Changes made to Missouri legislation aimed at helping find missing people

ST. LOUIS (First Alert 4) - Proposed legislation aimed at requiring law enforcement agencies to enter information for missing people into a national database is undergoing changes.

The bill requires police in Missouri to enter information about missing persons in a federal database known as NAMUS. It is freely accessible for law enforcement and the public to input information about missing persons. However, its effectiveness has been hindered because not everyone utilizes it. More than a dozen states are required to use it.

DNA testing is being removed from the bill, according to bill sponsor Tricia Byrnes, a Republican lawmaker out of Wentzville.

“Currently, law enforcement would do that, but they don’t have the budget,” Byrnes said. “So, there was concern if we put it on the statute when we didn’t have the budget for it. So, we are separating--if you would--going down this same highway but we’re running the budget separate from the legislation.”

Byrnes added the bill is also extending the time a law enforcement official must enter information for a missing person to 180 days to avoid creating a backlog of people who are found quickly.

Theda Wilson, the mother of Christian Ferguson, who went missing in 2003 and is presumed to be dead, is backing the legislation.

“I wish this would have happened a long time ago because a lot of people have been waiting on this kind of movement,” Wilson said.

A St. Louis County jury found Christian Ferguson’s father, Dawan Ferguson, guilty of first-degree murder in 2022. The morning he went missing, Dawan Ferguson called police from a pay phone, claiming a carjacker drove off in his car with his son still inside. Christian Ferguson still hasn’t been found.

In the years that followed, Wilson created a missing persons organization called Looking for an Angel, which helps people in the St. Louis region search for missing family members and friends.

Wilson cited Billy’s Law as another piece of legislation helping in the search for missing people nationwide. The law requires the Department of Justice to set best practices and guidelines, provides training for law enforcement and connects missing persons databases to NAMUS.

“NAMUS has actually been pivotal for us on a number of cases,” said Dr. Lindsay Trammell, a forensic anthropologist for the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office, at a press conference for the bill in Jefferson City last week.

Next week a vote will take place for the bill to be sent to the House floor from committee.