Web, science, public can help cold cases

Chattanooga Times-Free Press (TN) - June 17, 2007
Author: Ben Benton, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn

Jun. 17--In the world of missing persons, there are those who seek people who can't be found and others seeking the identities of people whose bodies have been found.

Marion County, Tenn., authorities still are trying to identify a woman in her mid-60s found in February on the side of a state highway near Foster Falls.

"We've had a lot of leads, but nothing has turned up," Marion County Sheriff Bo Burnett said.

Twenty-one unidentified bodies in Tennessee, 83 in Georgia and 18 in Alabama are listed on the Doe Network , an online national database aimed at connecting missing persons with "John and Jane Does," spokesman Todd Matthews said.

"We're trying to be an advocate for the dead, so to speak," Mr. Matthews said. "We think there are 40,000 to 50,000 unidentified nationwide."

Sheriff Burnett said last week that he was unfamiliar with the Doe Network . But after he visited the site and noted it has had 1.4 million hits since 1999, he said he would pass it along to his investigators in hopes it could help in the investigation into Marion's "Jane Doe."

Law enforcement officers don't have a central source of information for missing persons, officials said. Many say they use the National Crime Information Center network, and TBI spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said investigators also turn to the Regional Organized Crime Information Center's "human unidentified missing persons."

Few people in the region have more experience with forensic identification than Coroner Dewayne Wilson in Walker County.

In 2002, hundreds of bodies were found in storage sheds and scattered in woods near Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Ga. The bodies were delivered for cremation but never burned.

Mr. Wilson said 339 sets of remains had to be matched with hundreds of names. He said 136 sets of remains never were identified.

He said other unidentified bodies turn up sometimes in Walker County's 463 square miles.

"It's real desolate in some areas, and sometimes people get dumped there or go out and commit suicide, and we'll have to go out and identify them," he said.

Mr. Wilson said the Doe Network wouldn't have been useful in the Noble case but praised the database as an excellent clearinghouse and "one of the only networks of its kind."

Publicity and clues

When someone goes missing, families often can pressure law enforcement agencies to act. For instance, family and friends of missing Walker County 911 dispatcher Theresa Parker have staged vigils and fundraisers to keep her name in the news since she disappeared March 21.

But often a 'Doe,' particularly an older case, can be forgotten about, Mr. Matthews said. "We try to bring these out of the cold case files and back into the public spotlight."

One case listed on the Doe Network is Carrie Smith Lawson, a young woman originally from Cleveland, Tenn., who was kidnapped in 1991 from her home in Jasper, Ala., according to the network. Though her kidnapper is dead and most of a paid ransom was recovered, Mrs. Lawson has never been found, and Walker County, Ala., sheriff's Detective James Painter said there's been no new information in the case.

Detective Painter said publicity can help a cold case, but Mrs. Lawson's father, David Smith, of Cleveland, isn't sure about this particular one.

"We've had all the publicity in the world," he said last week. "There are people out there that know what happened.

"My main interest is just finding her," Mr. Smith said. "I've dug up, personally, probably 50 acres at different sites."

Alabama Bureau of Investigation regional commander Larry Flippo said public exposure "is important to a case as long as (information provided is) not case-sensitive."

Mr. Flippo said he knew of the Doe Network but that his department relies mostly on DNA analysis in cold cases.

"I think we solved 11 last year through DNA-related investigation," he said.

Catoosa County, Ga., Coroner Vanita Hullander said the public database is impressive but would be more helpful if more people knew about it.

Ms. Hullander said that after she reviewed the site, she e-mailed the Doe Network 's Web address to all Georgia's coroners.

"Anything that is another tool would be useful," she said. The strength of numbers of people viewing information on a site like the Doe Network could accomplish what other methods can't, she said.

Ms. Hullander speaks from personal experience.

Her uncle went missing about 50 years ago and has never been found, she said. No foul play was suspected, but her family never learned of his whereabouts, she said.

"The last place they knew he was at was California," she said. "After that, there was nothing."

E-mail Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com