Missing Persons Research Articles

The case of three burials - A forensic case book

The details of this case have been omitted in order to maintain anonymity.
 An elderly male was reported missing from his home by his family. Initially, an inquiry and missing person's docket was opened. On investigation, several suspicious findings, along with other emerging evidence led to the case being changed into one of kidnapping.
 Unbeknown to the investigating officers, around the same time a body had been found buried in a shallow grave about 200 kilometers from the missing person's home (First burial). The body had been taken to the state mortuary were a post-mortem was performed. At that stage there was no connection made to the missing person's case and after the body remained unclaimed, the corpse was given a pauper's funeral (Second burial).

Behavioural themes in Spanish missing persons cases: An empirical typology

AbstractThe high number of missing person reports that occur globally each year highlights the need for research in this academically neglected field. This research focuses on establishing whether there are different scenarios or behavioural themes that consistently appear in missing person cases in Spain, which could assist the police investigation process. A representative sample of 341 missing person police reports was collated and up to 27 behaviours, which occur during the disappearance, have been codified, as well as circumstances surrounding the case. Through multidimensional scaling four behavioural themes have been identified: intentional‐escape, intentional‐dysfunctional, unintentional‐accidental, and forced‐criminal. These findings entail implications, both in terms of prevention and in the scope of police investigations. Specifically, this research is considered a key step in the development of: (a) a predictive risk assessment system for harmed or deceased outcomes, and (b) in‐depth review of forced‐criminal disappearances that concur with homicide.

Hak Waris Bagi Ahli Waris yang Tidak Dapat Ditentukan Keberadaannya Menurut Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Perdata

The heirs whose whereabouts cannot be determined are the heirs who have lost the news, so it is not known whether he is alive or dead. These are usually called missing persons. However, in fact, a lot of heirs ignore the inheritance rights of an heir whose existence cannot be determined. Based on this background, this research was conducted with the aim of elaborating the arrangement of inheritance rights for heirs whose existence cannot be determined and the legal consequences for heirs whose existence is known after the inheritance is divided. This study used a normative legal research method with a statutory and conceptual approach. The results of this study showed that the existence of inheritance rights for heirs that cannot be determined is regulated in Article 463 of the Civil Code. The inheritance rights of heirs whose existence cannot be determined remain attached to it in accordance with the provisions of Article 467 of the Civil Code. However, as long as the whereabouts of the heir are not known, the position will be replaced by the successor heirs. Furthermore, as a legal consequence after an heir is known to exist, the replacement heir is obliged to return all the inherited assets received under the provisions of Article 482 paragraph (1) of the Civil Code.

Corpo, lacuna, traço

O corpo é o que desaparece; a lacuna, o próprio desaparecimento; o traço, aquilo que resta, a marca no espaço, rastro, vestígio, cicatriz. Durante sete anos, caminhei por diversas paisagens e narrativas em busca dos mortos, fotografando o que encontrava: pedras, ossos, cinzas, florestas, ruínas, casas, trilhos de trem. As imagens agora compõem um arquivo, uma espécie de atlas warburguiano em que elas podem se encontrar, se confrontar, se inventar. O website Corpo, lacuna, traço é um dos resultados da minha pesquisa pós-doutoral, que teve como eixo um estudo sobre monumentos e memoriais aos mortos. Através de reflexões sobre a imagem, o corpo, a memória e a morte, compreendo o memorial como o novo corpo do morto, a partir de um possível efeito de presença, já que ele localiza o desaparecido no espaço físico e material de uma comunidade. Diante de um vasto arquivo de viagens e memórias, tento dar uma ordem ao que resta – as imagens. Algumas evidenciam o resto, o rastro, o traço. Outras evidenciam o apagamento dos mortos. Como ver o que a paisagem mostra?

