woman that she raised had been living in the house with her when she died and credit cards were stolen and thousands of dollars were charged to it and we don't know if foul play was involved with the will being stolen or not. But I was wondering what can we do now, she lived in NY and I live in NC so its hard for me to help because I'm the only one with enough time to do it. Has anyone else gone through this and what have you done? Thanks so much