Soler Angela, Goldstein Justin Z, Naka Aden, Santiago Stephanie
Forensic Anthropology Unit and Identifications Unit, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, NY, USA.
Forensic Sci Res. 2024 Jul 20;9(3):owae039. doi: 10.1093/fsr/owae039. eCollection 2024 Sep.
The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (NYC OCME) investigates approximately 9 000-10 000 deaths every year, each of which necessitates a formal identification. Although standard identification protocols resolve the majority of these cases, there are still a substantial number of long-term unidentified persons cases that require a targeted investigation. This process involves not only the comprehensive review of all available postmortem data (e.g. scene findings, personal effects, autopsy findings, toxicology results, forensic anthropology reports, dental findings, fingerprints, forensic biology), but also the collection of antemortem data through focused informant interviews, analyzing casefiles and/or archival records, reviewing public missing person postings (e.g. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)), and collaborating with law enforcement and other agencies. This holistic approach to identification investigations is systematic yet flexible, allowing for the needs of each unidentified person and/or missing person case to be thoroughly assessed and efficiently addressed. These efforts have proven successful at NYC OCME, resulting in over 80 long-term unidentified persons identifications confirmed in the last 7 years, dating as far back as 1969. This paper provides a detailed breakdown of the NYC OCME framework for long-term unidentified persons investigations, citing multiple case studies to underscore how investigators utilize multiple lines of evidence to generate potential leads. Although each jurisdiction faces a unique set of demands and limitations, sharing these investigative strategies and perspectives may benefit practitioners contending with long-term unidentified persons cases and their inherent complexities.
The NYC OCME oversees a large caseload of unidentified persons yet achieves a high rate of case resolution by applying a systematic and holistic investigation that involves a comprehensive review of postmortem data and the collection of antemortem data specific to a forensic identification.Analyzing multiple lines of postmortem biological and contextual evidence allows practitioners to hypothesize possible socioeconomic, cultural, and religious social identities that can be used to generate identification leads and inform comparisons to missing persons.Gathering as much detailed, accurate, and comprehensive antemortem data for a missing person is equally important when performing an identification comparison to a long-term unidentified persons (UP) and can better inform archival morgue records searches.
纽约市首席法医办公室（NYC OCME）每年调查约9000 - 10000起死亡事件，每起事件都需要进行正式身份鉴定。尽管标准鉴定方案解决了大多数此类案件，但仍有相当数量的长期身份不明人员案件需要进行有针对性的调查。这一过程不仅涉及对所有可用的尸检数据（如现场调查结果、个人物品、尸检结果、毒理学结果、法医人类学报告、牙科检查结果、指纹、法医生物学）进行全面审查，还包括通过重点信息提供者访谈、分析案件档案和/或档案记录、查看公共失踪人员公告（如国家失踪和身份不明人员系统（NamUs））以及与执法部门和其他机构合作来收集生前数据。这种全面的身份鉴定调查方法既系统又灵活，能够全面评估并有效满足每个身份不明人员和/或失踪人员案件的需求。这些努力在纽约市首席法医办公室已被证明是成功的，在过去7年中确认了80多起长期身份不明人员的身份，最早可追溯到1969年。本文详细介绍了纽约市首席法医办公室针对长期身份不明人员调查的框架，并引用了多个案例研究来强调调查人员如何利用多条证据线索来生成潜在线索。尽管每个司法管辖区都面临着独特的需求和限制，但分享这些调查策略和观点可能会使处理长期身份不明人员案件及其固有复杂性的从业者受益。
纽约市首席法医办公室负责大量身份不明人员案件，但通过应用系统全面的调查方法实现了高结案率，该方法包括对尸检数据进行全面审查以及收集特定于法医鉴定的生前数据。
分析多条尸检生物学和背景证据使从业者能够推测可能的社会经济、文化和宗教社会身份，这些身份可用于生成身份鉴定线索并为与失踪人员的比对提供参考。
在将身份与长期身份不明人员进行比对时，为失踪人员收集尽可能多的详细、准确和全面的生前数据同样重要，这可以更好地为档案停尸房记录搜索提供参考。
