Cold Case: Unidentified

Since 1982, Crittenden County Sheriff’s Deputies say they’ve discovered 11 bodies whose remains have never been identified. 9 of the 11 bodies have washed up on the shore of the Mississippi River. At least four were murdered. Many of the bodies were found by fishermen.

While most of the unidentified bodies were found in the Mississippi, one was found in a utility building of an abandoned church in Proctor, Arkansas in 1986. Deputies say he was decapitated.

Tommy Martin with the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office says, “We’ve exhausted all our missing person cases locally, trying to identify.”

The majority of the bodies were found in the mid 80s, before DNA technology became so prevalent. But, in some cases, DNA samples were preserved and with the help of Arkansas Crime Lab the samples are now being processed and will be entered into an online database called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or NAMUS.

Martin says of the system, “If your loved one’s been missing since 1982, we can take a sample of your DNA and compare it to see if it was actually that person.”

According to the NAMUS website there are roughly 40-Thousand unidentified human remains in the US. The website is run by the Department of Justice and serves as a clearinghouse for missing people and unidentified bodies.

It’s free and anyone can search using characteristics like sex, race, distinct body feature, even dental information. Martin thinks this may be the key to solving the mystery of the unidentified bodies, “Ultimately if we can ID one of the 11 it’s well worth our time and resources trying to give closure and find loved ones missing for so many years.”