NamUS Database of National Missing and Unidentified Persons System

There is now a national database for families looking for unidentified missing persons called NamUS - National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. There is hope that it will help solve unsolved cases.

Here is what it says on its home page:

"The Unidentified Decedents Database contains information entered by medical examiners and coroners. Anyone can search the database using characteristics such as sex, race, distinct body features and dental information.

The Missing Persons Database contains information that can be entered by anyone. Before a missing persons case will appear on this Web site, however, it will be validated. The site also provides links to state clearinghouses, medical examiners and coroners, victim assistance groups and pertinent legislation.

In 2009, the two databases will be linked. Families, law enforcement agencies, medical examiners and coroners, victim advocates, and the general public will be able to search for matches between missing persons and unidentified decedent records."

Five missing person cases have been solved already. Normally, you are looking for a "body" but one mother did get her daughter back alive when she listed her daughter on the database, I guess assuming her child was dead, and her daughter, who was alive, went home.