Genetic identification against traffic in human beings

AbstractThe trafficking of human beings is one of the most heinous crimes on earth. Shamefully, human trafficking remains a lucrative business in 2020, just as it was thousands of years ago. The estimated astonishing number of victims would most likely surprise nonexperts. The prosecution of human trafficking is often difficult and requires the identification of victims. The fields of forensic anthropology and forensic odontology are of the highest value for this purpose. Forensic genetics is also of interest and can be applied not only to solving crimes but also to preventing them. At the University of Granada, we aim to pioneer the application of these technologies to both solve and prevent human trafficking. In 1999, we introduced the first national missing persons genetic identification program, the Spanish Phoenix Program; in 2004, we created and launched DNA‐PROKIDS, designed to deter child trafficking; and in 2016, we created DNA‐ProORGAN, a program that is currently being developed to identify transplanted organs, by obtaining DNA samples from the donor, the transplanted organ, and the recipient, to track transplants and identify illegal activities. Several tasks remain, despite existing technological advances and international cooperation. National missing persons databases must be enlarged, and new ones must be created, to facilitate the generation of reliable data. Specific legislation, at the national level, can be enacted to support database development and promote international interactions. These advances would help solve crimes and prevent them, representing the primary challenge faced by forensic science community in the 21st century.This article is categorized under: Forensic Biology > DNA Databases and Biometrics

Parental reference photos do not always improve the accuracy of forensic age progressions

During long-term missing children cases, forensic artists construct age-progressions to estimate the child’s current appearance. It is commonly believed that incorporating information about the child’s biological relatives is critical in accurately estimating the child’s current appearance. However, some evidence suggests that predicting appearance based on inheritance of features may be error prone. The present studies examine whether age-progressions constructed with the aid of a biological reference photos led to better recognition than those constructed without a biological reference. We also investigated whether there would be any variation depending on the age-range of the age-progressions. Eight professional forensic artists created age-progressions based upon photographs provided by each of our eight targets. Half of their age progressions with the aid of parental reference photos and half without parental reference photos. Furthermore, half were age-progressed across a longer age-range (5–20 years) and half covered a shorter age-range (12–20 years). In Experiment 1 similarity scores were higher over shorter age-ranges. Further, across longer age-ranges age-progressions created with the aid of a parental reference were lower than those without a reference. In Experiment 2 recognition performance was higher across shorter age-ranges. Additionally, across longer age-ranges age-progressions created with the aid of a parental reference were recognized worse than those without a reference. These results suggest that in long-term missing person cases, forensic artists may benefit from not relying on biological references. Finally, consistent with previous research (e.g. Lampinen et al., 2012) age-progressions provided no benefit over using outdated photographs.

Marine Disaster Prediction Based on Mathematical Model

Wang, G.-A., 2020. Marine disaster prediction based on mathematical model. In: Qiu, Y.; Zhu, H., and Fang, X. (eds.), Current Advancements in Marine and Coastal Research for Technological and Sociological Applications. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 107, pp. 230-233 . Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.China is a large marine country with a long coastline, which is 18000 kilometers long. Therefore, marine disasters occur frequently in China's coastal areas. Since 1989 to 2017, marine disasters have caused serious economic losses to China, totaling about 346.8 billion yuan, and the number of deaths and missing persons has reached 7054. At the same time, with the aggravation of global warming, green tide, red tide, typhoon and other natural disasters gradually increase. With the increasing frequency of marine disasters, great economic losses have been caused in coastal areas of China. Marine disasters have many characteristics, which are open and dynamic. By analyzing and solving the causes of marine disasters, we can better predict disasters. Therefore, we need to predict marine disasters, which will better plan and use marine resources and reduce the loss of marine disasters. Firstly, this paper analyzes the basic characteristics of marine disasters. Then, this paper introduces the data model of SVM. Then, the paper forecasts the green tide disaster. Finally, some suggestions are put forward.

Promising Blockchain Technology Applications and Use Case Designs for the Identification of Multinational Victims of Mass Disasters

In mass disasters with multinational victims, it is critical to identify the deceased for judicial, ethical, religious and human rights reasons, as well as to allow the next of kin to complete the grieving process. Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process is a complex procedure where Post-mortem (PM) identifying data, essentially fingerprints, DNA and dental, is collected in order to be compared with equivalent Antemortem (AM) data related to the missing persons list. Although there are solutions used in the field of human identification, they all fall short of equipping them with the tools needed for achieving human identification in a timely manner. Initially, it is significantly challenging to manage missing person lists containing years, and sometimes decades, of family AM data resources’ updates. Furthermore, there is currently no record of any holistic technical solutions for managing both AM and PM for human identification to support collaborative multinational and interjurisdictional processes. Blockchain technology provides the tools to facilitate building trustworthy, secure and holistic ecosystems, and it can disseminate siloed AM and PM data across systems, protecting data breaches, redundancies, inconsistencies, and errors. As such, blockchain technology can revolutionize the human identification process worldwide in terms of managing missing person lists, AM data repositories for living people, PM data repositories of recovered unidentified victims, and contribute to the comparison of compatible biological profiles for definitive identification. Using real-world scenarios, the authors propose a number of promising use cases to attain a holistic understanding of the challenges, and present how blockchain technology meets such challenges and facilitates multi-jurisdictional data information-sharing in conjunction with the forthcoming circulation of patients’ electronic medical and dental records.

