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An unidentified decedent, or UID, is a deceased person whose legal identity is unable to be determined by law enforcement. Although the majority of UIDs are identified soon after their bodies are recovered, it is not uncommon for bodies to remain unidentified for years or even decades. There are approximately 40,000 unidentified decedents in the United States at any given time. A deceased body can be identified in several different ways. Most commonly, a relative of the deceased identifies the body by sight. However, if a body is heavily decomposed, skeletal, or unrecognizable due to severe facial trauma at the time of recovery, other methods must be used. Some other common modes of identification include fingerprints, dental records, chest x-rays, and as a last resort, comparing the deceased's DNA to the DNA sequence of a genetically close relative such as a parent or sibling. In some cases, circumstantial evidence can be used to formally identify a body; for example, if the deceased has a driver's license on their person, or is found deceased on their own property after going missing, those context clues can be used to make an identification. Since identification of a deceased individual is a legal matter, officials require a high degree of certainty in order to make a formal identification. If remains are unable to be identified, law enforcement can search missing persons databases for potential matches, then compare DNA or dental records to confirm or rule out the match. Law enforcement can also publicize the case through flyers or local news stories, in the hopes that someone will come forward and recognize the deceased as a missing loved one. A medical examiner's office can also use a few techniques to narrow down the identity of the deceased. An isotope test measures the proportion of certain oxygen and/or strontium isotopes found in the teeth. These proportions of isotopes correspond to the drinking water found in different areas of the country. Using this test, medical examiners can narrow down a range of geographic areas where the deceased likely grew up, or lived in soon before they died. Pollen grains on the victim's clothing can also be analyzed to determine which geographic area the deceased may have come from. For example, in the case of Caledonia Jane Doe (Tammy Alexander), pollen grains found on her clothing indicated that she had spent time in a sub-tropical state such as California or Florida. If a DNA sample is too degraded for an accurate sequence to be obtained by traditional means, next-generation (Illumina) sequencing can be used to generate an adequate DNA profile. Over the last fifteen years, government and law enforcement agencies have set up databases of unidentified remains, which are available to and searchable by members of the public. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) was established in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Justice. It provides a database of cold case unidentified persons, as well as cold case missing persons. These publicly available databases are searchable according to several demographic characteristics such as race, height, weight and estimated age. These two searchable databases allow members of law enforcement, as well as members of the public, to compare missing and unidentified persons for potential matches. These matches can then be evaluated by a medical examiner's office, using comparison of fingerprints, dental records, or DNA, depending on which are available. Recently, members of the public have become active in helping to solve several high-profile unidentified persons cases, such as the case of Caledonia Jane Doe (Tammy Alexander) and the case of Grateful Doe. A number of online communities have become established to aid in the identification of UIDs, most notably the forum Websleuths and the Grateful Doe group on the popular website Reddit. These communities work to find potential matches between missing and unidentified persons, and work to publicize cases on social media and through news outlets. The following is a list of some of the most well-known cold cases of unidentified persons. It is by no means a comprehensive list of unidentified persons in the United States. ==Arkansas== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of unidentified decedents in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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