• All It Takes Is One Person, One Call
All it takes is one person, one call
Hope is a powerful word, and it’s a word that we use often. It can be heard in the hallways from staff, parents and law enforcement.
This hope is powerful. It is hope that a missing child will be found. Hope that sexually exploited children will be identified and rescued. Hope that an unidentified victim will be given a name.
Our Biometric and Unidentified Persons Unit works to find those names. They help law enforcement and medical examiner’s offices identify remains of children. We know that it takes just one person to see the composite image of what the child looked like in life that recognizes the child. And if someone recognizes the child, a family will have answers, a proper burial can take place and the unidentified can be given back their name.
From “Baby Hope” to Anjélica
Several cases have made national headlines in the past few years. The most recent case was of “Baby Hope.”
The New York Police Department was so certain they could solve this case and bring justice for the 4-year-old they even gave her the name Hope. For 22 years detectives relentlessly followed-up on any leads that may have held an answer or clue to who she was. And now, two decades after her small body was discovered in a cooler, law enforcement has positively identified her. One more child has been given back her name and her body has finally been laid to rest.