Laurah Norton

These works of historical true crime are newly available through the Allen County Public Library. “Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless” by Laurah Norton Introducing readers to the history and evolution of forensic science, from ancient Rome to today, the author incorporates stories of real-life John and Jane Does from around the world and examines how rapidly evolving identification methods have helped solve the most iconic cold cases.

"Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless" By Laurah Norton c. 2023, Hachette Books $30, 352 pages And who are you? Even when nobody asks, you sometimes just go ahead and introduce yourself around because people like to put a name to a face and know who they"' talking with. Who are you, what's your name, what do you do for a living? It's information that, as in the new book "Lay Them to Rest" by Laurah Norton, isn't always easy to get.

The risk of becoming an unidentified decedent, or a John or Jane Doe, isn’t something most of us will face when we die—but it is a possibility, especially for the most vulnerable among us. There are tens of thousands of long-term unidentified persons in the United States, whose cases have sat for years, even decades, without resolution. In life, we can prove who we are in any number of ways. There are webs of connecting threads. But in death? Those identifiers fade, or snap.