May 11, 2023

Cold Case Task Force Working to Identify Remains of More Than 20 Unidentified Individuals

Decatur, Ga.- DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston and DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office Director Pat Bailey invite the public to attend a Missing Persons Event & DNA Drive on Saturday, May 20, 2023 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., at the DeKalb County Public Library, 3500 Covington Highway, Decatur.

Families of missing persons are invited to attend the event to share information about their loved ones, open or add to missing persons reports, and donate DNA that may assist with identification efforts.

To learn more, visit https://bit.ly/3VbTFTg. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

Those who believe a loved one may be missing and would like to file a missing person's report at the event are asked to bring the following items, if possible. These documents will be scanned and returned.

• Photos of your loved one
• Photos of tattoos
• Original police reports
• Medical documentation
• Identification documents

There will be representatives from the police departments within DeKalb County to take new cases, as well as a representative from NamUs. There will also be opportunities to have these reports entered into NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and NamUs.

Family members may donate DNA for uploading to CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and genealogy databases. For those who wish to submit DNA samples, it would be ideal to have two family members from two different branches of the family tree (mother and father's side) for the most robust CODIS search, if possible.

Additional organizations invited to attend include: Innovative Forensic Investigations, NamUs, NCMEC (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children), Trans Doe Task Force, Uncovered.com, The Raymond Green International Outreach of Hope, The Black and Missing Foundation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Crimestoppers.

DeKalb County Cold Case Task Force & Grant Funding

The Missing Persons Event & DNA Drive is an extension of the work of the DeKalb County Cold Case Task Force, a newly-formed coalition consisting of staff from the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the DeKalb County Police Department, and a private lab partner, Innovative Forensic Investigations. The task force is actively working on the identification of the remains of more than 20 individuals in DeKalb County.

The Medical Examiner’s Office has compiled a webpage with information and sketches of several unidentified individuals, https://bit.ly/42CB8Sv, and will have case information available at the Missing Persons Event & DNA Drive.

The DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office has been awarded a three-year Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) Program grant in the amount of $496,045.00 to identify the remains of 27 individuals found in DeKalb County. The funding, provided by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is intended for use in improving the reporting, transportation, processing, and identification of missing persons and unidentified human remains.

The DeKalb County Cold Case Task Force will use these funds to catalog, report, test, identify and return to families the unidentified remains of the individuals. To date, some remains have been housed at the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office. Others are buried and will be exhumed to begin the process of identification.

Please contact the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Tip Line at (404) 371-2444 if you believe you may have information on a cold case in DeKalb County. Callers may remain anonymous.