There is a crisis growing in the realm of criminal justice and missing persons. According to Statista, as of the beginning of 2022, there were 521,705 missing person files in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. As changes in criminal patterns continue to emerge in the thick of the pandemic, the problem is projected to get worse as law enforcement resources are drawn elsewhere. However, experts have proffered that one of the best solutions to the growing crisis is a similar, highly-accessible database to NCIC known as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) . However, the glaring roadblock is the underutilization by law enforcement. So what are the major differences between NCIC and NamUs?
One of the chief differences between NCIC and NamUs is the level of access to the public. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems is a federally-funded online database for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons in the United States. While NCIC is only available to authorized law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, NamUs has varying levels of access that allow everyone from law enforcement to private citizens. Law enforcement and criminal justice agencies have the same respective level of access afforded to them in NCIC, but with NamUs, families of missing persons can also enter their loved one’s information into the database. Because NamUs is a database that aggregates information from law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, coroners, and families of missing persons, it’s often regarded by cold case experts as one of the greatest resources available to law enforcement and other investigating agencies. The shocking part? It is one of the most underutilized resources available to law enforcement.
There is no federal or state mandate that compels law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to enter information from their open missing person cases into NamUs. There have been repeated effort to pass legislation in this matter from cold case experts who wish to see the database—people like Dr. Erin Kimmerle, a leading expert in cold cases who runs the Florida Institute of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science at the University of South Florida. She says that law enforcement must be utilizing NamUs, because not only are the state and national databases often out of date, but NamUs actually allows users to submit pictures and DNA samples from the public that can help law enforcement narrow the search, “It’s huge and a lot of cases get solved that way. Someone sees something they recognize, an afgan blanket or a sweater.”
Across the U.S., only ten states require law enforcement to use NamUs. States like Florida are still permitting law enforcement to enter data into NamUs on a voluntary basis. According to Kimmerle, the idea of it being voluntary leaves the quality of data entry wanting, “When it’s voluntary, there’s information in there, but not all the information, so you’re really limited, especially when it comes to unidentified persons. We have to know who we’re looking for.”
The family of an Indiana couple found in Nevada is reeling after learning their tragic story of survival while lost in their RV. Before they were reported missing, Beverly and Ron Barker had last been seen at a gas station in Nevada. After seven days of being lost in the wilderness, the couple was found—unfortunately not in time to avert tragedy.
On March 27, 2022, Ron and Beverly were on a road trip to Tucson, Arizona where they hoped to visit with friends. They took off from a California campground in their RV towing a Kia SUV in the back. They were expected to arrive in Tucson on March 29, but never showed up. When the RV turned up stuck in gravel along their route without the SUV attached and no Ron or Beverly in sight, it raised more questions than answers. Details released after the Indiana couple was found have illuminated the more harrowing aspects of their story.
Ron and Beverly were relying on the GPS to help them navigate through Nevada, but according to Beverly’s nephew, Travis Peters, the GPS had not been set to highway mode, which would may have provided them with a safer route to travel given that they were in an RV with a vehicle trailer. However, Ron and Beverly did not immediately think the route was dangerous, seeing other cars, and even another RV on the same route as them. At some point, the RV became stuck in the sand and gravel on the side of the road, forcing the couple to stop the drive for the day and sleep in the RV overnight. The following morning, they unhooked their SUV and set off in search of help, believing it would be a quick business of finding help.
Unfortunately, Ron and Beverly took another wrong turn, and the SUV also got stuck around 2 miles from where the RV was parked. Unable to get out and walk for help the couple were forced to sit in the SUV and honk the horn—signaling S.O.S.—every ten minutes or so. Dehydration soon set in, and Beverly had to use her walker to get to a snowbank and use an N95 mask to scoop snow into bags so they could melt it for drinking water. “My uncle Ronnie was dying, and there was nothing they could do by honk that horn and try to melt the snow for drink,” Travis Peters wrote on Facebook.
It went on like that for days, with Ronnie slowly succumbing to dehydration. Ronnie read form his Bible to comfort them both while they waited for rescue, hoping help would arrive in time. Tragically, Ronnie passed away Monday afternoon, less than a day before the rescuers found their RV. Rescuers were able to hear Beverly honking the horn after finding the RV. Beverly was airlifted to a hospital in Reno for evaluation.
Ron and Beverly’s family members have expressed frustration with the fact that a Silver Alert was not issued for Ron and Beverly at the time they were reported missing, and wished that the authorities had taken their concerns more seriously when they were reported missing. “Had proper steps been taken from the moment they were reported as missing, my uncle would be alive today. Your inability to deal with this situation may have cost my uncle his life. I hope that haunts you for the rest of yours.”
