Missing a chance: Many agencies aren't using valuable database

Chances are, the skeletal remains of at least one of Tulsa's missing persons sit unidentified somewhere in a medical examiner's office or buried in an unmarked grave.

For decades, the lack of a uniform state and nationwide system to match unidentified remains with missing people has prevented some families from learning that their missing loved one has died.

"There have been so many advances in technology, but most agencies don't have the systems in place to take advantage of it to close cases," said Sgt. Mike Huff, who supervises the Tulsa Police Department's Homicide Unit and missing-persons investigations.

"What is sitting in every evidence room and medical examiner's office across the country is golden," Huff said.

DNA testing that potentially could match the missing with unidentified remains is free to law enforcement officers and medical examiners at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in Fort Worth, which specializes in forensic DNA analysis for human identification. But many agencies still haven't taken advantage of the resource.

In response to questioning by the Tulsa World, Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office staff members determined that they have 125 cases of unidentified remains, spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said.

They don't know how many of the remains have undergone DNA testing, she said.

Ballard said the office is cataloging all unidentified remains and establishing a relationship with the Center for Human Identification to do DNA analysis on the remains and enter the profiles into a national database.

In the last few months, Medical Examiner's Office officials decided that "they needed to look at ways to be better organized, and that was one area," Ballard said.

The state Medical Examiner's Office has been in turmoil for at least the last year. A state audit revealed poor handling of records and a lack of sufficient background checks for employees who were hired to handle money or checks. A chief investigator resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment.

The office is under new direction, but earlier this month the U.S. Department of Labor opened an investigation into the Tulsa branch of the state Medical Examiner's Office.

The missing, the remains

On any given day, as many as 100,000 missing-persons cases are active in the United States, according to a January 2007 National Institute of Justice report.

More than 40,000 sets of human remains that cannot be identified through conventional means are held in medical examiners' evidence rooms across the country. But according to the report, only 15 percent have been entered into the FBI's national database.

"This is an incredible problem nationwide and worldwide, but if a body is not found, it is kind of 'out of sight, out of mind,' " said Tulsa Police Detective Mike Nance, who was the lead detective on one of Tulsa's most intense missing-persons cases — the November 2007 disappearance of 13-year-old Cori Baker.

Nance and Detective Margaret Loveall received training at the Center for Human Identification last year as part of the Tulsa Police Department's efforts toward solving more of its missing-persons cases.

In Oklahoma, the law does not require that law enforcement officers obtain DNA samples from family members of the missing or that unidentified remains at the state Medical Examiner's Office be tested, Loveall said. In most cases, it's up to the agency to get the testing done.

Texas led the way in the country by passing a law that requires law enforcement to request family reference samples within 30 days of a high-risk missing-persons report. Those profiles, as well as the DNA from unidentified remains, must be entered in the state's clearinghouse.

California has passed similar legislation.

"It is very simple," said George Adams, project manager for the center in Texas. "All the agencies have to do is send the samples in. It costs them absolutely nothing.

"If they will collect the samples from the families and get it into CODIS (the Combined DNA Index System), that case will never go cold," he said. The computer "will search against the database every month. We want to bring the family and the agency together as one."

Although Oklahoma law provides that the state's DNA database can include profiles from unidentified remains and relatives of missing people, the state's database contains only a few profiles.

Most cases that are referred to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for testing are sent to the University of North Texas lab because it has more-advanced procedures, said J.D. Lindstrom of the OSBI. The Texas lab enters the results directly into the national database.

In Tulsa, detectives are trying to find the families of all 33 people on the cold-case missing-persons list to collect their DNA samples. The DNA profiles they already have are in the national database.

All 33 people are considered endangered, and detectives say that many of them likely are dead. Police believe that there is a good chance that their skeletal remains have been found somewhere and taken to a medical examiner's office.

Many lingering missing-person cases involve multiple jurisdictions because, for one reason or another, the victims were transitory, Huff said. They might have left Oklahoma but met with foul play in another state.

