NamUs
Definition
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (US), a national database cross-matching PM profiles of unidentified remains against AM kinship reference profiles; has facilitated over 23,000 identifications since 2007.
- Full name
- National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
- Country
- United States
- Function
- Cross-matches PM unidentified-remains profiles against AM kinship references
- Impact
- Facilitated over 23,000 identifications since 2007
Common questions
Who can submit information to NamUs, and is it publicly searchable?+
NamUs accepts case entries from medical examiners, coroners, law enforcement, and in many cases family members of missing persons, and a public-facing portion of the database is searchable by the public, while sensitive investigative details remain restricted to authorized users.
What kind of data links a missing-person case to an unidentified-remains case in NamUs?+
Matches can draw on DNA profiles, dental records, fingerprints, medical and physical descriptors, and circumstantial case details, with the system flagging potential matches for investigators to confirm through formal comparison rather than declaring matches automatically.
How does NamUs relate to CODIS?+
NamUs handles a broader range of identifying information including dental and physical descriptors alongside DNA, while CODIS is specifically the DNA profile database; the two systems can complement each other, with DNA matches flagged in CODIS often confirmed and case-managed through NamUs.
Related terms
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- Familias
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