Online system lets public seek to identify the missing
A new U.S. database is seeking to identify the remains of thousands of dead people, some of whom have remained mysteries for decades, officials say.
The online system, called NamUs, is operated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. Officials hope to attach names to the many John and Jane Does whose remains are housed in morgues and police forensic labs across the country, reported The Washington Post.
The newspaper said the system is open for use by police, medical examiners and coroners, as well as family members.
“Instead of having this fragmented system where people go to coroners, to medical examiners, to law enforcement, we have everything in a central repository,” Kristina Rose, acting director of the National Institute of Justice, told the Post. “People can participate in identifying their loved ones…”
A 2007 federal report indicated that 4,400 sets of unidentified human remains surface each year, though most cases are eventually solved. The estimated total number of unidentified remains varies from 13,500 to 40,000, the Post reported.
There’s always someone out there, missing and presumed – dead or alive. At least this new system might allow for some of those questions to be answered.
