Billy's Law Boost for Mississippi

[Todd Matthews]

GPD still in pursuit of ‘missing’ cases
http://www.ddtonline.com/articles/2010/01/17/news/news4.txt

[Todd Matthews]

Though fugitives are not the mandate of the NamUs purpose in general -- more than once a fugitive has been found among the unidentified. I myself have found evidence to that fact. My belief is that if our law enforcement search the system for fugitives among the unidentified - it will be a blessing if for nothing more than to reduce the numbers so that the search for the missing is streamlined. We can NOT place too much focus on the identification of human remains -- whatever the purpose for doing so.

[Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin]

Great article! Even fugitives' families deserve to have answers.

[Todd Matthews]

This one has a good feedback format -- maybe we can show them how much we appreciate exposure for missing & uid?

http://www.ddtonline.com/articles/2010/01/17/news/news4.txt

[Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin]

Dang. You have to pay on that site. Got $5 you can loan me Todd??? :)

[Sara Huizenga]

http://namus.gov

Fight for it! THIS (along with Billy's Law which will help enforce it) WILL CHANGE the Lives of Those with Missing Loved Ones in a POSITIVE WAY!

[John Quinn]

I agree with you Sara 1000% !! LOVE ALWAYS....johnny

[Todd Matthews]

New link -- the orig expired --

http://www.ddtonline.com/articles/2010/01/17/news/news4.prt

GPD still in pursuit of ‘missing’ cases

by DARYL BELL

[e-mail]

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Police Department has 13 open missing person cases but the department, other law enforcement personnel, and concerned citizens around the country, now have a new tool to aid in their search.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a free web-based tool accessible to everyone. It’s geared to families of missing persons, law enforcement, medical examiners/coroners and victim advocates - to assist in solving the cases of missing and unidentified person cases in the United States.

“NamUs was developed with the help of experts in all areas of missing and unidentified persons case management including victim’s advocacy and families,” said Todd Matthews, a spokesman for NamUs. “Homicide is the number one cause of death for the unidentified and one of the primary reasons for missing people.”

According to Matthews, there are 98,058 open missing cases in the United States. Of that total, 551 cases are in Mississippi.

He said there are 4,400 unidentified remains found every year and more than 1,000 of these remain unidentified. There may be more than 40,000 human remains that are unidentified.

Since the web site opened up last year, NamUs has been credited with having closed seven of 223 cases.

“I can see where this could benefit a lot of people, especially law enforcement,” said Capt. Andrew Kaho of the Greenville Police Dept. “It gives us another option to use in searching for people.”

And it appears that congress is interested in helping find the missing. U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-Connecticut, has sponsored legislation - House Bill 3695 Help Find the Missing Act - that would allow the FBI and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to create a centralized public database for all missing persons and unidentified cases.

Matthews said not every missing person case is filed with the FBI. The legislation, which has been referred to the subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, will allow the public access to many of the missing person cases.

“The sharing of information is so important, especially in missing person cases,” said Matthews.