DNA, fingerprints help to put names to Wayne County morgue’s unidentified remains

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The remains of more than 20 people have been identified at the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office over the past year because of increased efforts to give names to those who are unidentified at the morgue.

This includes Bilal Berreni, a 23-year-old French street artist who was killed in July 2013 but not identified until March.

Over the past year, the effort to identify remains at the morgue has led to identifications using DNA, fingerprints, dental records and other methods. Several remains were identified after events were held encouraging families of missing people to provide DNA samples.

Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Sarah Krebs said that by putting someone behind these cases to be a voice for them, we can bring answers to their families.

Berreni was one of those cases.

He was shot in the face in July at the Brewster-Douglass housing project on Detroits east side. Police, though, said Berreni had no identification on him when his body was found.

His identity was unknown until March. Krebs said she had Berrenis fingerprints run through a national fingerprint database and a hit came back. Police have said there are no arrests in the case, but there are persons of interest.

Unidentified remains is a widespread issue: There are more than 9,600 open cases in the nation, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, a repository for information on missing people and unidentified remains. In Michigan, there are more than 270 open unidentified remains cases, according to NamUs.

In Wayne County, authorities were able to identify Donna Hudson using DNA.

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DNA, fingerprints help to put names to Wayne County morgue's unidentified remains