A standalone humanitarian DNA identification database system to increase identification of human remains of foreign nationals.

The identification of missing persons and human remains is a worldwide problem which has been exacerbated with increased migrations and rampant human trafficking and smuggling cases. DNA typing and DNA databases are primary tools and resources used to help identify human remains and missing persons. The foundation of most, if not all, national DNA database systems, e.g., CODIS, is law enforcement identification. With such database systems, compliance with statutory and operational requirements is necessary to ensure the integrity of the databases. However, because of conditions in their homelands, relatives of missing persons at times may not trust the government and may be reluctant to contact a law enforcement agency, making it difficult to satisfy the law enforcement nexus necessary for entry into a national DNA database. A potential solution to increase the identification of unidentified human remains found within the USA, such as those that may be of foreign nationals, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI) has created a Humanitarian DNA Identification DNA Database (HDID) that enables family reference sample DNA profiles from non-US citizens to be compared with the DNA profiles from unidentified human remains within its local database system. This short communication describes the needs, basis, policies, and practices to inform the scientific, investigative, and legal communities and the public so that various entities may become aware and consider submitting family reference sample (FRS) profiles from foreign nationals for the purpose of searching against UNTCHI's HDID. It is our hope that by creating this HDID, another vehicle is available to support identification of human remains within the USA and to bring much needed answers to the family members of missing persons. The HDID will merge high forensic quality and best practices with the broader accessibility for non-US families to voluntarily donate DNA profiles for searching for missing loved ones.

Forensic Autosomal Short Tandem Repeats and Their Potential Association With Phenotype.

Forensic DNA profiling utilizes autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers to establish identity of missing persons, confirm familial relations, and link persons of interest to crime scenes. It is a widely accepted notion that genetic markers used in forensic applications are not predictive of phenotype. At present, there has been no demonstration of forensic STR variants directly causing or predicting disease. Such a demonstration would have many legal and ethical implications. For example, is there a duty to inform a DNA donor if a medical condition is discovered during routine analysis of their sample? In this review, we evaluate the possibility that forensic STRs could provide information beyond mere identity. An extensive search of the literature returned 107 articles associating a forensic STR with a trait. A total of 57 of these studies met our inclusion criteria: a reported link between a STR-inclusive gene and a phenotype and a statistical analysis reporting a p-value less than 0.05. A total of 50 unique traits were associated with the 24 markers included in the 57 studies. TH01 had the greatest number of associations with 27 traits reportedly linked to 40 different genotypes. Five of the articles associated TH01 with schizophrenia. None of the associations found were independently causative or predictive of disease. Regardless, the likelihood of identifying significant associations is increasing as the function of non-coding STRs in gene expression is steadily revealed. It is recommended that regular reviews take place in order to remain aware of future studies that identify a functional role for any forensic STRs.

Behind the legal curtain: Social, cultural and religious practices and their impact on missing persons and the dead in Colombia

AbstractThis paper examines social, cultural and religious factors that affect the implementation of international humanitarian law concerning dead and missing persons in non-international armed conflicts. To this end, the behaviour of both armed groups and civil society is studied. The argument made in the paper is that in some cases endogenous and exogenous systems of value (social, religious and cultural understandings), operating within the logic of armed non-State actors and within local communities, should be considered by policies concerning the search for missing persons. The Colombian armed conflict is used as case study; the social, cultural and religious practices of the National Liberation Army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army are analyzed as examples. Likewise, social and cultural values within affected populations can impact on post-conflict mechanisms agreed upon by the parties concerning the search for missing persons, and vice versa. Consequently, customs and traditions such as the “adoption” of unidentified buried people by local communities (social resignification of the dead) and the practices of indigenous communities are reviewed in order to establish a holistic framework.

