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Presentation in Crow Agency discusses program that helps families with missing loved ones | Regional News

The presentation held at the multi-purpose building in Crow Agency had everything to do with a public resource tool called Namus. This tool can potentially help families who have loved ones missing.

Misty LaPlant is the new missing persons specialist for the Montana Department of Justice who said this presentation is to teach people what NamUs is all about. She said this presentation about the program is really important to understand.

"NamUs is a public resource for family members and the general public to navigate and report missing and unidentified persons website."

Jessica Hager is the regional program specialist for NamUs and said this program has been around since 2007.

"We're a national database," Hager said. "We house information about missing and unidentified cases nationwide. We have over 16,000 active and published cases on the website from missing persons and we have over 13,000 unidentified cases listed on the website."

So what does this program entail?

"One of the things that we'll do is we'll make sure that a missing person report is filed and then once we can verify that information with the investigating agency, then we get their permission to put the case on the website so that's how we work together," Hager said. "If there's not a missing person report, though, then we're happy to work with the families and answer questions and try to hep them get that report filed."

Dixie Garfield traveled all the way from Missoula just to attend the presentation in Crow Agency. She is the grandmother to Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, a woman who went missing in Hardin back in August. Her body was found a month later. Garfield said she wishes she would have known about this program for it would have helped her during that time when she felt she had nowhere to turn. She said now that she knows about this program, she can pass this information along to friends and family in the hopes this information can be useful in the future.

"I don't know if we'll ever be able to find out what happed to Kaysera because nothing was done," Garfield said. "Everything, the whole investigation was botched, but now we know that there's a program called NamUs that will help in all kinds of ways, help families to-- and families, people, anyone can go in there and report someone missing."

The program is a free online database that people can use to enter their missing persons. NamUs also offers free forensic services, including DNA, fingerprints, and dental records.