"That is where it screams out for a nationwide process," he said. "You can go to any state and see some of the same pitfalls."

Changing times

Missing-persons investigations have become a bigger priority across the country in recent years.

The Amber Alert system is now nationwide, alerting people through the media and on electronic highway signs when a child is missing. Some states even have so-called "silver alerts" to help find missing elderly people. Missing-persons cases have become regular features of the national news.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department linked its unidentified deceased people and missing-persons databases. Families, law enforcement agencies, medical examiners and coroners, victims' advocates and the public now can search the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System — or NamUs — online.

The law enforcement approach to missing persons has changed, too, although many people still believe the myth that families have to wait 24 hours to report to police that someone is missing.

In just the past few months, Loveall said she has seen positive efforts by law enforcement officers across the country to match the DNA of unidentified remains with missing-persons cases.

"The problem still exists, but there are more tools available, and more people are using them," she said. "Things are rapidly evolving in missing-persons investigations. People have just become aware of what a huge problem it is."

Former Tulsa Police Chief Harry Stege, a founder of the International Association of Cold Case Investigators, said he believes that historically, too many law enforcement agencies haven't taken reports of missing adults seriously.

"There has to be recognition given that if you have a credible person who is reporting someone missing, you should give credit that the witness deserves and conduct whatever investigation is necessary," he said.

Stege said he hopes that the International Association of Cold Case Investigators can help provide better training and better communication among investigators. The nonprofit group brings together law enforcement officers, medical professionals, forensic scientists, educators and victims' families.

Although Tulsa police are making efforts to change their approach to missing-persons cases, they can't do it alone, Huff said.

"Sometimes you just wish you could shut down the plant and reorganize, but these cases just keep coming in," he said.

"When we get done, we want to be the model. We want to take the best from everybody else, and thank them for it, and then we want to be the model that other departments copy."

Fishing with a net

To make a significant dent in the number of missing-persons cases, DNA testing should be more widespread, Adams, of the Center for Human Identification, said.

"We can't work these cases one at a time, the way we have been doing these cases for 100 years," he said. "There are so many things that can go wrong.

"Instead of going fishing with a pole and hook and trying to make a catch, by using NamUs, by using CODIS, you are going out there with a net, seining the whole area, hunting everything that is out there. Then when you make a catch, then you can go to work."

The technology at the Texas center is constantly improving. Its oldest match so far was from remains that were found in the 1960s, Adams said.

He credits Tulsa police and the OSBI with making efforts to use the technology that is available.

And as technology continues to improve and more agencies start to send samples for testing, Adams believes that many cases finally can be solved.

"It is very important we identify these individuals as soon as we can," he said. "The sooner we can identify them, the sooner we can hold someone accountable for their actions" when a homicide is involved.

"Unfortunately, these folks do not stop," Adams said. "When we make an identification, the majority of the time there are multiple victims associated with the case, or there are multiple offenders. If we do not identify them, they keep going and going and going."

33 MISSING: TULSA'S INVESTIGATIONS

Police classify this core group of cold-case missing persons as endangered, and in many cases, the victims may be dead. While hundreds of people are reported missing in Tulsa yearly, most cases are closed when the victims are found alive.

Marisela Cortes, 31, and Matthew Cortes, 4
Police believe that marisela Cortes left the area with her son in November 2000 in an attempt to hide him from his father. The National Center for missing and Exploited Children has created an age progression picture of what matthew would look like at age 12.

Kathleen Henson, 31, and Matthew Henson, 17 months
Kathleen Henson and her son were last heard from on march 23, 1979. She was supposed to be at a friend’s house that night, but she never arrived. Two days later, her vehicle was found abandoned at Ute Street and Peoria Avenue.

Lisa Addington, 22
Addington disappeared may 16, 1984, after attending her bachelorette party at a nightclub with friends.

Jason Armstrong, 21
Armstrong was reported missing in march 2004. His last contact with his family was in 2000, when he told a family member that he was in some trouble.

