NYC Medical Examiner's Office Offers Families Hope On Third Annual Missing Persons Day

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There are over 13,000 people reported missing in New York City each year, according to officials.

While many are found, some can only be identified through science. Life-sized facial reconstructions of people found beyond recognition filled several tables at the city's Medical Examiner's Office Saturday as part of the third annual Missing Persons Day.

"We're able to use both forensic anthropology and forensic artists to recreate what that person looked like," Assistant Director of the ME's office Mark Desire tells 1010 WINS' Samantha Liebman.

While most of the roughly 13,000 people who go missing every year are found, about 1,000 of the office's unidentified remains date back years.

"We're not going to make any identifications without that support from the family," Desire said. "So this a way for us to. We have unidentified here, we can identify them today if the family comes in and helps."