Carrie's Mom Urges Congress to Pass Missing Person Database

It's been nearly ten years since her daughter Carrie disappeared without a trace. Although it's been proven by a court of law and her mom knows that Carrie will never return alive, Debra Culberson still would like to find her Carrie's body and bring it home for a proper burial. She struggles with the every day uncertainty of possibly never finding the humanly body she used to hold and love knows as Carrie. While she continues to wait and suffer in her own personal hell, Debra Culberson is determined to help others from going through what she's dealt with the last decade.
This past week she was in Washington DC testifying about a subject she feels is very important. That is the fact that there is no mandated DNA database that could match all human remains that are found. There are over 50,000 unidentified people right now who we are confident that there is a family just like the Culberson's who are waiting and wondering - where is my loved one. Although they may not know for sure if their loved one is even dead, if the mandate was in order in all 50 states, there'd be no doubts or persons sitting in undiginified boxes on shelves in dark rooms, but rather being sent home to be with their families who have been searching for them. At this time, there are less than ten states in the United States that have a law that states that all human remains found must go into a matching database. This simply has to happen in all states. We have wonderful people like the Doenetwork who volunteer their time and efforts to help law enforcement because it is known that the police often do not have time to spend on these cases to solve all of them, but imagine what we could accomplish with both Doe and the mandate?

Something that most people will never be able to understand is waking up every single day waiting and wondering where is my child/friend/sister/etc? I know that there is the one person who holds the key but they refuse to tell me anything. I will have to accept that somehow in my heart and continue searching for them, but maybe just maybe could they be already be found and lieing in a morge but cannot be identified due to certain pieces of the puzzle being missing?

I urge each person who wants to make a difference to determine who your congressman or congress woman is and begin a campaign within your state to mandate this database to help these missing people. This could be your loved one or even maybe yourself someday that needs identification. Think of those who'd be hurting and working so hard to find you and would have it so much easier if this were in place. Please read the article below regarding Debra Culberson's efforts in Washington DC.

Related Article from Channel 13 News
By Tom Walker - Eyewitness News

Local police and law enforcement agencies in other cities could benefit from a new national database. It would help find missing people and identify the remains of those already recovered.
Debra Culberson has a mission that stems from ten years of painful and sometimes horrifying frustration. The pain began with the murder of her daughter Carrie in 1996 and the fact that Carrie's body has still not been found. A website dedicated to her case still pleads for information.
The horror came with rumors her body had been dismembered before being dumped in the Ohio River and the wondering if it's true.
"The not knowing of where your child is, not knowing the fate they had suffered. You can only imagine," said Culberson.
The uncertainty is similar to that surrounding cases in Indiana like the disappearance of six-year-old Shannon Sherrill, missing since 1986 from Thorntown and IUPUI student Molly Dattilo, last seen two years ago.
"That's not all that unusual in this country, where people are literally missing and maybe in another state and they're not necessarily identified and so the family members never find out what happened," said Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH).
Debra Culberson told members of Congress states should be required to run DNA tests on all remains found so they could be put in a national database. She says another state might already have her daughter.
"If they picked up those remains and put them in a box and put them on a shelf because there is no mandatory testing, then Carrie could already be found and sitting in a box on a shelf," Culberson said.
She says such a database could not only find her daughter but many others. "You'd think it would be something that should automatically be done. It shouldn't have to be mandated."
As it stands now, there are only six states where DNA tests of remains are required. Indiana is not one of them. That could change if Congress decides to make it mandatory everywhere.Carrie Culbertson disappeared near Cincinnati. Her mother says there are as many as 50,000 unidentified remains nationwide.
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5062051&nav=9Tai