Krista Latham runs HIC

Professor Krista Latham formed Identify Indiana Initiative

By Hannah Biedess EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Professor of Biology and Anthropology and Director of the University of Indianapolis’ Human Identification Center Krista Latham leads the Identify Indiana Initiative, according to UIndy360. Latham said in about 2016, she and a coroner started talking about how many people volunteer their time to solve cold cases.

According to UIndy360, the Human Identification Center works with law enforcement to provide DNA profiles and forensic anthropology for free. UIndy students are often on the scene with last responders to provide help with forensic anthropology, according to the article. When Latham took over the HIC, the article said, she realized there were a lot of cold cases, and that is how the Identify Indiana Initiative started.

“I talked about how we had a large number of cold cases in our laboratory and we thought that it would be good to formalize those efforts into an organization. So we essentially came up with the Identify Indiana Initiative,” Latham said.

According to Latham, the team is made up of scientists, coroners and law enforcement agents who want to investigate these cases with new technology. She said it deals with bodies that were discovered before the new scientific technology was made.

“We’re just revisiting those cases and making sure that we are reanalyzing them with all the different tools and resources that are available,” Latham said.

Latham said the first step to any case is to get coroner permission. All funding, tests and decisions have to go through the coroner’s office. The second step is to see if they have a DNA profile article, the purpose is to build a DNA profile for every unidentified person across the state. to Freed, everyone needs help with understanding their own values and that the Women’s Empowerment Boot Camp opens discussion for this.

“When I took over directorship of the Human Identification Center, half my evidence room was full of cold cases. So my goal is to be able to identify all those individuals and repatriate them to their families,” Latham said.

According to the Fox59 article, there are more than 600 unidentified bodies in evidence boxes across Indiana. The Identify Indiana Initiative is trying to get that number to zero, according to the article. The end goal is to get people back to their rightful place according to Fox59.

“I definitely think that the women's empowerment camp will [still] happen, but I'm hoping that it scales up. It's something that can spread across the university no matter how you identify,” said Freed.