Charles Heurich, ’87, accepts a prestigious “Sammy Award” for helping to develop a national missing persons website.
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sk forensics expert Chuck Heurich to describe the new missing-persons program he helped launch at the U.S. Department of Justice a few years ago, and the Slippery Rock University biology graduate responds by telling you a heartrending story. That wrenching saga unfolded in 2009, when a Kansas City woman named Stephanie Clack finally learned of her sister’s still-unsolved murder, which had taken place more than 20 years before. The Missouri tragedy began when Stephanie’s older sister – an attractive and high-spirited retail store cashier named Paula Beverly Davis – disappeared suddenly in August of 1987. Then 21 years old, Davis was never seen or heard from again. Because of the trauma involved, her mother suffered a nervous breakdown and never fully regained her health. Stephanie Clack, only 14 when Paula vanished, grew up under the bleak shadow of her sister’s unexplained disappearance. But then, only a couple years ago, Clack experienced what seemed to her like a miracle. While watching a “cold case” crime show on television, she learned about an innovative new program at the U.S. Department of Justice which – for the first time – combines a national database of unidentified murder victims with another huge database containing tens of thousands of files on missing persons. That program, known as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) was the brainchild of Heurich and a justice team of forensics experts . . . all of whom had spent several years searching for a better way to solve “cold cases” involving unidentified murder victims across the U.S. Thanks to the files now maintained at the NamUS website, Stephanie Clack was able to compare her own information about her sister’s history with details from thousands of files on unidentified remains to help authorities find her sister’s body in an unmarked grave.
“That particular case is a powerful example of the benefits that can flow from NamUs,” said Heurich, who recently won a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Justice and Law Enforcement Medal for his role in helping to develop the new information-processing system. The “Sammy Award” pays tribute to America’s finest public servants who make a significant contribution to our country through innovation and hard work. NamUS is a fully searchable database used for investigating and solving missing and unidentified person cases nationwide. It is the only site where everyone who is interested in solving such cases – law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners and families – can share information. Heurich was instrumental in getting the project off the ground. He served as an advocate for the database inside government, played the role of mediator and moderator among stakeholders, managed technical issues and handled funding. Since its 2009 launch, NamUs has helped resolve …the National Missing cases involving 44 unidentified persons and and Unidentified Persons 65 missing persons. System (NamUS) was “Thanks to the versatility of the new the brainchild of Heurich program – which now allows medical and a justice team of examiners, coroners, crime investigators forensics experts . . . and the general public to talk with each all of whom had spent other at the same time – we are increasseveral years searching ingly able to connect missing persons with for a better way to solve unidentified remains,” Heurich said. “As “cold cases” involving a result, we can now do a much better unidentified murder job of helping families and friends of the victims across the U.S. missing to learn what happened to their loved ones, 10 or 20 or even 30 years after the initial disappearance. This exciting new tool is a compelling example of how technological innovation – along with some good old-fashioned detective work – can help to ease the burden of www.SRU.edu
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