|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DNA Initiative MeetingRobert Cooke was invited by the United States Justice Department to attend the first DNA Initiative Meeting in Alexadria, VA on September 25, 2003. President Bush has given the task of improving the matching of undentified remains with missing person to the U.S. Justice Department.Robert Cooke's account of the meeting: I met Kym Pasqualini, the C.E.O. of the Nation's Missing Children Organization and National Center for Missing Adults, and Dr. Emily Craig, the State Forensic Anthropologist for Kentucky. in the lobby of the hotel and we walked together to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. After arriving, Kym introduced me to John Bish, the father of murdered Molly Bish. Molly's bathing suit and most of her remains were found a few months ago. She had been missing almost three full years. Whenever the families of the missing meet, we usually have an instant "kinship" because we know what each other is going through. We are the only ones who really know. John and I immediately paired off and talked until the meeting started. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cheri Nolan of the U.S. Justice Department opened the meeting. Ms. Nolan introduced Gerald Nance, the Cold Case Manager for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Mr. Nash gave an overview of the problem of identifying bodies. The easiest way to identify a body is visual. This is usually only possible if the body is found quickly. While they still exist, fingerprints can be used for identification. When only a skeleton is present, dental and X-ray comparisons and DNA have to be used to identify the person. Commander Robert Lowery Jr. from the St. Louis Major Case Squad gave the law enforcement perspective of missing persons and unidentified remains. Commander Lowery reported the statistics which make up the 97,516 people who are currently missing in the United States. Of that number, 62.6% are juveniles, 19% are endangered adults, 8% are missing involuntarily, 7.5% are mentally or physically handicapped, and the remainder fall into an unknown category. Dr. Emily Craig, John Hicks, the Director of Forensic Services for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, and Dr. John Stuart, Project Manager for the National Missing Person's DNA Database in Quantico, Virginia, gave presentations during the Death Investigation Panel. The National Missing Person's DNA Database is commonly know as the FBI CODIS DNA Database. The biggest problem addressed during this panel was getting all of the DNA from unidentified remains and the DNA from the families of the missing. The remains of unidentified are stored in labs, graves, and various other areas. This makes it hard to get a complete sample of all of the DNA. A lot of missing persons are not reported, and family DNA is not submitted. The logistics of getting the DNA for all of the states into a national database was also discussed. Currently, only California and Texas have DNA databases which can feed into CODIS. Another problem identified by Dr. Craig was that a lot of medical examiners do not work directly for law enforcement and so they do not have access to the NCIC database of missing persons. This problem was noted and hopefully the medical examiners will soon be granted at least read-only access to the NCIC database. Immediately after lunch I gave my speech on what it's like to have a missing family member. John Bish also added his comments. At the time I was speaking it was hard to tell if the audience was receptive to what I was saying. After all, the room was filled with mostly scientists and law enforcement members. After my speech several people came up to me and told me how much they appreciated my words and how much people needed to hear them. I felt good about that. The last person to speak was Daniel Armagh, the director of Legal Resources Division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Mr Armagh explained some of the legal problems which may be encountered with missing persons. One of them occurs when an adult leaves to start a new life and does not tell anyone. If his/her family reports him/her as a missing person and the police find him/her, what should law enforcement tell the family? An open discussion then began, and all of the above issues were discussed. Ms. Nolan closed the meeting around 4:15 p.m. After the meeting was closed, Kym, John, and I toured the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We saw their call center, image construction area, international division, and many other departments. |
John Bish, the father of murdered Molly Bish and Robert Cooke |
