Laws for the Missing

Hello Everyone
This is an example of what you can do in your state for future missing person cases and have your loved one honored if you choose. Please support the effort as CUE Center is in North Carolina and contact your legislation for help. If you are interested and need help please let us know. Below you will find one of our cases making efforts to change things in their state. Thank you

Push is on to improve search for missing - Madison woman's case prompts action

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
The Courier-Journal



INDIANAPOLIS -- The cousin of a missing Madison woman is working with state lawmakers to establish new procedures for police to follow when adults are reported missing.

Bills introduced in the House and Senate also would require police to collect DNA evidence for people who are missing as well as from unidentified bodies and put them in the same national database so matches can be found more quickly.



"It's going to save time and save money if things are done right in the beginning," said Keri Dattilo, whose cousin Molly Dattilo of Madison disappeared more than two years ago.

Molly Dattilo was in Indianapolis attending summer classes when she vanished. She has not been located.

"This legislation helps law enforcement prioritize cases," Keri Dattilo said. "My family and I just don't want to have any other families go through the experience we went through. We want to see some changes."

Molly Dattilo's brother reported her missing two days after she disappeared. But although police took a report, her cousin said, they did not seem to consider the situation serious for several weeks.

According to the Dattilo family, Molly did not take her money, car or other belongings. Keri Dattilo said that kind of situation should prompt a more intense investigation.

Last month, Scott Robinett, the deputy chief of investigations for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said the Dattilo investigation continues as a "missing persons case" but not necessarily a criminal one.

House Bill 1306 and Senate Bill 464 establish criteria for police to determine whether an adult is a "high risk missing person" and then sets out procedures for dealing with those cases.

It also requires police to provide family with contact information for missing-persons organizations and to collect DNA evidence for anyone missing more than 30 days.

The bills are based on model legislation prepared by the U.S. Justice Department and pushed by groups that serve as advocates for families of missing people.

The House bill, written by Rep. Dave Cheatham, D-North Vernon, is tentatively scheduled to be heard in the House Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee on Feb. 15. Dattilo plans to come to Indianapolis to testify.

The state police already have raised questions about implementing some of the procedures outlined in the bill and are working with Cheatham on amendments. He said those will be introduced at the February hearing.

"This is model legislation, so there are always going to be changes to make it work for a specific state," Cheatham said. "I think we can work it out."

The Senate bill, written by Sen. Connie Sipes, D-New Albany, has not been scheduled for a hearing.

Capt. Sherry Beck, the legislative liaison for the state police, said the department doesn't oppose the ideas in the bills. But they might go too far.

"The way the current bill is written, if a man with a green hat was standing on the corner and somebody noticed he was there a few days and then he's not, they could walk into the police department and say the man was missing and the police would have to do a report," Beck said. "He may not be missing, but we would have to assign resources to it."

Police often receive calls about people who haven't shown up for work and are feared missing or about people who are trying to escape an abusive spouse and don't want to be found. As written, bills don't account for those situations, Beck said.

"Currently what we do is ask enough specific questions and find out whether there is an issue," she said.

The model legislation suggested by the Justice Department has been adopted in some form in Washington, Colorado and the District of Columbia, said Kelly Jolkowski, founder and president of Nebraska-based Project Jason, a group that helps families. But she expects all states will make some changes.

She's recruiting volunteers, including Keri Dattilo, to try to get the legislation passed across the country. Dattilo also is working to get the bill passed in California, where she lives.

Volunteers also are active in Oregon, Connecticut, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri. Jolkowski said she doesn't have a volunteer working in Kentucky, although she said she's always looking for help.

"So many missing persons are lost in the system because the right steps aren't taken," Jolkowski said "These procedures will hopefully resolve cases quicker."

More than six years ago, Jolkowski's son Jason, then 19, disappeared from their home. He was last seen dragging trashcans up the driveway from the curb. He has not been found.

Jolkowski said a key of the proposed legislation is the DNA procedures, which would allow law enforcement with a missing person in one jurisdiction to link the case to an unidentified body in another place.

Currently, she said, many states allow unidentified bodies to be buried or cremated without ever obtaining DNA that could be used to identify them later. The bills would prevent unidentified bodies from being cremated.

"This is about connecting the dots," Jolkowski said. "There's an average of about 105,000 open missing-persons cases at any one time, and there's an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 unidentified remains. Who knows how many other bodies out there have been buried or cremated without identification, with families somewhere without knowledge of what happened."


Monica Caison
CUE Center for Missing Persons
PO Box 12714
Wilmington, NC 28405
(910) 343-1131
(910) 232-1687 24 Hour Line
Email: cuecenter@aol.com
Website: http://www.ncmissingpersons.org/