Unidentified Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register

Unidentified Wiki:Creating a page

Revision as of 14:04, 8 February 2019 by Gourami Watcher (Message Wall | contribs) (→‎North America)
View source

Anyone is welcome to create a page on this wiki. Follow these steps to create your own! These guidelines are subject to change throughout the development of this website.

Naming your article

Unidentified person

For unidentified persons cases, the county that the person was found in is usually used to refer to them, (such as "Northampton County Jane Doe". In some cases, where the county may contain many different UIDs, sometimes, the name of the city or town would be suitable instead, to have the case appear to be more unique ("Vidor Jane Doe"). The year the person was found could also be placed at the end of the title in parentheses ("Harris County John Doe (1973)"). If there is a case where there have been more victims found in the same location, giving the exact date in the article title may be necessary.

There have been other situations where UIDs have been nicknamed, such as Orange Socks or Brad. If the nickname is somewhat well-known, it would be more appropriate to have the nickname serve as the title.

If a person is believed to have used a name while alive, such as Allison Milles or Ernesto Aguilar, it could also be appropriate to use it for a title, even if it was likely an alias, like Lyle Stevik.

Missing person

Thousands are currently missing today, yet those cases where the victim is presumably deceased are the only missing subjects suitable for this wiki. There are still very many other cases that are notable for this site.

If the subject's name was "William" but they were primarily known as "Bill", please use the subject's nickname as the title of the article, out of respect for the individual. Make sure that you include that their birth name in the article, however.

In the event where a missing or identified person was transgender, their preferred name and pronouns are required to be used.

Before you add a case, consider whether or not the victim's body is recoverable. If someone was convicted of a murder and claimed to have destroyed the remains by the means of incineration, for example, the missing person is unlikely to be an unidentified individual and may never be recovered.

Identified

DO NOT RENAME OR CONVERT ANY LONG-TERM UNIDENTIFIED OR MISSING SUBJECT TO AN "IDENTIFIED" PAGE UNLESS A RELIABLE SOURCE HAS CONFIRMED THE IDENTIFICATION!

A general rule of thumb for notability on this Wiki is to consider adding individuals such as Jeanette Coleman that have remained unidentified for at least a month. Cases that have received significant coverage but were solved in less than a month, such as that of Elmer McCurdy, are an exception.

In most cases, a previously listed unidentified person is removed from national databases such as NamUs and NCMEC after their identification. In many cases, the decedent's identity will not be immediately released. If there is no name released after an individual is identified, the article's title should remain the same.

Infobox

An infobox is one of the most important part of an article, as it contains a lot about a person at a glance, such as weight, race and age estimations. This also contains a lead image, which should be either the most recent or most reliable reconstruction of the individual. If the victim has yet to be reconstructed, simply leave this field blank. An infobox can be added by clicking INSERT, then TEMPLATE and search for "UID", "MP" or "Identified." If using source mode, copy and paste the text below the appropriate infobox and replace text descriptions.

Unidentified person

{{UID
|image = [[File:YOUR IMAGE HERE.jpg|200px]]
|race = If the victim was black, white, etc.
|sex = Male, female or undetermined
|span = {{age|YYYY|M|D}}
|found = Month/Day/Year body found, if in the United States. Day/Month/Year if from a country that uses a different format (such as England)
|location = Town/county and state where body found
|postmortem interval = The estimation of time the victim was deceased prior to their discovery
|body condition= If the person's body was decomposed, recognizable, etc.
|age approximation = The minimum and maximum age estimations
|height approximation = The minimum and maximum height estimations
|weight approximation = The minimum and maximum weight estimations
|cause of death = If it is known how the person died
}}

Missing person

{{MP|
|image = [[File:YOURIMAGE HERE.jpg|200px]]
|race = If the victim was black, white, etc.
|sex = Male, or female (please specify if the person's gender is different than their sex)
|location = Town/county and state where they disappeared from
|disappeared = The date the subject went missing. Month/Day/Year if in the United States. Day/Month/Year if from a country that uses a different format (such as England)
| missing for = {{YYYY|MM|DD}}
|age = The minimum and maximum age estimations
|classification = {{SH}}, {{SA}}, {{SE}} or {{SS}} if homicide, an accident, exposure or suicide is suspected, respectively.
|height = The minimum and maximum height estimations
|weight = The minimum and maximum weight estimations
}}

In the case where an age progression has been created, please replace the "image" line with:

|image = [[File:YOURIMAGEHERE.jpg]]|150px]] [[File:NAME OF AGE PROGRESSION.jpg|150px|Progressed to AGE HERE]]

Identified

{{Identified|
|image = [File:YOUR IMAGE HERE.jpg|200px]]
|realname = The victim's first, last and middle name, if known.
|sex = Male, or female (please specify if the person's gender is different than their sex)
|found = Month/Day/Year body found, if in the United States. Day/Month/Year if from a country that uses a different format (such as England)
|location= City/County body found (you may also want to include the date they disappeared)
|Missing from = City/County victim disappeared from
|identified = The date the victim was identified
|timespan = How long the victim remained unidentified
|age = age of the victim
|cause of death = If it is known how the victim died
}}

Templates

To make it a bit easier with adding categories, you are encouraged to add templates into the infobox in place of words.

