Resources

National databases

• NamUs — the U.S. Department of Justice's National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
• Murder Accountability Project — a nonprofit tracking unsolved-homicide data nationally.
• Project Cold Case — an independent cold-case research initiative.
• Black and Missing Foundation — a nonprofit focused on raising the profile of missing persons of color.

For families

• Consider requesting your case file's status directly from the investigating agency.
• Victim-advocacy organizations in your state can help navigate law-enforcement communication.
• Local NAACP chapters and civil-rights legal organizations have supported family advocacy in several of the cases documented here.