Monday, May 6, 2024

Event Attendees Can Submit Missing Persons Reports & Donate DNA

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 11, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, Aero Center Epps Atlanta, 1 Aviation Way, Atlanta, GA 30341.

Families and friends 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.

Personnel from the DeKalb County Police Department and DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office will take new reports or add to existing reports. The case information will be entered into national law enforcement and missing persons databases (NCIC and NamUs). Family members may also donate DNA for uploading to law enforcement (CODIS) and genealogy databases.

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 missing loved ones
• Photos of the missing person’s tattoos (if applicable)
• Original police reports (if possible)
• Medical documentation or missing persons ID documents
• For families wishing to submit DNA samples, if possible, please bring two family members from two different branches of your family tree (mother and father’s side) for the most robust CODIS search.

For more information and to register for the event, visit https://bit.ly/MissingPersonsDNAEvent. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

Parking Information: The Good Neighbor Day Air Show and Open House will also be taking place at the airport on May 11. Upon arrival, please tell the parking attendant that you are attending the Missing Persons Event & DNA Drive.

Additional organizations invited to attend include: Gwinnett, Fulton, and Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Offices; Georgia Bureau of Investigation Cold Case Unit; NamUs; Othram; Black and Missing Foundation; Bureau of Indian Affairs; National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; Trans Doe Task Force; Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta.

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 coalition consisting of staff from the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the DeKalb County Police Department. The task force is actively working on the identification of the remains of more than 20 individuals in DeKalb County.

Information and sketches of several unidentified individuals are available on the event webpage (https://bit.ly/MissingPersonsDNAEvent), and the Medical Examiner’s Office will have case information available at the Missing Persons Event & DNA Drive.

The DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office was awarded a three-year Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) Program grant in the amount of $496,045.00 in 2022 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 is using 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 were buried and have been 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.