New site matches family with remains

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - New Mexico medical investigators have new hope that they may finally be able to find the families of hundreds of dead people whose remains have been unclaimed for years.

“It's so hard because people pass away, people move,” said Wendy Honeyfield with Office of the Medical Investigator.

She knows how hard it can be to find someone's next of kin, ”We try to use a search engine that we actually have to pay for that does a search far back of different residences that they've lived in before.”

Investigators also pour over police and hospital records.

“Usually within two weeks we have a pretty good idea if it's going to be an easy process to locate next of kin or it's going to be a much longer search,” said Honeyfield.

Sometimes they never find a family member. The remains are cremated and become property of the county where the death occurred, and are normally destroyed after two years.

The government website NAMUS , normally features either unidentified remains or missing person's cases. But it’s new section, unclaimed persons, may connect remains to family members much quicker.

“It involves so many different states,” said Honeyfield.

OMI and Coroners all over the country will now post the names of people who have died, But haven't been reunited with their family. Honeyfield said just like the other sections of the site investigators may put up pictures, dental records, even snapshots of jewelry or tattoos. All in the hopes of bringing families closure.

“When they are notified then they realize, okay this is where they have been the whole time,” said Honeyfield.

If a person's cremated remains have been destroyed by the time a family match is made, Investigators give them a binder including details about the death. They also turn over any personal effects.