MSU Forensic Unit is helping solve missing persons cases

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, at any given time 100,000 people may be reported missing in the U.S.

That number has been as high as 600,000 reported in a year.

“It is a big number.” said Dr. Jesse Goliath, Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology. “We call it the silent crisis or the silent epidemic that missing people throughout the country are going missing, and we do not know how long they have been missing for, and they sadly maybe victims of human trafficking and other criminal activity.”

The MSU Forensic Unit uses a variety of tools to help work these cases.

Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology Dr. Jesse Goliath said, this is to help decrease the number of missing people across the state.

“What we are trying to do is find resolution.” said Goliath. “We do not call it closure because that is someone’s missing loved one and they will never have that final goodbye, but we are trying to alleviate their pain and try to bring some type of resolution to their families. ”

So far, the program has helped locate some of the missing, including a Kansas woman who was found in a shallow grave in Lawrence County just three weeks ago.

“We are working with a lot of law enforcement agencies, the FBI, Lawrence County Specifically with Ms Williams, we helped to recover her remains after law enforcement got a general idea of where she may have been located.” said Goliath. “Having us work with MBI specifically, and anytime MBI has been contacted specifically, we have a partnership with D.P.S to help work with those cases.”

This Spring, MSU President Mark Keenum and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner formed a partnership to work on forensic investigations.

Those investigations may include human remains, surface scatter, and the identification of human skeletal remains.

“The Cobb institute fulfills the same mission as the University as a whole, which is to help the state, and to help solve problems for the state.” said Goliath. “Archaeology and using our expertise in helping to find remains and finding individuals who go missing is just a part of that aspect.”

Dr. Goliath also hopes this program leads to more people wanting to pursue a career in the Forensic unit.

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