On March 31, 2025, unidentified human remains were discovered near a campsite in Payson, Arizona (Gila County). Despite a thorough investigation, local law enforcement and the Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office were initially unable to determine the individual’s identity.
On May 12, 2025, the Pinal County Medical Examiner entered the case into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), a national database designed to support the identification of missing and unidentified individuals. The entry included detailed descriptions and photographs of the clothing found with the decedent, including a shirt, sweatshirt, and hat. Within 24 hours of the case appearing on NamUs’ public-facing site, concerned citizens began sharing the information on Facebook. By May 14, 2025, tips were coming in to both law enforcement and the medical examiner’s office — including one from friends of a man who had been living unhoused in the area. They recognized the clothing from the NamUs post and contacted authorities, reporting they had lost contact with him nearly three years prior.
The Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office obtained dental records for the individual, which were then compared to the postmortem dental records of the unidentified decedent. This comparison confirmed a positive identification, restoring the individual’s name and identity. Next of kin were subsequently located and notified.
While this identification was not directly funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) grant to Pinal County, it powerfully illustrates one of the core objectives of the MUHR Program: the rapid entry of cases into databases like NamUs to aid in identification. This case demonstrates the impact of timely data sharing, the value of public engagement, and the critical role of collaboration and accessible tools in helping bring resolution to families and communities.
