Coconino County Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program

The Coconino County Office of the Medical Examiner proposes to implement the Coconino County Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Project to improve the reporting, transportation, processing and identification of missing persons and unidentified human remains cases within Coconino County, Arizona and cases referred by Tribal entities such as the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe. The purpose of the project is to bring closure to families by positively identifying unknown decedents from Coconino County and Tribal lands. Project activities will include interagency collaborations to resolve missing and unidentified person cases, medical examiner officer investigations and initial case workups (fingerprints, tattoo comparison, radiology studies, etc.,) odontology and anthropology analysis, DNA testing, and final disposition/return of identified remains. Expected outcomes are reducing the unidentified human remains case backlog, processing new cases efficiently, resolving missing persons cases, helping bring suspects to justice in homicide cases, and bringing closure to families with missing or unidentified kin. Families, the communities, law enforcement, and the justice system will be beneficiaries of the project.