For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in criminal scene investigation and prison documentaries. I’ve tried to curb this slightly morbid curiosity numerous times and while I might have succeeded in another lifetime, my chosen career path as a journalist never allowed me to just turn the channel off.
There I was one Saturday afternoon in late fall, watching a program about the Los Angeles County Coroner and the difficult, draining job investigators were charged with. As I sat with my laptop and a bowl of popcorn in front of me, feeling so pleased that I stumbled onto television gold, I wandered over to the L.A. County Coroner’s website.
After poking around for a bit and even finding a gift shop, I happened to land on a page that had a database of unclaimed bodies listed.
How strange, I thought. Over 4,000 people from all ages and walks of life had been reduced to a file number, with physical descriptions, along with when they entered this Earth and when they left it.
Yes, Los Angeles is vast and populated. In fact, I heard someone once refer to it as “72 suburbs in search of a city,” but I couldn’t understand why so many people who had died were left, well, for dead.
My leisurely Saturday documentary had to wait.
I began furiously researching how and why this could have happened. I even called the coroner and set up a phone interview before I ever even thought about pitching my idea on Spot.us. After a half hour conversation and the discovery of unclaimedpersons.org, I knew I had found a story to tell.
Having grown up in Los Angeles, it became a matter of personal importance to me. Say what you will about this concrete jungle, I’ve heard it all, but the fact that people had come here in search of fame, fortune or even simply just a better life, had died and been left to became a nameless, faceless notch in a database was concerning
The questions began popping up in my head faster than I could process them. Although I was told that some people might not want to be found, I knew it had to be more than that. And so, “Unclaimed Kin Piling Up in Los Angeles” was born.
I am honored to be working on telling a unique story about those who can no longer tell it themselves on Spot.us. In the coming weeks, I hope to update this space with news about who I speak to, what I find and my journey throughout this innovative process.
