The DeKalb County district attorney and medical examiner’s offices are hosting a “DNA drive” on Saturday in hopes of connecting unidentified missing persons with their loved ones.
The free event will take place at the public library at 3500 Covington Highway from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Families of missing persons are invited to attend and share information, open or add to reports, and donate DNA that might assist with identification efforts, authorities said. Registration is encouraged.
Those who attend are asked to bring photos of the person, photos of any tattoos, original police reports if applicable, medical documents and any forms of identification. The photos and documents will be scanned and returned.
Family members will be able to donate DNA for uploading to genealogy databases, as well as to the Combined DNA Index System, the database of profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons. For those who want to submit DNA samples, officials said it would be ideal to have two family members from two different branches of the family tree (mother’s side and father’s side) for the most robust search.
Representatives from various agencies and organizations, such as the police departments within the county and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, will be in attendance and available to speak with family members.
The event is part of the work being done by the county’s cold case task force, which is a newly formed coalition of staff from the offices of the DA and medical examiner, as well as the FBI, GBI, DeKalb police and private lab partner Innovative Forensic Investigations. The task force is working to identify the remains of more than 20 individuals in the county.
The medical examiner’s office has compiled a webpage with information and sketches of several unidentified individuals, https://bit.ly/42CB8Sv, and will have case information available at the event.
Anyone who believes they might have information on a cold case in DeKalb is asked to call the DA’s cold case tip line at 404-371-2444. Callers may remain anonymous.
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