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
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.
Cold Case Investigator - Lieutenant 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.
Graduate Manager - Sarajane Smith-Escudero
Sarajane Smith-Escudero is Graduate Manager of the Mississippi Repository. She is pursuing her master's degree in applied anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Mississippi State University. She is a team lead for the Mississippi State Forensic Recovery Team and has forensic case experience from Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma and is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow.
Our Goals
In collaboration with law enforcement agencies throughout the state, the goals of the project are to:
- Provide a centralized location for data on missing and unidentified persons from Mississippi
- Increase missing persons public access for all Mississippians
- Visualize socioeconomic and medicolegal disparities affecting missing persons through geospatial analysis
- Partner with neighboring states to facilitate data sharing of missing and unidentified persons information