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National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System

Overview

What is NamUs?

Resolving missing and unidentified persons cases is especially complex. Information-sharing across agencies and jurisdictions can be fragmented, paired with limited investigative resources and a high volume of cases. In many instances, significant time has passed since the person went missing. Still, we have a societal responsibility to ensure dignified and lawful outcomes. Each resolution can also uncover links to multiple crimes—and...

NamUs and Tribal Communities

September 2024

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a national centralized repository and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States. NamUs recognizes the need for additional support for tribal communities and has dedicated resources to address missing and unidentified Indigenous persons cases.

Overview of NamUs - the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System

September 2024

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a national centralized repository and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States. NamUs helps investigators match long-term missing persons with unidentified remains to resolve cases and bring resolution to families.

Advancing Justice for the Missing and Unidentified Through Research - 2024 NIJ Research Conference

September 2024

Forensic science research is developing essential knowledge to fill in the holes in death investigations, creating new ways to identify challenging skeletal remains. These methods inform cause of death, time of death, and familial relationships to guide investigations, identify suspects, support prosecutions, and bring justice to families.

Cold Cases and Serial Killers, Part 1

September 2023

In April 2018, the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo was arrested. NIJ support helped lead to his arrest, and in the aftermath of the arrest, NIJ Social Science Analyst Eric Martin was among those tasked with finding other cases NIJ helped law enforcement solve. Eric joins the show to talk about some of those cases, and answer some broader questions about serial killers: What is a serial killer? Are they on the rise? How do we know how many serial killers are currently active?

Tribal Crime, Justice, and Safety, Part 2

July 2022

Stacy Lee Reynolds and Christine (Tina) Crossland continue their discussion of tribal crime, justice, and safety, including how Native American persons experience crime victimization at higher rates than non-Native people and the jurisdictional complexities in responding to tribal crime, justice, and safety. Read the transcript.

Listen to the first half of Stacy and Tina’s discussion.

Reading and Resources from NIJ

Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants

Webinar Transcript: W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System, Fiscal Year 2021

Following is a transcript of a webinar hosted by NIJ in support of the funding opportunity "W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System, Fiscal Year 2021."

DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today’s webinar, Funding Opportunities Through NIJ, the W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in...

Serial Killer Connections Through Cold Cases

Date Published
June 15, 2020

Cold case investigations have revealed that, in many cases, those responsible also are responsible for multiple crimes. Therefore, prioritizing cold case investigations can assist in both resolving crimes and preventing future ones.