Comment

Comment by Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin on July 10, 2011 at 5:17pm

Dear Congressman (Senator),

 

As a person who had a loved one missing for 4 years and now as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) Victims Advocate Team Kansas I am asking that when this extraordinary legislation comes before you that you make a choice to stand behind the families of the missing by supporting, co-sponsoring and passing the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law).

 

There are over 100,000 missing in our great country and anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 unidentified remains of people all over this country. Sad isn't it that we can't even come up with an accurate count? Those numbers by themselves should get your attention. But have you stopped to think about how many lives are forever changed when a loved one is missing? 1/2 million plus US citizens get up every morning and go to sleep every night living this nightmare, many for decades. If 1/2 million people were suffering from the flu you would sit up and take notice, wouldn't you? It would be an epidemic.

 

These numbers are at an epidemic level that no one in this country is immune to. The government has rushed in and helped far less numbers of citizens in times of national disasters, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fires, etc. The missing and the unidentified and the impact on their families and friends is a national disaster. This can happen to anyone's family, anyone. Do you know how many people are missing in your state? Do you know where to turn to get ALL those numbers and see those faces? Do you know how many unidentified remains are in your state? Do your fellow state residents know where to get these numbers and view these cases? People missing and unidentified remains are a concern for public safety and homeland security.

 

When you don’t know why a person is missing then they could have been murdered, are being exploited or something criminal happened to them or by them. When a missing person case is not solved or an unidentified person case is not solved then it is highly likely that criminals/murderers/terrorists walk among us unpunished. Doesn't it make sense to do all you can do to strengthen NamUs so the data is all housed in one clearinghouse, one repository for both the missing and the unidentified remains so that cases can be solved quicker, families given answers quicker and the public protected quicker? Doesn’t it make sense to strengthen NamUs so that Law Enforcement, Coroners, Medical Examiners, the Families of the Missing, the Media and the Public can all have access to one repository to aid in collaboration between all entities of solving these cases? Connect this disconnected system and more families of the missing will get their answers. And, for those families yet to come they will have the hope of a much quicker answer than ever before once Billy’s Law is law. You can make that happen. Please for the families of the missing and for the safety of this country please cosponsor HR 1300 / SR 702, Billy's Law. Thank you for your time and your service to our country.

 

Maureen Reintjes

Address

Phone Number

Email Address

 

• Victim's Advocate Team Kansas NamUs Academy Nov. 2010 http://www.namus.gov/
• Admin: Peace4 the Missing: http://peace4missing.ning.com/
• Fox Valley Technical College Responding to Missing and Unidentified Persons National Training Conference - Scholarship Recipient (Feb 2011): http://www.fvtc.edu/missing
• Project Jason Keys to Healing Retreat Attendee 2009 and 2010 http://www.projectjason.org/