Advanced Android Crime Tracker

We have proposed an advanced android crime tracker mobile application which will track the status of the investigation as well as it also tracks complaints reported by the public. The main purpose of the application is to help higher authorities like CBI and police to speed up their investigation process and track status of multiple cases at a time. In this application, public will help them to get the crime details quickly and then they can take action immediately. It will help the police to know the crime ratio in the society. This application will show all the updated crime post and once case is solved then admin can delete the post and can also update the status of investigation. Public can upload photos of crime spot and location of crime spot and photos of items found on scene. User can also post their missing person details by doing same procedure. User can also check the status updated by the admin and incase of any query or emergency; the user can chat with the police with the help of chat box. For women safety, we have provided a SOS button which will call police by clicking on that button. This application is designed in such a way that all the post which is uploaded by peoples can be seen by police also. After that they can take action immediately on it and they can write the status of the crime. This system will speed up the crime investigation process.

Investigating Methods for Integrating Unmanned Aerial Systems in Search and Rescue Operations

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are increasingly being used in search and rescue (SAR) operations to assist in the discovery of missing persons. UAS are useful to first responders in SAR operations due to rapid deployment, high data volume, and high spatial resolution data collection capabilities. Relying on traditional manual interpretation methods to find a missing person in imagery data sets containing several hundred images is both challenging and time consuming. To better find small signs of missing persons in large UAS datasets, computer assisted interpretation methods have been developed. This article presents the results of an initial evaluation of a computer assisted interpretation method tested against manual methods in a simulated SAR operation. The evaluation performed focused on using resources available to first responders performing SAR operations, specifically: RGB data, volunteers, and a commercially available software program. Results from this field test were mixed, as the traditional group discovered more objects but required more time, in man hours, to discover the objects. Further field experiments, based on the capabilities of current first responder groups, should be conducted to determine to what extent computer assisted methods are useful in SAR operations.

Use Markers of Short Tandem Repeats (STR) for Samples of Bone in the Forensic Diagnosis of the Human Being in the in Kerbala Governorate

STR’s analysis of DNA from bone samples plays an important role in identifying missing persons. We present a method for DNA extraction from bone samples that involve complete demineralization and digestion of the sample, followed by purification by silica binding. This method, along with the multiple STR typing approach, has also proven highly successful in recovering DNA profiles from bone samples from a wide range of contexts. These methodological steps include bone cutting and grinding, DNA extraction, Re purification in case of highly inhibited samples, quantification, amplification multiplex STR, Data Analysis of the DNA Typing and The guidelines for the preparation of personal reports. the total number of study samples reached 48, whose ages ranged between (14 to 33) years divided into 3 groups, group (1) in which (16) bone samples from the son, group (2) in which (16) blood samples from the father and group (3) It contains (16) blood samples from the mother. Conformity was carried out in the identification tests for persons in the forensic evidence laboratories of the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, according to the protocols in the Kits used and by forensic experts.

Smelly science: scent training your dog and the sweet smell of fresh laundry

Scent training for chemists Laurie Witucki first stumbled upon the sport of scent training while looking for a fun way to work with her anxious rescue dog, Rue. Rue was fearful around other dogs, so she couldn’t compete in more traditional agility competitions. But as a border collie mix, Rue needed to be entertained. “She wants to do something or she would drive you crazy and herself crazy,” says Witucki, a chemistry professor at Grand Valley State University. Scent training, also called nose work or scent work, requires dogs to seek out specific hidden smells, then alert their handlers. The training is the same as that used for serious dog occupations, like detecting drugs or finding missing persons. “It doesn’t matter if the scents are explosives or an essential oil or morel mushrooms,” Witucki tells Newscripts. If a dog gets a treat every time they identify a specific scent, “they

An Agile Real-Time Location System (RTLS) for Missing Persons Using IoT Technology

This article presents the QSSC (Quito Smart Safe City), a prototype system for locating and issuing early warnings about missing persons. The city of Quito is used as a case study. QSSC is a system that integrates the community and the agents responsible for monitoring and solving the missing persons problem within a shared collaborative space. The system uses a mobile distributed architecture that allows users to report any disappearances and, if possible, to upload multimedia evidence that helps identify and locate the victims and the circumstances under which the disappearance occurred. It employs IoT communications using the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol to exchange information. Together with various advantages provided by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, MQTT enables communications in real-time among all participating rescue parties focused on the kidnapping (indispensable given the importance of response time). The RTLS is an opportunistic, light application that minimizes resource consumption on the host mobile device and manages information efficiently. QSSC is based on crowdsensing, which allows it to support decision-making processes that result in quick and effective solutions to events. The viability and operability of the prototype described in this article have been tested against several kidnapping simulations in the city of Quito.

