Missing in North Texas event hopes to help find, ID missing people

DALLAS - A North Texas organization is working to bring closure to families impacted by a loved one's disappearance.

The UNT Health Science Center hosted the Missing in North Texas event Saturday morning.

Volunteers helped people enter a missing person's information into a state database.

They also accepted DNA samples to give to law enforcement in order to help them identify unnamed bodies.

One woman who volunteered says her father disappeared in the Houston area when she was 15.

It took her family nearly two decades to learn that he was found just a few miles away from their home.

"The county had his body and the city had his missing person’s report, so since there is no communication, no way for them to do this, they never communicated that and buried him unidentified two years later,” Alice Almendarez said.

She says resources like the database are critical to families looking for loved ones.

She's now pushing state leaders to improve the systems used to find and ID missing people.