2014/11/11

The New York Times November 9, 2014: New York City Seeks to Put Names to Unidentified Bodies

Traditionally, New York City officials have preferred not to draw attention to the unidentified bodies that pass through city morgues and receive public burials in mass graves on Hart Island, off the coast of the Bronx.

But on Saturday, city officials, for the first time ever, they said, organized a day geared partly to help identify the roughly 1,200 bodies they have received since about 1990 that they have been unable to identify.

Relatives and friends of anyone who has been missing long-term were urged to attend New York City Missing Persons Day, held by the medical examiner’s office.

Among the estimated 80 families that city officials said attended were Himirce Melendez and Lydia Ramos of the Bronx, who brought a snapshot of their brother, Raymond Luis Garcia, 63, who they said had been missing for three years.

“We experienced something beautiful today,” said Ms. Melendez, 64, who, with her sister, 74, arrived at the agency’s offices on First Avenue in Manhattan and walked past a reception desk and the sign above that reads “Science Serving Justice.” more