The sheer volume of missing and unidentified person cases in the United States poses a significant challange to law enforcement,
medical examiners, coroners, and family members searching to resolve these cases.
The number of missing and unidentified person cases in the United States has been deemed our nation's silent mass disaster.
The national missing and unidentified person system or NamUs
is the only national program that combines online case repositories
that are accessible to all with case management, forensic analysis,
and analytical resources to resolve cases
NamUs is kind of a one stop shop for missing and unidentified person cases.
We all have pieces of the puzzle.
Medical examiners have elements of these cases, we have elements,
and families have elements. NamUs invites us all together in order to solve these cases.
One case we had was a man who went missing with his vehicle.
We had no idea where he went and there was no trace of him after he went missing.
We were able to enter him into NamUs and a gentleman, a hunter, actually came across his vehicle
in a dry wash out in the middle of the desert.
He thought is was unusual. He came home and started searching the plate of the vehicle on the internet
and actually came up with the NamUs entry and was able to contact us.
We went out into the area, did a search
and were able to locate the remains of the person.
Bring a resolution to the family in that case.
NamUs resources include case analysis, forensic odontology, DNA analysis,
fingerprint examination, and anthropological analysis of unidentified skeletal remains.
All NamUs resources are provided free of charge through funding by the National Institute of Justice.
Paula was 21. She went missing in 1987 from Kansas City, Missouri
and approximately 14 hours later Ohio had found a body.
Had no ID on her, so they had listed her as a Jane Doe.
For the first probably four of five years we had got calls where my parents had to go identify bodies
because they would think that it was her and it would turn out that it wasn't her
and after that it was like nothing for many years.
Within 30 minutes I had my match.
First I entered the sex, the approximate age, what state she had went missing from,
and the year last known alive.
The last case was Paula's
and how I realized it was her was by the description of the tattoos that she had
that I didn't think anybody else would have accept for Paula.
The most important thing that I had gained out of all this
besides getting Paula back home is the support that NamUs has showed our family.
Among the difficulties in solving missing and unidentified person cases
is that the frequently cut across jurisdictional boundaries
and involve different agencies and databases.
Getting individuals identified is my goal with my job every day
is to give somebody a name back.
NamUs is a great database because not only I can put in as much information as I want in there
I can put it in areas where if I don't want the public to see that information
or maybe law enforcememt has asked me not to put that information in there.
There are areas where I can put it in where I know the public won't be able to see it,
but yet another forensic user or law enforcement can see that information.
Well we get probably three or four unidentified people a week in our office.
We have been putting them into NamUs in hoping that people will look at this database
and let us know if they think there is a potential match.
I am the last voice for the unidentified individual and
that's why I think most of us do this job
because we're speaking for those who can't.
Billy went missing in 2004
and previous to that we were just a mom and dad to our children
family farm oriented people
and when Billy went missing we stepped into the world of the unknown.
Families suffer greatly when a person goes missing. The not knowing is the hardest.
NamUs was created to improve access to information for the diverse community of families
and the criminal justice professionals who work on missing person and unidentified decedent cases.
It takes a village and together we can all make a difference.
I think it gives a sense of security to know that there's other peaople out there trying to find your missing loved one
and to bring them home.
NamUs is an excellent tool. It's something that was desperately needed
there was a void in missing and unidentified person cases for law enforcement
and I think the more cases that get entered the more chances well have to resolve cases
and that's what our goal is.
We can't resolve these unidentified and missing persons
until every missing person and unidentified individual is in the database.
One day I think we will bring Billy home.
You never give up. No.
For more information visit www.NamUs.gov
or contact NamUs toll free at 1-855-626-7600
NamUs is funded by the National Institue of Justice
and managed by the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
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