Do you want to find an unclaimed person’s family? Here are some tips!

I have helped a couple of unclaimed people get sent back to their families. Here is how I did it:

1. I looked these people up on Ancestry.com. That site is a treasure trove. It often contains information about someone after the 50s. You can find where they lived, if they were ever married, who their siblings were (if they had any). Then, once you locate next of kin, look them up on Facebook and save their profile information. I then would forward all of this information to the medical examiner.

2. If you don’t have Ancestry, try looking these people up on Facebook. It’s not as helpful as Ancestry, but you can sometimes find the decedent’s old profile and, if you are lucky, they will have posted helpful information there. I found one man’s daughter through there. I forwarded the information to the OTME but I don’t know if the body was ever claimed.

And try not to break the news to the next of kin yourself. I did that once, with an unclaimed John Doe named Steven Anthony Manhart. That was just because the medical examiner didn’t get back to me after a couple of weeks and I just wanted this man to go home. It did work—they were his siblings and they did claim his remains—but I still feel guilty for breaking the news that their long-lost brother had been dead for forty-odd years over Facebook Messenger.

I hope this is helpful!