Missing persons bill passes Ohio House, could bring more answers to families

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOIO) - This week marks a big step forward for missing persons investigations in Ohio.

A bipartisan bill from state lawmakers just passed in the Ohio Statehouse that could help families of the missing find answers.

19 Investigates has been following this legislation from the beginning.

You can watch our previous stories here.

There are hundreds of open missing persons cases across Ohio.

Now, there’s a new chance to reunite families as state legislation addressing the issue moved a step forward.

Ohio House Bill 217, known as the FIND Act, passed unanimously in the Ohio House of Representatives 96-0 Tuesday.

State representatives Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) and Kevin Ritter (R- Marietta) teamed up to introduce the bill last year.

“It’s exciting. I think when we can get bipartisan legislation across the finish line in the House, it reminds Ohioans that we can work together and we can make an Ohio that works for them. Specifically when it comes to missing people, it reminds the families that their advocacy effort matters,” State Rep. Cockley said.

The bill would require law enforcement enter missing persons cases into a national database called NamUs within 30 days of a report being filed.

NamUs stands for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and was established by the Department of Justice.

The free, public database helps connect missing persons to unidentified remains across the country.

The powerful tool can be used by investigators and accessed by the public with a different interface that leaves out sensitive information to the investigation.

“If this legislation passes, we’re going to be able to bring closure to a lot of those families. In the case of living missing persons, it’s going to be a happy reunion. In the case of unidentified folks that have unfortunately passed on, then it’s going to bring some closure to those families,” State Rep. Ritter said.

Police are already required to put missing persons cases into several other law enforcement databases. But this measure is an extra step they can take that’s been proven to help solve cases, especially cold cases.

A lot of the ideas in the FIND Act came from the agencies and investigators who work on these cases themselves during discussions in Governor Mike DeWine’s Missing Persons Working Group.

19 Investigates attended one of the sessions last year.

“In the case where an investigation goes cold, nobody’s more frustrated than the law enforcement officers that are working that case. But unfortunately, sometimes they lack the tools to help them continue to pursue an answer. And we’re hopeful that this legislation will give them a very powerful tool that they can use to bring cases to closure,” Ritter said.

The sister of Andy Chapman, who has been missing from Columbus since 2006, spoke in support of the bill on Tuesday.

During proponent testimony, Aimee Chapman said her family has been through unimaginable grief.

“We still hold out hope Andy will return to us in person, however, our focus has shifted to finding human remains. When remains are found, it’s often the family of the missing that call the county coroner to make sure our loved ones [have been] checked with the remains. If these DNA results were in NamUs, more missing would be matched with remains,” she said.

Andy Chapman’s case inspired lawmakers to take action last year.

Representatives Ritter and Cockley want families of the missing out there to know their loved ones and their fight for answers have not been forgotten.

“Do not give up. Your advocacy matters. Your family’s experiences matter. And bringing these cases to our attention and talking about them, it’s not just for the entertainment of Americans who love true crime. It’s because we want to find results for these families. We want to find answers. We want to make a difference,” Cockley said.

Another part of the bill would require law enforcement to digitize records of missing people before destroying them. That is something these lawmakers said they hope is common practice, but they want to make sure is happening across the state.

House Bill 217 heads to the Senate next. At least sixteen states mandate the use of NamUs in missing persons investigations.