Deaths Involving Unidentified Human Remains

Deaths Involving Unidentified Human Remains 1. When a death is reported as provided for in Miss. Code Ann. § 41-61-59, and the physical remains of a deceased person, regardless of visually recognizable condition, lack a presumptive identification, are partially or completely skeletonized, or require further analysis to confirm a positive identification, the Medical Examiner case shall be considered “Unidentified Human Remains” and transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for postmortem examination and positive identification. So that proper investigations and positive identifications can be made in Medical Examiner Cases, the County Medical Examiner Investigators and other authorities must immediately notify the State Medical Examiner upon discovery of such a death. 2. Skeletonized human remains with suspected medico-legal significance (i.e., not of historical, archaeological, or non-human origins) must be reported to the State Medical Examiner immediately for further evaluation. The case will be handled as a normal State Medical Examiner case unless the State Medical Examiner deems the skeletal case not forensically significant. If recovery procedures are necessary to recover the remains, recovery efforts must be coordinated through, but not necessarily performed by, the State Medical Examiner’s Office. Immediately following their recovery, skeletal remains must be transported to the State Medical Examiner for postmortem examination, positive identification, and long-term curation until positive identification is achieved. Unidentified human remains must not be subjected to cremation or other destructive final disposition methods (including embalming without first obtaining biological samples for DNA analysis), unmarked internment, or illegal and unethical handling of or transport within or across state lines.