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For Medical Examiners, Coroners and Investigators


Does working with Unclaimed Persons make sense for you?

We realize you might be a little skeptical and hesitant to work with Unclaimed Persons. After all, you have years of experience and access to a wide array of investigative resources. What could a group of volunteer genealogists have to offer?

We've discovered that the tools and techniques frequently used by genealogists are complementary to those typically used by police departments, coroners' offices and other such organizations. While there is some gentle overlap, genealogists tend to tap into less obvious resources such as census and military records, obituaries and high school yearbooks to find others associated with the deceased.

We offer a free, supplemental research team with members across the U.S., Canada, England, Ireland and Australia. While the bulk of our cases are centered in the U.S., our first dozen cases involved people originally from England, Scotland and Tanzania.

We also work in a discussion board environment to allow interaction within the group (feel free to visit to get a sense of how we operate). We've found that this approach allows us to build off of each others' discoveries to locate the family faster than would have otherwise been possible. Although we realize that thoroughness and discretion are more important than speed, we do occasionally find relatives within hours.

What we don't do is make contact with families. In fact, we're adamant about this. Instead, our case administrators and managers condense the research done by volunteers into an easy-to-digest report that will be submitted to you with names, relationships and likely contact information. We then request that you let us know the resolution of the case. Our volunteers love learning the outcome and seem even more inspired when they receive this kind of feedback.

Still not sure?

If you have a case you'd like researched, please complete the Request for Assistance Submission Form