Exploring public engagement with missing person appeals on Twitter

ABSTRACT Police agencies globally are seeing an increase in reports of people going missing. These people are often vulnerable, and their safe and early return is a key factor in preventing them from coming to serious harm. One approach to quickly find missing people is to disseminate appeals for information using social media. Yet despite the popularity of twitter-based missing person appeals, presently little is known about how to best construct these messages to ensure they are shared widely. This paper aims to build an evidence-base for understanding how police accounts tweet appeals for information about missing persons, and how the public engage with these tweets by sharing them. We analyse 1008 Tweets made by Greater Manchester Police between the period of 2011 and 2018 in order to investigate what features of the tweet, the twitter account, and the missing person are associated with levels of retweeting. We find that tweets with different choice of image, wording, sentiment, and hashtags vary in how much they are retweeted. Tweets that use custody images have lower retweets than Tweets with regular photos, while tweets asking the question ‘have you seen … ?’ and asking explicitly to be retweeted have more engagement in the form of retweets. These results highlight the need for conscientious, evidence-based crafting of missing appeals, and pave the way for further research into the causal mechanisms behind what affects engagement, to develop guidance for police forces worldwide.

The effects of empathy on search efforts for missing persons

SummaryPeople have difficulty sighting missing persons, partially because people's limited cognitive resources are required for searching. As a result, people sometimes do not devote resources to searching. This research will examine whether empathy increases the resources devoted to searching and search performance. In Experiment 1, we will manipulate empathy toward a formerly missing person and measure willingness to volunteer to search and actual search performance. In Experiment 2, we will manipulate empathy felt toward a missing person. We will measure the time participants spend studying the missing person's photograph. We hypothesize that participants induced to feel empathy will indicate more willingness to search (Exp 1 & 2), put more effort toward searching (Exp 1), and spend more time studying the photograph (Exp 2) than those not induced to feel empathy. If empathy increases search effort and performance, it could be induced in actual missing persons cases to increase recovery rates.

Forensic odontology identification response to terrorist attacks in Paris November 2015

The terrorist attacks of November 2015 led to the immediate death of 129 victims admitted to the Legal and Forensic Medicine Institute of Paris, including 41 unidentified. During the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) operations, 22 bodies were examined by the postmortem (PM) dental team with the aim of establishing PM odontograms. At the same time, the dental expert in the antemortem (AM) unit collected a large number of dental files, progressively filtered as the list of missing persons became reduced. Feedback from these events has highlighted the difficulties of implementing the DVI chain principles in a legal framework, published the day before the attacks, and also the technical complexity of collecting dental data on a week end of terror. The return on experience after this event has represented a paradigm shift on previous methods of DVI in Paris and even more in France. Indeed, the victim identification procedure was redesigned, integrating new technical means such as a CT scan directly on spot, allowing the extraction of maxillofacial data as soon as possible in order to support the PM dental examination team. Moreover, the National Dental Council proceeded to the overall remodeling of the dental identification unit, which is composed of trained members, from local, regional and national aspects. These forensic experts are dedicated, at the request of the legal authorities, to DVI operations and deployed throughout the country capable of managing AM and PM data. This unit aims also to share experiences and awareness-raising among health professionals and investigators in order to optimize a better submission of AM elements and also to enhance the major interest of odontology as a primary identifier in disaster.

Facial Recognition System Using Mixed Transform and Multilayer Sigmoid Neural Network Classifier

Facial recognition systems are critical components in numerous applications. They are used, for example, to prevent retail crime, unlock phones, find missing persons, protect law enforcement, and aid forensic investigations. In such real-world applications, the identification of facial information must be both quick and exact. The purpose of this study is to improve both the accuracy and speed of facial recognition. The proposed system reduces overall computational complexity by using a few simple algorithms and transforms. The grayscaling algorithm enhances the image, and the salient features are extracted using a mix of two transform families: the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform and the two-dimensional discrete cosine transform. This combination exploits the nonorthogonality of the coefficients in both domains to preserve the essential details and perceptual qualities of the original image. A multilayer sigmoid neural network is used for classification since the expensive training stage can be performed offline. The trained network, which uses efficient computations, can be embedded in an online system for rapid classification. The efficiency of the system is an attractive property when processing massive information datasets with limited resources. The recognition system is tested with four freely accessible datasets: the ORL, YALE, FERET-c, and FEI. A test set based on the combination of all datasets is also utilized to evaluate the system performance. Results show that despite the reduction in complexity, the system still maintains high recognition rates as compared to the popular existing methods.