Contacts:


Ryan Sullivan, Harris County Sheriff’s Office Executive Bureau, 713-755-8137, ryan.sullivan@sheriff.hctx.net
Tricia Bentley, Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, 713-796-6761 PIO@ifs.hctx.net,
Melissa Turnquist, Texas Center for the Missing, 713-599-0235,
support@tcftm.org


Local Agencies Unite in Effort to Locate Missing Persons
Wear yellow for the missing and attend Missing in Harris County Day, Saturday, April 25

Local, state and national agencies with a mission to find missing persons ask you to wear yellow for the missing on Saturday, April 25 and attend Missing in Harris County Day, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Community of Faith Church, 1024 Pinemont Drive in Houston. The event is designed to help families and friends with missing loved ones make connections with agencies that can help bring the missing home.

Families and friends of missing persons as well as interested members of the community are encouraged to attend the event to learn how to navigate the missing persons system. Agencies at the event to assist families and friends of missing persons include social service agencies and various missing persons networks, such as the Texas Center for the Missing.

The event will feature:
 Local law enforcement agencies accepting missing persons reports and updates from families of the missing
 Trained DNA collection specialists collecting voluntary family reference DNA swabs from inside the cheek to upload into a missing persons database
 Personal, bilingual guides assisting all attendees in the completion of a missing persons report or directing attendees to resources
 Cyber-security demonstrations
 Child ID kits
 A panel discussions at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. focusing on the special issues relating to missing persons, including: missing children, targeting search efforts, human trafficking, mental health and homelessness
 Activities for children – playground, inflated bounce house, face painting and more
 Free refreshments provided by H-E-B

Families or friends should plan to bring information to the event that can be used to enter or update information in the national missing persons database, including:
 Photos of the missing person with identifying features, such as tattoos or birthmarks, or personal items, such as favorite earrings or shirt
 X-rays, dental or medical records
 Police reports or other identifying documents that can be scanned and placed on file
 Two of the missing person’s closely related family members from the mother’s side to voluntarily submit DNA samples, if desired

Preregistration is available at: online.centerforthemissing.org/2015-missing-in-harris-county-day

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. For those seeking a missing family member or friend, pre-registration insures that a yellow ribbon bearing the name of the missing person is waiting for them at the Welcome Table. Attendees are welcome to wear memorial t-shirts and bring posters, photos, or literature to display to commemorate their missing loved one on the “Wall of the Missing.” The “Wall of the Missing” is a centralized location at the event for all attendees to view missing persons information. Documents placed on the board will not be returned after the event.

About Missing in Harris County Day
Partners in the Missing in Harris County Day event include the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Houston Police Department, Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, Texas Center for the Missing, and The Children’s Assessment Center. Other collaborators for and in-kind sponsors of the event include: Texas EquuSearch, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). Law enforcement connected to the event will not be checking for citizenship documentation or for arrest warrants. Join the social conversation: #MissingInHCDay