Latest news with #NamUs
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio bill hoping to help solve missing persons cases in the state
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A recently introduced Ohio bill inspired by a Columbus man's disappearance aims to help solve missing persons cases in the state. The FIND Act, sponsored by Reps. Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) and Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta), would require law enforcement agencies in the state to enter missing people into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) within 30 days of a report being filed with police. NamUs is a free national database of missing persons and unidentified remains. Dental records, fingerprints and DNA profiles can be uploaded to the platform, helping law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners identify remains as missing people. Since the database was launched in 2007, it has helped solve over 46,000 cases across the country. 'We are at a pivotal moment when technology can help solve cases that have remained unsolved for years,' Cockley said in a statement. 'The FIND Act will equip law enforcement and medical professionals across Ohio with the tools they need to support families of the missing, while also giving families and the public a greater voice in the process.' At the bill's first hearing in April, Cockley said every day on her drive to work, she passes a billboard on West Broad Street featuring information about Andrew 'Andy' Chapman, who has been missing from her district since 2006. She said Andy's story inspired her to introduce the legislation. 'Andy's case is not an isolated one,' Cockley said. 'There are hundreds of families in Ohio still waiting for answers. What makes that wait even harder is knowing that we are not using all the tools we have available.' While many police departments in the state do enter missing people into NamUs, it is currently not required by law. Andy Chapman's sister Aimee Chapman said when Cockley called and shared that the billboard inspired her to introduce a bill, her family was 'so happy.' 'If you are familiar with Andy's story, unfortunately he fell into opioid addiction, and I feel like we're changing his legacy,' Aimee Chapman said. 'We're changing it from a missing addict to somebody who's making a difference.' While the bill likely will not make a difference in Andy Chapman's case, which was entered into NamUs by Columbus police in 2011, Aimee Chapman said she hopes it can help other missing people. 'If we can help another family not have to go through the mishaps that we went through by getting this bill passed, that would be a huge victory for our family,' Aimee Chapman said. Currently, over 1,100 residents – including both adults and children – are missing, according to a database maintained by the state's attorney general's office. Recorded cases date to 1928, with the disappearance of 4-year-old Melvin Horst. If the act is signed into law, Ohio would become the 17th state in the country to mandate the use of NamUs in missing persons investigations. The bill has 17 cosponsors, consisting of both Democrats and Republicans. It was assigned to the House's Public Safety Committee, where residents will have the chance to testify in support and opposition of the bill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Sisters Spent 17 Years Searching for Brother Before a Cold Case Project Revealed He Died by Suicide in 2007
Grieving sisters spent almost two decades searching for their brother, Jean Eli Gonzalez, who went missing after he traveled to Chicago in 2007 This spring, they learned he had died by suicide that same year as part of a cold case project Now, the family is preparing to go to his grave to give their "last goodbye"On Sept. 15, 2007, 23-year-old Jean Eli Gonzalez called his mom back home in Puerto Rico to let her know that he'd arrived safely in Chicago. Then she never heard from him again. Almost two decades later, his family — who spent years grappling with unanswered questions that only fueled their fear and despair — finally learned what happened to him. According to CBS News, Gonzalez's name was uploaded into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office as part of a cold case project in February 2025, eventually leading his family to learn that their beloved son and brother had died by suicide. His body had been found hanging off a billboard in a railroad yard near the Dan Ryan Expressway on Sept. 24, 2007, just nine days after he arrived in Chicago, according to the police report reviewed by PEOPLE. Investigators confirmed the cause of death was the result of depression. 'The only relief we have is that we know now where he [died] and that we can say goodbye to him,' his sister, Vilmarilys Hernandez, tells PEOPLE. But so many questions remain, she says. Gonzalez was a kind man, who wasn't afraid to fight for others. Vilmarilys remembers once when her brother, then 15 years old, jumped in to protect middle school students from a group of older high school students when they were growing up in San Lorenzo. He was stabbed with a pocket knife and hospitalized. 'My brother saw that nobody was doing anything and he intervened,' the 45-year-old esthetician says. 'So, that was my brother.' But Gonzalez had his struggles. He was using drugs and decided to go to Chicago for a substance abuse program, Segunda Vida, which he learned about from local police officers. His mom still has the brochure. (The treatment facility is now defunct.) A week after Gonzalez arrived in Chicago and told his mom a person from the program had picked him up, Vilmarilys had a disturbing dream. 'He was telling me in the airport, 'Don't worry, everything's going to be okay. I love you,' ' she remembers. 