Investigators hit a wall when human remains are found but a match to those remains isn't. The state Medical Examiner's Office is now working to expand a database to help them find and identify missing people, not only in Oklahoma, but also across the country. The office will host "Oklahoma I MiSS U Day" on Saturday morning in Tahlequah. The event is focused on gathering more information about missing people from family members and adding to the national DNA database for missing and unidentified people. "It's to help get families their loved ones back," said Kristine Brinlee, family assistance coordinator with the Medical Examiner's Office. Officials are asking family members and friends to bring any items or information that could help locate their missing loved ones, such as medical information, dental records and photographs. Samples of DNA will also be collected from family members and entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database, a project of the Department of Justice. More than 11,000 missing-persons cases are listed in the NamUs database, including 127 open cases in Oklahoma, 25 in the Tulsa area. The database of cases in Oklahoma runs from 1967 to the present. The information will be compared with the database of unidentified human remains, also maintained by the Department of Justice. That database has nearly 10,000 cases, including 128 open cases in Oklahoma. Officials with the Medical Examiner's Office, NamUs and local law enforcement agencies will be on hand to help families with registering and to help file reports if one has yet to be filed. Brinlee said the office hopes to make the event an annual one and to hold it in locations across the state.
JERRY WOFFORD World Staff Writer