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East County News Service
March 14, 2016 (San Diego) — The County Medical Examiner and regional law enforcement will host the first annual “Identify the Missing” Day on March 19.
Family members of missing people are asked to come to the event from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 5570 Overland Avenue in Kearny Mesa.
Investigators are hoping for new leads to help solve some of the 3,175 active missing person reports, including files dating back to the 1950s.
Some of those people may have disappeared under suspicious circumstances or were just never heard from again. Some may have a missing person report filed on them with the Sheriff or local police agencies, while others perhaps were never reported, were not missed for some time, or their family is fearful of law enforcement.
Law enforcement investigators will take new reports or update existing missing persons cases with new information, medical or dental records, photographs, or DNA from family members. Two or more relatives provide optimal results and expedite the order of testing against the database.
Relatives from Mexico or neighboring counties are also welcome to attend, even if the case is not from San Diego County. Spanish translators will be available.
At a preview for media on Monday, the father of a man whose son was missing for 31 years spoke about receiving recent notification that his son’s body had been located.
A medical examiner investigator discussed how their office identifies John and Jane Doe cases. Among the department’s many resources is forensic artist PJ Puterbaugh, who creates sketches from skeletal or partial remains of unidentified people.
Similar events have been held in San Bernardino and Orange County in California. Both events successfully matched families with remains of unidentified loved ones.
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