'And I took that as goodbye.' Vilmarilys woke up crying and immediately urged her mom to call the program. When their mom reached an employee at the program, she was told that the family couldn't talk to Gonzalez. The program never called back as promised, according to Vilmarilys. Days later, an employee told the worried mom that Gonzalez had left the program. So began the family's desperate search. Vilmarilys recalls calling the Chicago Police Department, local hospitals and homeless shelters in the area. She was unable to file a missing persons report, despite her request to authorities. She then called any place she could think of, seeking help for days, weeks and months, which turned into years. The grieving sister says the toll on her family was great. 'Maybe he doesn't want to talk with us. Maybe he's mad at us,' Vilmarilys says of the questions Gonzalez's four siblings and mom had as they feared what had happened to him. 'Maybe he's ashamed of himself, but what's going on? Maybe he's cold, maybe he's hungry.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. It wasn't until this spring that they learned Gonzalez had died. In 2023, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office began inputting the paper files of cold cases of unidentified people into NamUs, focusing on the years from 1988 to 2014, a Cook County spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE. 'Our staff worked tirelessly to find photos, biological samples for DNA analysis, fingerprint cards and dental information for these decedents in order to create a record,' the Cook County spokesperson says. 'Law enforcement agencies have been critical partners in this process by searching their warehouses and evidence rooms for anything that could assist in identifying these decedents.' So far, more than 200 decedents have been included in NamUs and 20 cases have been resolved, with Gonzalez's case being one of them. After his case was put into NamUs, CBS News reported, Vilmarilys saw his picture on Facebook, which had been reposted by a group of mothers who wanted to help people find their missing loved ones. His identity was confirmed after Vilmarilys and her sister traveled to Chicago to provide a DNA sample. But with the confirmation came new grief. They learned that Gonzalez's body had been found with a handwritten note in Spanish, which contained the Serenity Prayer. Their brother's name was written at the top, which prompted the investigating officer to use the name for the deceased, according to the police report. After the investigating officer found a woman with the same name in Elmwood Park, who had no knowledge of the dead man, the name was changed to unknown. After that, a copy of the report was sent to the missing persons department and the case was suspended, pending identification of the deceased, the police report said. Vilmarilys was disturbed by what she tells PEOPLE was a lack of a thorough investigation, especially because she'd given authorities a description of her brother and had called to ask about his disappearance for years. The Chicago Police Department did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment about her claims. Additionally, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office would not share any specifics about Gonzalez's case with PEOPLE. Vilmarilys and her sister were unable to get Gonzalez's remains, which, according to CBS News, have been interred in Homewood Memorial Gardens, which has served as Cook County's potter's field for unclaimed bodies, since 2008. Gonzalez's family, however, was able to start a donation page, so their brother could have a proper headstone. The sisters created matching T-shirts that say 'we found you' in Spanish and plan on visiting his grave. Vilmarilys tells PEOPLE, 'We are just waiting for the day to go there and say our last goodbye to him.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Why are police asking for help with finding a woman who vanished nearly 50 years ago?
Related video: This Utah woman was last seen in 1978 — Police are still looking for answers MURRAY, Utah () — On Sept. 16, 1978, 29-year-old Linda Peterson — who was five-and-a-half months pregnant at the time — told her husband she was leaving on a trip to Kentucky with some friends. She hasn't been seen since. On May 20, 2025 — nearly 50 years after Peterson disappeared — the Murray Police Department to ask for help from the public. Here's why. According to detectives with Murray PD, new developments with DNA samples and adoption records have renewed the investigation into Peterson's disappearance. PREVIOUSLY — This Utah woman was last seen in 1978. Nearly 50 years later, police are still searching for answers 'Early on in our investigation in 1978, we treated it like any other missing persons report and gathered the details of it,' Detective Gruendell with the Murray Police Department said. 'Over the years in reassigning it, we ran into new technology like DNA.' Peterson was adopted in Glendale, California, in 1949. Detective Gruendell said it took some time to get unredacted adoption records from California — the department didn't get those records until 2012, and learned that only Peterson's birth mother (not her father) was identified in the records. Around the time Murray PD obtained the adoption records, detectives were later able to identify a first cousin of Peterson's and obtain a DNA sample to put into a database. However, the case stalled because detectives needed a DNA match to a sibling or birth parent. In 2025, the case reopened, and Gruendell said detectives were able to identify 'natural siblings' of Peterson. Her siblings agreed to provide DNA samples, and Murray PD is working to put a DNA profile together. 'This is a huge thing for this case, and the reason is… any unidentified body that we have had between 1978 and now, we've never been able to test to find out if it is our missing persons case,' Gruendell said. Gruendell continued: 'Now we have the technology and the resources to push this case forward to actually reach out to other departments and go on NamUs and try to identify if she has passed away or maybe she just packed up and moved.' Murray detectives said Peterson's family is interested in bringing her home. Detectives also said that any details, no matter how small, may help find Peterson. 