Database Seeks To Link Bodies, Families

CBS' Erin Moriarty: Justice Dept. Service Is Designed To Help Relatives Find Missing Loved Ones

(CBS)  The Justice Department will unveil a computer database this week called NamUS, meant to bring answers, and perhaps even some peace and closure, to families searching for a missing loved one.

There are 40,000 unidentified bodies and remains in the United States, reports 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty reported on The Early Show Monday.

Until now, there hasn't been any system to connect those remains with people looking for missing family members.

But, says Moriarty, that's about to change, in part because of a determined mother in Ohio.

Debra Culberson says her daughter, Carrie Culberson, was "very beautiful, but more so than that, she was just beautiful inside. She was always happy, and ... she would try to make the mood light." A small town girl who left a big impression.

But on Aug. 28, 1996, Carrie simply vanished.

Since then, Debra has been on a mission, not only to find Carrie, but to help other parents of missing children find theirs.

"I just need to know where she is," Debra says.

Carrie was 22, living with her mom and little sister in the village of Blanchester, Ohio, until she went out with friends one night, and just didn't come home.

Police suspected ex-boyfriend Vince Doan was involved. Carrie had obtained a restraining order after she said he beat and abused her.

Without a body, prosecutors were reluctant to charge Doan, but in 1997, he was tried and convicted of Carrie's murder. Even then, Doan refused to say what he did with Carrie's body.

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Moriarty reflects on Debra's relentless search, and on NamUs

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Asked by Moriarty why it's so important to find Carrie, knowing she's dead, Debra responded, "I think any mother, or any parent in the world, would understand this: It's that physical body that I held in my arms all those years, and just the need to know where her remains are. It's not any different than someone losing a soldier -- you know -- they still need to find their son's remains."

For the past dozen years, Debra has searched for her daughter by scanning newspapers from neighboring counties and states, one-by-one, then calling police whenever she read a body had been found. She got nowhere.

"For years," says Kentucky State Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Emily Craig, "we've had this world going on with the unidentified dead, we've had this world going on with the missing, and trying to put them together ... (it was as if) they were in two different worlds."

"It could be in one county that a body is found, and there's no way for someone in another body to know that," Moriarty points out. "There's never been a connection until now."

Craig, whose state borders Ohio, heard from Debra every time a body was found. That's why Craig helped create the national computer database appropriately called NamUS.

It will try to match unidentified bodies, Jane and John Does, to the list of people reported missing each year.

"We have no guarantee that it's gonna work," says Craig, "but anything is better than what we've had."

A major problem, she says, has been collecting the data needed to properly identify remains. "So many people think that every dead person is lying around like Elvis, you know, for identification by eye color, hair color, moles, scars, tattoos, things like that," Craig says. " ... and, at least in our climate, here in Kentucky, you can go from a living person to a skeleton in (just) two weeks."

So, when Craig meets with coroners and medical examiners -- those most likely to receive skeletons and human remains -- she encourages them to include as many details as possible. "I've got pictures of shoes, I've got pictures of shirts, I've got pictures of jewelry." Craig says, "I've got pictures of tattoos -- all the stuff that people can look at, and hopefully somebody will see what they're looking for."

NamUS went into service online earlier this month. Debra can now continue her search for Carrie -- from her own study.

"Once I find Carrie's remains," Debra says, "that grieving process, I hope, will begin, and then the healing will start. That's all I want is to find peace."

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On The Early Show Tuesday, Moriarty reported on Culberson testing NamUS:

[repfox]

The correct address is: https // findthemissing dot org
Just reassemble the address to go there.
And it is more than a shame it's a disgrace.If you have a Adult Child that goes missing and there are no signs of Foul play. You have to search and rely on the kindness of stangers. There is no co-ordinated help unless you know exactly what to ask for.
In my case My daughter has been missing for 7 weeks.Can't get any media attention whatsoever not even E-mail or phone replies.
her myspace page is crystalannfox

[whatsnext987]

Try www.NamUs.gov

[sharonw52]

I have gone to www.NamUS.com and it is a *** site.Am I at the wrong web site?Thanks

[sharonw52]

I have gone to www.NamUS.com and it is a *** site.Am I at the wrong web site?Thanks

[cwithers1964]

I think this is a great idea, especially for those families who feel that all is lost because no one will get involved in trying to find their missing loved one.

