The Tennessee Department of Health and the National Missing & Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) teamed up to host the Missing Persons Day event in Nashville.
On Friday, several departments including the Metro Nashville Police Department and Davidson County Medical Examiner were available to help families dealing with a missing loved one.
There are more than 1,000 missing person cases in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee chief medical examiner.
NamUs is a system that is becoming widely used to collect information and help reconnect families and further assist unidentified persons cases.
"It's like a funeral that just doesn't end. It's another piece of the puzzle in terms of finding what happened to their loved one," NaMus Regional System Administrator Amy Dobbs told NewsChannel 5.
The event was geared toward families with loved ones missing for more than a month. Through the national database, families can enter information about the missing person, give DNA samples, and provide photos and medical records.
"It helps connect cases that might otherwise not be resolved due to multiple jurisdictions being involved. It's not just for the unidentified. We will have living John Doe and Jane Doe cases, and we'll have active missing persons which we will locate them alive," said Dobbs.
Several people showed up to the event held at the Lentz Public Health Center.
Cimeaka Patton and her sister sat down to provide more information about their mother, Wanda Walker, who went missing last year.
"October 4 was the last day she was seen. She was supposed to be heading to work that day and she didn't show up," recalled Patton.
She urged the public to share information to help them find closure. Patton's other sister also went missing in 1999 and was already logged through NamUs with her mother.
"Its been tough because we've been through this before with my sister. It hurts so bad because she's [Walker] not there and missing out on so many things," said Dobbs.
Currently, NamUs has 106 unidentified persons and 260 missing persons in its system. Nationally, the database has 11,622 has unidentified persons and 13,591 missing persons as of Friday.
In July, a law went into effect requiring information of anyone missing for more than a month to be added into NamUs.
Anyone from across the country can access the information.
The Missing Persons Day event was scheduled at the Hamilton County Courts Building on Market Street in Chattanooga from 11 am to 3 p.m.
In addition, the event was also held at the First Congregation Church on Cooper Street in Memphis at the same time.
