1 of 4 The skeletal remains of tens of thousands of homicide victims are sitting in evidence boxes across the US, waiting to be identified. In 2005, the National Institute of Justice held a strategy summit to find ways to solve this growing problem. The NIJ was charged with the task to use every available tool to solve missing persons and unidentified human remains cases. One result of this summit is the “NamUs” National Unidentified Persons Database that can be search by anyone over the internet. The NamUs system is praised by law enforcement and the families of victims as an important way to help match missing persons with unidentified remains. Forensic anthropology techniques can often be used to estimate some things from a victim’s skull and other bones, including gender, a

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