Cemetery has plots for man, woman
By KAREN NELSON
klnelson@sunherald.com
PASCAGOULA - Jackson County is preparing to bury its unknown victims of Katrina.
There are two, a man and a woman.
After five months, no one has come forward for them, so the county's coroner, Vicki Broadus, had DNA profiles taken. She's keeping the profiles so that in the future, if a family member comes looking, that person can have his DNA run to see if it matches. There's no way to identify either of them by how they look, Broadus said, because exposure and saltwater caused disfigurement.
So it's time to put them to rest, Broadus said. Holder-Wells Funeral Home is providing a ceremony and two plots in a cemetery. That will happen in the near future, after the final news stories run and Broadus is sure, one last time, that no one is looking for either of them.
The ceremony will be open to the public.
"I've done all I can do," said Broadus. "I've taken it as far as I can take it. I would not be at all surprised if they are never identified. If we could just get a clue of how to find their families. But the longer it goes, the less apt we are to come up with families. The chances we will find them diminish every day that passes."
He had a heart-shaped tattoo with the number "8" in it on his left wrist and a short-cropped mustache. She was short, wore a University of Michigan shirt and had her hair in braids.
Broadus said that last month she was 98 percent sure she had matched a Michigan family looking for a relative among Katrina victims with the woman. But the DNA proved otherwise.
The DNA test is simple for the donor. It begins with a mouth swab.
Parents, children, siblings and even aunts or cousins can be tested for a match, according to Legal Genetics, the Ocean Springs firm that performed the DNA profiles on the two. But the closer the relative the more genes there will be to match.
Broadus thanked the funeral home for donating its services.
She said, "They are going to try to find a monument" to mark the graves.
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Descriptions of the two
The two unidentified people who died in Jackson County due to Katrina:
• A black woman, 5-foot 3 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds and wearing a black University of Michigan at Ann Arbor shirt with gold lettering and black pants, size 15. She had black hair, 12 inches long, and pierced ears. She was found in the Point Ascot area south of Lemoyne Boulevard in west Jackson County.
• A black man in his 60s, weighing 175 pounds. He had no upper teeth or dentures, seven lower teeth, hair cut about one-half inch long, bald on top, short-cropped mustache and a heart-shaped tattoo on his left wrist that has the number "8" in it. He was found in the marshy area of Gulf Park Estates in south Jackson County.
Anyone with information that might lead to their identity, call Jackson County Coroner Vicki Broadus, 219-0450.
Unknown dead will be laid to rest...
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