On April 1st, the family of Naomi Irion finally received devastating answers in her abduction and disappearance when Troy Driver was officially booked on murder charges with the use of a deadly weapon, according to the Lyon County Sheriff. Driver was previously charged only with kidnapping. Driver is being held in custody at the Lyon County Jail. Troy Driver, a Fallon resident, was arrested on March 25, charged with first-degree kidnapping to start and is being held on $750,000 bail.
Naomi Irion, 18, was abducted from the Fernley, Nevada Walmart parking lot on March 12, 2022, and was never heard from again. Her body was recovered last week when Sheriff officials in both Lyon and Churchill Counties responded to a tip about a body in remote Churchill County in northern Nevada. She had been placed in a shallow grave near Coal Canyon Road. Cause of death has been reportedly established, but law enforcement has chosen not to release that information for fear of compromising the investigation—offering only that her death has been ruled a homicide. In the criminal complaint against Driver filed by Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye alleges first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
On Tuesday afternoon, the media finally learned that the cause of death was shooting. Naomi Irion was shot and died from gunshot wounds to her head and chest in a rural part of northern Nevada. The complaint also contained details related to how Driver allegedly destroyed Naomi’s cell phone and replaced the tires on his truck in order to conceal evidence connecting him to her kidnapping and murder. Driver’s pre-trial hearing was originally scheduled for April 5, but was pushed back after Judge Lori Matheus approved a joint stipulation request from the district attorney’s office. That pretrial hearing has been moved to May 10.
Following an investigation into his wife’s disappearance, a Boone County man is facing murder charges after a grisly discovery. Andrew Wilhoite has been taken into custody on charges of murder, booked in the Boone County Jail.
On Friday, March 25, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department initiated a welfare check at the home of Elizabeth Wilhoite, Andrew’s wife, following a report from a coworker saying that she failed to show up to work. Tragically, the missing person search rapidly became a homicide investigation, which led to the Boone County Sheriff’s office calling an audible with regards to the investigating agency. “When our investigators realized this could be a possible homicide investigation, we wanted to do discuss the best way to move forward with the investigation since the mother of Andrew Wilhoite is a County Councilwoman, another county elected official,” said Sheriff Mike Nielsen. “To avoid any conflict of interest, it was decided to contact the Indiana State Police and ask them to lead the investigation and we would assist them.”
The investigation lead to Indiana State Police concluding that Elizabeth Wilhoite was the victim of a homicide at the hands of her husband, Andrew Wilhoite. Allegedly, Wilhoite struck his wife in the head with a “blunt object,” then put her body in his vehicle and drove to a nearby creek where he disposed of her in the creek. Elizabeth’s body was found partially submerged in the water and recovered from the creek.
“This is another prime example of working with our law enforcement partners to solve a horrendous crime,” said Sheriff Nelson. “I cannot be prouder of our Investigations team, Crime Scene Investigations team, the entire Sheriff’s Office staff, the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office and the Indiana State Police Investigators. Please keep all families and first responders in your thoughts and prayers.”
In Washington, the list of missing Indigenous people continues to grow with 109 open cases as of March 16, 2022. Twenty-five percent of those cases are associated with the Yakama Reservation in Yakima County. These cases are scattered over multiple jurisdictions, and as disparity in attention and resources allow for fluctuating closure rates, they’ll have to make room for another case—a Crow Nation tribal woman who had been living in Montana before traveling to Washington. Freda Jane Knowshisgun was last seen at the Kennewick Walmart on October 18, 2016.
Freda Knowshisgun was a 34-year-old mother of three at the time of her disappearance. She was in Washington and finding herself in need of money to get home. One of her friends offered to send her the money via an online wire transfer that she could pick up at the Kennewick Walmart. However, Fred never picked up the money, and all attempts to contact her by phone suddenly stopped. The family reported her missing in November when Fred failed to show up to the funeral of an aunt.
The date Knowshisgun was last seen is almost five years ago, but Washington is just now adding her to their list of missing persons. This is because she was reported missing in Montana, but having her information on file in their database as well is prudent in assuring the transparency of information between jurisdictions. Having her on both states’ lists will make it easier for investigators to communicate with one another should either of them find evidence relevant to her disappearance.
At least once a month, State Patrol publishes an updated list of active missing Indigenous person cases on its website. This list is updated as of March 1.
Anyone with information about any of these cases should call the reporting agency. People may provide information anonymously by calling Yakima County Crime Stoppers at 800-248-9980. Tips can be submitted online at www.crimestoppersyakco.org.
