About

About

About MS Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons Project

The Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons is a statewide database and collaborative tool used to help identify and resolve Mississippi’s cases of missing and unidentified persons.

Who We Are

Founding Director - Dr. Jesse Goliath

Jesse Goliath

Dr. Jesse Goliath is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies and Senior Research Associate for the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and has done extensive forensic casework for city, state, and federal agencies. He has published research in several forensic journals and currently serves as a consulting Forensic Anthropologist for the state of Mississippi.

Co-Principal Investigator - Dr. Jordan Lynton Cox

Jordan Lynton Cox

Dr. Jordan Lynton Cox is an Associate Director of Research for the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. Her primary research uses interdisciplinary approaches like storymapping and geospatial analysis to answer questions of race, diaspora, transnationalism, governance, and globalization. 

Cold Case Investigator - Lieutenant Bo Shelton

Bo Shelton

Lieutenant Bo Shelton has been in law enforcement for 16 years and has prior military service with the U.S. Marines. He serves as the Patrol Lieutenant for the Mississippi State University Police Department and leads the Cold Case Investigative Division of the Mississippi Repository.

Our Goals

In collaboration with law enforcement agencies throughout the state, the goals of the project are to:

  1. Provide a centralized location for data on missing and unidentified persons from Mississippi
  2. Increase missing persons public access to this data for marginalized populations in the state
  3. Visualize socioeconomic and medicolegal disparities affecting missing persons through geospatial analysis
  4. Partner with neighboring states to facilitate data sharing of missing and unidentified persons information