By Heath E. Combs
Times-News

August, 2003

CUMBERLAND — Kylen Johnson knows using the Internet is an extremely effective tool in getting results for missing persons cases.

A user of the Web site www.doenetwork.org contacted Johnson, who manages the program, after noticing a person who might be a relative on the site.

“I notified the Maryland detective on this, and also searched throughout the ‘doenetwork’ site and found a body in Vermont that had similar tattoos (to the ones) that the woman who e-mailed me described,” said Johnson.

“This turned out to be a match.”

The Maryland Missing Persons Web announced completion of its Web site Tuesday. Johnson, who created the site, said they’re ready to start assisting in missing and unidentified persons cases. The Web site uses numerous resources for missing persons cases and contains a database of missing persons.

“I have seen at least 15 unidentified person cases, one in Maryland, being solved by use of the Internet,” said Johnson.

Johnson started the site after finding few missing-persons resources on the Internet. Many missing-person cases, Johnson said, are solved by someone recognizing a person or connecting a missing person to an unidentified body.

“When you have unsolved, unidentified-persons homicides out there, you are allowing someone to get away with the perfect crime,” said Johnson.

One of the resources the site utilizes is forensic dentistry. Experts compare missing-persons dental records with unidentified-persons records in the state medical examiner’s office.

John Tewes, lead forensic dentist in the State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said television can be a little misleading when it portrays the scope of forensic dentistry.

Tewes said there’s no computer that instantly processes and matches results on teeth.

An assistant professor at the University of Maryland Dental School, Tewes said in forensic dentistry, if it’s not an exact match, it’s a miss.

“Police do good collecting info on missing persons, but getting dental records after, to compare against the unidentified, falls by the wayside,” said Tewes.

Tewes uses a Microsoft Access program designed by a dentist in St. Louis to compare dental records.

Johnson worked for years to collect data for the site. “I have contacted every police jurisdiction in Maryland to get these missing-person cases and inform them of this Web site’s existence,” said Johnson.

She also researched back issues of newspapers to get case histories and contacted families of missing persons for the site.

“Every case listed on the Web site has been filed with a law enforcement agency,” said Johnson.

The need for the site comes after the initial story passes and leads vanish, Johnson said. She said there’s often little information on the cases until the next news release.

“Which leaves families clinging to nothing but grief, despair and anger,” said Johnson.

“No one wants to admit that the person might be dead,” said Tewes. “Hopefully we find no matches, but it’s something the families need to get to have closure.”

Tewes said families who want to compare dental records need to get them from their dentist and he’ll contact a dental expert in their county.

The Maryland Missing Persons Network can be reached at (301) 515-3353 or by e-mail, information@marylandmissing.com.