Community Corner

Cook County Medical Examiner Hosts Event for Families Searching for Missing Persons

Families searching for missing loved ones can connect to experts and resources at medical examiner's 'Missing Persons Day," event on May 20.

COOK COUNTY, IL -- To help bring closure to families and friends searching for missing loved ones, the Cook County Medical Examiner is hosting its inaugural Cook County Missing Persons Day this Saturday, May 20, at the medical examiner’s Robert J, Stein Institute of Forensic Medicine, 2121 W. Harrison St., Chicago. The free event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to the public.

Those with long-term missing family members or friends will be able to connect with resources and experts available through the medical examiner’s office. Similarly, families and friends seeking persons who’ve been missing for a month or more can submit DNA samples, medical records, dental records, police reports, pictures and other records to aid in the search. Counselors will also be available to provide emotional support to those searching for missing loved ones.

“Our goal is to be a centralized resource for those searching for loved ones,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar.

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Other large cities and coroners in jursdictions throughout the country have successfully hosted similar missing persons events. The New York City Office of the Medical Examiner, for example, identified seven missing persons in the New York metropolitan area at its first event in 2014.

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“Cook County has one of the largest populations in the state,” Dr. Arunkumar said. “By having such an event in a big city, we’ll be able to bring in more families and friends compared to a smaller jurisdiction or neighboring state.”

Each piece of information provided by the public will be recorded and compared to unidentified persons currently at the medical examiner’s office, as well as unidentified remains that have already been buried. Other identifiers, including tattoos, scars and birthmarks will be entered into the Cook County Medical Examiner’s database.

“Whatever information families and friends can provide, bring it in and we’ll record it,” Dr. Arunkumar says. “Any implants, pacemakers, hip or knee replacements all have serial numbers that can help us when we have unidentified persons in our office. We post all the information on our website. The information people bring in will go into our database.”

Currently, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has 43 unidentified persons listed on its website, that includes descriptive and often graphic information. The medical examiner's office records such information as gender, race, approximate age, clothing, hair color, tattoos, piercings, facial hair, eye color and the condition of the body. Also included is the location or address where the deceased person was found. Additional information provided by the public is used to make a match with unidentified deceased persons.

The medical examiner’s office also takes DNA samples from unidentified bodies. Family members can provide buccal samples or cheek swabs to aid in identification. Although immediate family members -- siblings, parents, grandparents and children -- are the most optimal, Dr. Arunkumar says any relative can provide a buccal sample to determine if there is a match at Saturday’s event.

Unknowns and unclaimed persons at the medical examiner's office will eventually receive a proper, dignified burial in an area cemetery. Last year, four unknown persons who had been in the medical examiner’s custody since 2015, were buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Chicago’s Mt. Greenwood neighborhood. All attempts were made to locate the unknowns’ next of kin. Their DNA and other information recorded at the time of intake will be kept on file even if it takes years or decades for families come looking for their missing loved ones.

Unknowns buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery during a graveside service held by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office in 2016

“We do all the studies and if we still can’t identify them, we’ll give them a respectful burial in case they get identified years later,” Dr. Arunkumar said. “I can remember one case where the family came with dental records a year later that matched an unidentified person. In another case, a family member from Germany saw the missing person’s photo ten years later and we made a match.”

Family members or friends can exhume a formerly unidentified person, or provide a headstone for their loved one at the place of burial.

Each person who comes in this Saturday will follow a process with medical examiner staff, who are volunteering their time for Missing Persons Day. Family and friends are encouraged to RSVP in advance by contacting the Cook County Medical Examiner's office by phone 312-666-0500 or by email at medical.examiner@cookcountyil.gov. Members of the public can also just show up.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is hosting its Missing Persons Day in partnership with National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the Chicago Police Department, Illinois State Police and coroners from throughout the region.

“Even if we can help just one family locate a missing person it will be very fulfilling,” Dr. Arunkumar said.


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