Four years ago, Aretha Miller\u2019s pregnant sister and a mother of two, Cheretha Morrison<\/a>, dropped her daughter off at school. She was seen for the last time driving about two blocks away before she went missing.<\/p>\n Miller was among a crowd of people who have missing loved ones at the fifth Cook County Missing Persons Day, which first started in 2017<\/a> as a way to streamline the process of getting information to law enforcement about missing people.<\/p>\n It was her first time at the event, where she planned to speak with officials about what else she could do to assist in the search for her sister.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and my family need closure,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s good or bad news. \u2026 You\u2019ve gotta be strong to go through this [process]. I\u2019m really hoping that this year we get some closure.\u201d<\/p>\n The event is hosted by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Cook County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office, the latter of which held the event at its Near West Side office.<\/p>\n It serves as a source of community and support for families whose loved ones are still missing, as well as a way to make creating a missing person\u2019s report more accessible. Attendees could provide DNA samples and information about their loved ones for entry into a national database, as well as file a police report if their relative had been missing for more than a month.<\/p>\n Law enforcement representatives sit at their tables ready to help families during the fifth Cook County Missing Persons Day at the Cook County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office. The event first started in 2017 as a way to streamline the process of getting information to law enforcement about missing people.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Last year\u2019s event, the first since they were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ended up leading to answers for six families \u2014 four who found their loved one had died, and two who were reconnected with loved ones within a short period, according to Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is to assist families in locating their loved ones by being a centralized resource for those searching for missing relatives and friends,\u201d Arunkumar said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping at least one family can get closure.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the only time the resources are accessible, as they are year-round between the various agencies, but it is the one time a year they\u2019re available all together.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important for the cases to be refreshed, according to Cmdr. Jason Moran, a special victims unit investigator with the Cook County Sheriff\u2019s office. He said doing so can give investigators more tools or ensure older cases still have a detective assigned to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event is about bringing these cases to a contemporary status, ensuring it\u2019s active and everything that can be done is being done,\u201d Moran said. \u201cSometimes the passage of time hurts cases.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis event is about bringing these cases to a contemporary status, ensuring it\u2019s active and everything that can be done is being done. Sometimes the passage of time hurts cases,\u201d said Cmdr. Jason Moran with the Cook County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Of the 25,647 missing people nationwide, 462 of them \u2014 about 1.8% of the total \u2014 are from Illinois, meaning the community of folks who have missing loved ones is sometimes small, though the event also served to bring them together.<\/p>\n Miller said it\u2019s been important for her to connect with other families who face the same situation because they can understand her pain in a way others can\u2019t, making their connections stronger and their conversations more healing.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone can sympathize but unless you\u2019re going through that, you really don\u2019t know what it is to have the nightmares or anxiety when you think the police are calling,\u201d Miller said. \u201cYou hear the other stories [of older cases], and I don\u2019t think I could go through it that long, but they did and they survived it. They\u2019re still hopeful. They tell me to keep my head up, they give me support. \u2026 You need that kind of stuff going through this.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Commander](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/94b09b1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1024x683+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F97%2F38%2F3bd7b1054cd2b507fe568b123b67%2Fmissing-051125-14.jpg\")
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