Terrence Haney, 36
Haney was last seen when he left his sister’s house about 5 p.m. April 2, 2001, to walk about two blocks home. He was never seen again.

Francine Frost, 44
Frost left her home Feb. 16, 1981, but did not return. Her car was found in a grocery store parking lot the next day with the keys in the driver’s door.

Latricia Fipps, 32
Fipps disappeared Nov. 20, 2002, and was last seen with an ex-boyfriend. She did not arrive at home or pick up her children from day care.

Buffy (Mayo) Harris, 25
Harris’ husband reported her missing in July 1994. Police have heard several stories about what might have happened to her, but she hasn’t been found.

Karen Heim, 42
Heim was last seen at residences in Tulsa and Sand Springs on Dec. 26, 2006. Her car was found abandoned in Texas the next morning.

Ray Johnson Jr., 34
Johnson was last seen Sept. 11, 2008. His car was found abandoned at his business, Straight Up Auto Sales, 6014 N. Peoria Ave.

Kimberly Mullens, 33
mullens disappeared in June 1998 under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind two young children. She was last seen alive at her apartment.

Christine Miller, 19
miller’s father reported her missing in January 1989 after she had not been seen for several months. She had a history of disappearing.

Edward Martin, 50
martin was last seen about July 1999, but his disappearance was not reported for a few years. He lived in the area of Utica Avenue and Apache Street.

Andre Ogans, 36
ogans was last seen in February 2007. He didn’t take any personal belongings when he left, saying he was going to see a friend.

Patty Peterson, 25
Peterson was last seen at a store in the 16500 block of East Admiral Boulevard on Nov. 4, 2006. She was traveling from Indiana to Phoenix with truck drivers.

Tina Pitts, 42
Pitts was last seen Nov. 5, 2006, at her apartment near 21st Street and mingo road. There were no signs of a struggle at the residence.

Tracy Samuels, 24
Samuels left her two children with their grandparents on Feb. 17, 1993. Tulsa police found her truck at a west Tulsa apartment complex the next day.

Richard Rounsaville, 43
rounsaville was last seen in January 1996. He had a history of health problems and was reported missing by his family.

Tammy Risenhoover, 26
risenhoover was reported missing by her family in march 1990. She apparently disappeared under suspicious circumstances in early 1984.

Sheila (Scott) Sharp, 46
Sharp was reported missing by her teenage daughter after she failed to return home on Valentine’s Day 2006. Her vehicle has never been found.

Ronald Shelley, 32
Shelley was last seen alive at his home near 47th Street and memorial Drive in December 1981. Police said they found blood at that location.

Alan Soper, 22
After graduating from college in 1974, Soper planned to travel the country with truck drivers. His wallet and clothing were found in California in 1977.

Billy Storkson, 36
Storkson was last heard from about 3 a.m. oct. 22, 1991, when he called several friends and family members to ask that they pick him up from a bar.

Doran VanWinkle, 54
VanWinkle, who had health problems, disappeared in may 2007. He was last seen at his home near Woodrow Street and Cincinnati Avenue.

Annette Vail, 18
Vail was reported missing in october 1984. She had received a large sum of money and some property shortly before her disappearance.

Angie Tucker, 34
Tucker didn’t return home after going to a store in November 2007. Her family said it wasn’t like her to miss work or not come home.

Charles Westfall, 51
Westfall had a history of depression and of threatening to commit suicide. He was reported missing in 2006, and his vehicle was found abandoned in North Carolina.

Not pictured: Londa and Paula Phillips, Roley Butler and Steve Radziewicz

TO HELP SOLVE A MISSING-PERSONS CASE

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of any of Tulsa’s missing people is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 596-CoPS or text or e-mail the Tulsa Police Department at tulsaworld.com/crimestoppersemail. The Crime Commission offers rewards for information leading to arrests, and people reporting information can remain anonymous.

Nicole Marshall 581-8459
nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com

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