KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This week, two more cold cases have been solved. A DNA lab in Texas finally identified two bodies found in Jackson County, Missouri years ago.
Sometimes it takes years because of funding.
Last week, FOX4 shared the announcement of Kimberly Carter’s identification. Others have since followed.
A common theme, in getting answers, officials say is funding.
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State Representative Tricia Byrnes is hopeful the successes seen here in the Show Me State will have other states following Missouri’s lead.
In 2024, funding she supported, has become a beam of hope in these once unsolved cases.
Byrnes, who represents District 63 in St. Charles County, says she was approached by the Missing Person Support Center with some alarming news in 2023.
“Their opening line was “do you know that we have 120 unidentified bodies in Missouri with a large portion of them being under the age of 20?. I was floored by that,” Byrnes said.
She said she’s met some Missouri families who face this reality.
“I can’t even imagine what that would be like, but I’ve met some of the families of the missing and its heartbreaking,” Rep. Byrnes said. “It’s hard to imagine. Hard for the families, but if you’ve ever had a missing person, in your community, that haunts communities too.”
Byrnes says, getting legislation passed, allocating $1.5 million to assist the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s efforts to identify Missouri’s unidentified, took a year.
A DNA lab in Texas says 24 identifications have been made in Missouri with technology developed by Othram. Six from this month alone.
An Othram spokesperson says, “the commonality in all of these cases is that public officials have taken this seriously and have dedicated the funds at the state and local level to bring resolution to these cases.”
You can learn more here about recent work.
Tuesday, two identifications were made related to cases in Jackson County.
Skeletal remains were found in July of 1998 by city workers in the 200 block of E. Harlem in North Kansas City, Othram says. Despite an autopsy, a dental exam, and an anthropological exam, the man believed to be in his 30-50s, went unidentified.
Now, through a DNA extract, the identification of Mario Delapaz, also known as Mario De La Paz, has been made public.
Also, recently shared, the remains of a man found in Kansas City Missouri have been identified as Thomas Lee Baird.
In October of 2021, remains were found in a wooded area near the 8700 block of Troost Avenue.
Othram says, “several law enforcement agencies responded, including the Kansas City Police Department and the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office to begin collecting evidence as part of their investigation. Investigators found a skull and a jawbone but no other way to identify the remains. The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the skull belonged to an adult, likely older than 50.”
In 2023, evidence was submitted by the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office to Othram.
Earlier this month, it was reported, the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office also teamed up with Othram to identify a 2016 homicide victim.
Remains found in the spring of 2025 in Kansas City have now been identified as belonging to Ezekiel Willie.
Othram says, “in April 2025, partial skeletal remains belonging to an unidentified individual were found at 28th & Vine in Kansas City, Missouri. Law enforcement agencies responded to the scene and recognized that the discovery site was an area where the remains of a murdered man had been found in 2016. The investigation led officials to believe that the remains found in 2025 possibly belonged to the homicide victim found in 2016.”
Byrnes said every year funds for this will have to be reauthorized.
The $1.5 million includes management at the highway patrol for this program, resources, and the forensic genetic testing.
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“We are already closing cases. We are already seeing successes. We have term limits, right? And I hope that after I’m gone somebody will also step up for those families that don’t have a voice and certainly for those, we lost that don’t have a voice,” Byrnes added.
Othram’s Chief of Staff, Colby Lasyone, said “to move the needle, legislators have to act and that’s happening in Missouri.”
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