[nothappyatall]

. This DNA thing will go the same way. They will discover the ability to monitor the movement of every soul on earth by placing small ''''sniffers'''' in every accessable place they can reach. I forsee a time

Toolmangler"

In case you didn''t notice it, those little security things attached to products at the store are already being used in ways that back that up, the chip can send information back that signals whether a consumer picked the product up off the shelf and put it back, and it could be used in the future to pinpoint where exactly that product went when it left the store.

Grocery stores can track your store or free "buyers discount" card purchases to keep a database on what you BUY- the card would of course have your ID on it.
Only a matter of time before those little chips or magnetic strips on these cards are used for a whole range of sinister things, and all started now by creating huge databases of your purchases and movements.

[solarrays247-2009]

the time is here that you can sneeze on a door frame and have your DNA lifted to prove that you were there. This means that a crime committed the next day near that door frame can have you linked (irrevocably) to that crime scene. If you toss a ''''cigarette'''' out the car window at an impending crime scene, it is conceivable that you could/would be convicted of the crime.

Posted by ToolMangler at 03:10 PM : Feb 16, 2009

Yep, you could also be fined for littering! ;)

[toolmangler-2009]

the time is here that you can sneeze on a door frame and have your DNA lifted to prove that you were there. This means that a crime committed the next day near that door frame can have you linked (irrevocably) to that crime scene. If you toss a ''cigarette'' out the car window at an impending crime scene, it is conceivable that you could/would be convicted of the crime.

[rm090213]

You liberals have to understand a business is in business to make money.
Posted by mrs_garibald at 02:02 PM : Feb 16, 2009

Thank you, mrs_garibald.

You can go back to your knitting now.

[rhs648]

But on Aug. 28, 1996, Carrie simply vanished.

"I just need to know where she is," Debra says. "

After all this time its obvious shes dead, when you go too then you''''ll know where and it wont matter, a few more years wait wont make any difference.


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Posted by newster1

As a parent, she seeks closure. First her daughter is missing. Finally, the suspect admits guilt but won''t reveal what he did with the body. I, too, would want to know where my daughter''s body can be found. Griebing can last a lifetime for some people.

[ruck9085]

rhs648, as a parent, her need to know is far stronger than that. If it was my child, I wouldn't want to wait for a "probable" fictitious hereafter to know what become of my child.
Not everyone believes in heaven and god.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by newster1 at 01:40 PM : Feb 16, 2009




I 100% agree. This is a wonderful tool for ID purposes but man has never been satisfied with using a new developement for its intended job. The study of nuclear fission/fusion was meant to free the world from dependence on nonrenewable fuel sources. Did it? ''NO''!!!! The moment man discovered its military uses, it became Government property with limited access. This DNA thing will go the same way. They will discover the ability to monitor the movement of every soul on earth by placing small ''sniffers'' in every accessable place they can reach. I forsee a time when a huge computer database (Big Brother?) will monitor everything we do and (for all I know) think. Chin up folks, your future is being designed to be controled by the State....

[nothappyatall]

I''''m sure this will stir up all kinds of contraversy, but DNA testing has been a boon to criminal prosecution.

Posted by jxknowles

AND creating a huge Govt database of people''s unique DNA for whatever future sinister purposes the US Govt has in mind or comes up with, trust NO Govt agency or dept with anything, not even the census takers! None of them are here for your benefit, not one! It''s about control, subversion, power.

[nothappyatall]

But on Aug. 28, 1996, Carrie simply vanished.

"I just need to know where she is," Debra says. "

After all this time its obvious shes dead, when you go too then you''ll know where and it wont matter, a few more years wait wont make any difference.

[rm090213]

but DNA testing has been a boon to criminal prosecution.
Posted by jxknowles at 12:40 PM : Feb 16, 2009

It has also been a boon to insurance companies who will deny health insurance if pre-natal amniocentesis reveals ANY chomosome abnormality.

Many abnormalities cause no defect and no symptoms of any kind. But just because they SAW an abnormality, they say you''re uninsurable.

Yes, I know there''s a new law against that. But they will find ways around it.

My child was labelled "abnormal" due to amniocentesis. A post-term blood test revealed no such abnormality. But she will spend the rest of her life battling against what was put on her medical record before she was born.

Our best guess is that there was a twin embryo that didn''t develop. It lived just long enough to put some abnormal cells in the amniotic fluid.

[jxknowles]

I''m sure this will stir up all kinds of contraversy, but DNA testing has been a boon to criminal prosecution.