Everyone deserves a name
February 3 was National Missing Persons Day, aimed at bringing awareness to the thousands of individuals reported missing or unidentified in the U.S. each year.
In honor of this observance, Hennepin County is asking for the public's help in identifying individuals in our own jurisdiction.
Long considered cold cases, some deceased individuals investigated by the Medical Examiner’s Office have waited decades for an identification. Now, thanks to technology and genealogy advances, and the power of modern communication tools to reach the public, there is renewed hope of giving each individual a name and bringing closure to families.
The office received a federal grant from the Bureau of Justice Administration to do this work, which is being led by Dr. Jessica Campbell, the only board-certified forensic anthropologist in the state.
"We're doing this because everyone deserves a name," Dr. Campbell said. "It may have taken some years to get here, but we have technology and identification techniques now that just weren’t an option when some of the original death investigations began. We want the families who have been waiting for answers to know that we never forgot and we will do everything we can to return your loved ones."
Key partnerships
The work to identify these cases goes beyond forensic science and investigative efforts. The key is our partnerships, including with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) – the agency that keeps a database of all unidentified cases in the nation – and the Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office.
"As Indigenous relatives, we are all interconnected," said Guadalupe Lopez, director of the MMIR Office. "One missing person can have ripple effects that change our community and our state. Piece by piece, these efforts to bring home the missing rebuild trust and restore visibility to those who have been unseen."
There are currently more than 150 cases categorized as unidentified persons in the Medical Examiner’s Office, with more coming in. Each case is being carefully reviewed, cataloged in the NamUs database, and published on our website with the most current information.
Fact sheets for the first five individuals have been published and we are seeking the public’s help in identifying them. Anyone with information is asked to call the Medical Examiner’s Office or one of the partner agencies listed on the case fliers.