'We are running out of time to find anyone who knew her that we could possibly interview,' Gruendell said. According to the , Linda was first reported missing by her husband, William Peterson, on Sept. 30, 1978. He told police that his wife had left home with friends in a station wagon. William said Linda was heading to Kentucky to meet with some other friends, but he 'became worried when he didn't hear from Linda,' according to the DPS. Detectives with Murray PD said that Linda had lived in Kentucky for four months in 1974, but officials have not been able to identify the friends that she left with for the trip in 1978. 'We have not [been] able to have enough evidence to corroborate that she actually went to Kentucky for that trip,' Detective Gutierrez with Murray PD told Linda is described as being 5'8″ tall, weighing 130 pounds, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. According to the (NamUs), she was last seen wearing an orange maternity top and blue jeans. Linda worked as a nurse at the University of Utah in 1977 and 1978. She would now be 76 years old. Her husband worked as a pharmacist, and told police his wife was with a woman he did not recognize, named Susan or Suzanne, in the station wagon. Anyone with information or memories has been asked to call 801-264-2673 or email Detective Gruendell at kgruendell@ Trump pardons former GOP Rep. Michael Grimm amid clemency spree Why are police asking for help with finding a woman who vanished nearly 50 years ago? Orem man charged for threatening to kill a family who visited neighboring for-sale house Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy provides updates on Newark airport Street performers ready to thrill audiences at SLC's Busker Fest Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona Legislature unanimously approves Turquoise Alert System for missing Indigenous people
Community members wait in line at the water tank in Peridot, Arizona, so that they can place a red hand print of the mural honoring Emily Pike and everyone impacted by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror The creation of the Turquoise Alert System cleared its final legislative hurdle on Wednesday when it passed the state House of Representatives unanimously The new system, which would function similarly to the existing Amber Alert and Silver Alert notification systems, would coordinate alerts for missing Indigenous or endangered persons through the federally authorized Emergency Alert System. The final passage comes less than a week after the state Senate amended the legislation, House Bill 2281, to include minors who go missing. The change allows the alert system to be activated in cases like Emily Pike's, an Indigenous teen whose disappearance and murder earlier this year was cited by lawmakers as the impetus for the measure. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, said she introduced the bill before Pike's story became public, and that the Turquoise Alert could have prevented her murder. 'It breaks my heart that we, the State of Arizona, didn't even go looking for this little girl,' she said. 'We cannot let children go missing without somebody being alerted.' Democratic Rep. Brian Garcia, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, said the alert will save lives. 'One day, what happened to Emily won't happen to another child,' he said. More than 10,600 Indigenous people were reported missing in the U.S. in 2023, roughly 3,300 of whom were 18 or older, according to the FBI. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System reported that more than 23,700 missing persons cases were in the database at the end of 2023, and 255 of those were for Indigenous people. In 2021, Arizona was ranked as the state with the third-largest number of unresolved missing Indigenous people cases in the country, according to NamUs. There are currently 91 missing Indigenous people cases in the NamUs database for Arizona. A study from the Urban Indian Health Institute found that Arizona also has the third-largest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the country. That study reported 506 known cases in 71 urban areas across the country, 54 of which were in Arizona, including 31 in Tucson. There is still no single database that provides accurate numbers or data related to missing and murdered Indigenous peoples across the country. With no centralized database among the thousands of federal, state and tribal entities, the information available is limited. The Turquoise Alert system has been a priority for Indigenous advocates for years, and was requested in 2019, when Arizona's first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women study committee examined the crisis. 'Indigenous people go missing at a higher rate than any other ethnicity,' Elayne Gregg, whose 7-year-old daughter was abducted and killed in 2009, told the Arizona Mirror earlier this year. 'Because that rate is so high, something like this needs to happen.' The bill has received broad bipartisan support as it moved through the legislative process, making it likely that Gov. Katie Hobbs will sign it into law. Hobbs has already directed the Arizona Department of Public Safety to develop a plan for implementing a new alert for Indigenous people by summer. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
NamUs releases more information on body found in Killingly
KILLINGLY, Conn. (WTNH) — New updates about the body found in Killingly in April have been released. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System , the person was roughly 5'8″ with an estimated age somewhere between 25 and 45 years old, and that they could've been Caucasian or African American. Police dispel increasing rumors of serial killer as investigation into body found in New Haven continues NamUs estimated that the person likely died some time in 2024 or 2025. No identity has been revealed. The investigation is still ongoing at this time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
