Around 546,000 people were reported missing in the US in 2022. That blows my mind almost as much as how incredible it is that DNA testing is solving so many cold cases.
Very encouraged by advances in DNA technology and related procedural investigation. The more cold cases solved the better, especially for families of victims from marginalized communities and black and Native American women. Opportunities to right wrongs abound here. www.npr.org/2024/02/25/1...
Sandra Young was between 16 and 18 years old when she went missing in the late 1960s. Police in Oregon say an upload to the genealogy database GEDMatch helped them identify her remains.
The numbers are staggering across the board. Even if you assume that a percentage of those people go "missing" of their own accord, that's got to be a small percentage which leaves an alarming number of missing people via kidnapping and/or murder.