Los Angeles County Struggles to Identify Thousands of 'Unclaimed Dead'

Investigators spend three years per case, culminating in an annual multilingual, interfaith ceremony to commemorate the unclaimed.

Los Angeles County investigators are working to identify thousands of 'unclaimed dead', whose remains are buried in a communal grave if no relatives can be found.
The investigators, who handle about 200 cases yearly, spend three years on each case, searching through possessions, reaching out to nursing homes and examining public records.
The process is particularly challenging in Los Angeles, which has one of the nation's largest homeless populations.
If no relatives are found after three years, the county handles the deceased's interment. If they left behind enough money in their estate, their ashes are placed in an individual niche with a nameplate in a columbarium.
The county holds an annual multilingual, interfaith ceremony to commemorate the unclaimed dead. The most recent ceremony included the burial of 1,937 people, including for the first time those who died from the coronavirus.