Causes of death

  • {{ns}} if no sources explain the classification or cause of death. Please use this template instead of the phrase "Unknown."
  • {{susp}} if the circumstances surrounding the body suggest foul play. Place template after the {{ns}} template if used.
  • {{SH}} if authorities have officially revealed they suspect the victim was murdered.
Homicide
  • {{Homicide}}, if the victim was murdered and the specific cause was not released or determined.
  • {{Strang}}, if the subject was strangled.
  • {{Asph H}} if the victim was murdered through asphyxiation, such as smothering.
  • {{Beat}} if the victim died from blunt-force trauma in a homicidal manner.
  • {{Gun H}} if the victim was murdered through the use of a firearm.
Accident
  • {{Drown}} if the victim died from drowning, where no foul play is suspected.
  • {{V}} if the victim was killed in a vehicle accident.
  • {{Asph}} if the victim died from asphyxiation (such as smoke inhalation) where no foul play is suspected.
  • {{Overdose}} where the victim died after accidentally consuming a lethal amount or combination of drugs or alcohol. Excludes suicide and forced overdoses.
Suicide
  • {{Hang}} Where the victim used a ligature, such as a belt, to commit suicide.
  • {{OS}} Where the victim used a lethal amount/combination of drugs and/or alcohol.
  • {{PS}} Where the victim ingested harmful materials to intentionally end their life.
  • {{Gun S}} Where the victim used a firearm to end their life.
  • {{Jump}} If the victim jumped from a building, cliff, etc. to end their life.

Body condition

If the condition of the body was not stated, simply add "Unknown"

  • {{rf}} if the facial features were in a recognizable state.
  • {{dec}} if the body was decomposed.
  • {{ti}} if the victim sustained trauma to the face that distorted their features beyond recognition.
  • {{burned}} if the victim's remains were damaged beyond recognition by fire.
  • {{sk}} if the remains were decomposed to the point of skeletonization.

Categories

In order to sort certain articles, it is preferred that categories would be added to pages. You can either add them in source mode or without clicking the edit button, as there is a possibility to click an "add category" button at the bottom of a page. Some categories do not need to be added, as certain templates that are used in the articles cause them to automatically be added. Most types of articles can be placed in similar categories.

List of categories

If you want to add them in source mode, please add two brackets ( [ and ] ) on either side of the category.

Ages

  • Infants - for subjects between the ages of 0 and 1
  • Toddlers - for subjects between the ages of 2 and 3
  • Children - for subjects between 4 and 8
  • Preteens - for subjects between 9 and 12
  • Teenagers - for subjects between 13 and 17
  • Young adults - for subjects between 18 and 39
  • Middle age - for subjects between 40 and 59
  • Elderly - for subjects between 60 and 100

Birth spans

Classified by decades (i.e. "1960s births). Some individuals may have been born during multiple decades, so it is appropriate to add multiple birth span categories. It is also important to keep in mind the person's postmortem intervals, as someone found in 1988 may have died up to 30 years before.

Discovery dates

Adding the year the person was found (i.e. "1999 discoveries"). Some have had different parts found at different times, so it is appropriate in such cases to have more than one "discoveries" category. If the exact year is unknown, you could add "recovery date unknown."

Death dates

In a lot of cases, the subject has died within the year that they are found, such as "1975 discoveries." If the postmortem interval and body condition is consistent with this factor, year of death is most likely the same as when they were found, unless the body was found in a decomposed state in the early part of a year. If the body is skeletonized, it is possible that they died years before, sometimes being a long period of time. In this case, a decade could be added (such as "1980s deaths)."

Missing dates

Categorized on a yearly basis, such as "1982 disappearances."

Locations

  • For unidentified, partial or identified: "People found in [state/province]"
  • Missing: "Missing people from [state/province]"

Ages of case

Categorized on a decade level. If the current year is 2015, for example, a case where an individual died or went missing was 1973, the category used would be "cases over 40 years old." Cases where the individual was identified should not include this category.

Identification dates

Categorized on a yearly basis, such as "2013 identifications."

Death

  • Possible suicides (if circumstances suggest the event was possible)
  • Possible homicides (if circumstances suggest the event was possible)
  • Presumed suicides (if authorities could not establish the cause or manner of death but believe the victim committed suicide.)
  • Presumed homicides (if authorities could not establish the cause or manner of death but believe the victim was murdered.)
  • Accidental deaths (if the victim drowned, overdosed, etc.)

Physical information

  • Disabled (if the subject had a cognitive or physical impairment, such as Down syndrome or a condition that may have affected their physical appearance.

Reconstructed by

Categorized by organizations, not specific artists.

  • Reconstructed by NCMEC
  • Reconstructed by Project EDAN (by artists such as Wesley Neville, Charles Holt or Catyana Falsetti)
  • Reconstructed by the FBI
  • Reconstructed by the New York Academy of Art

Circumstances

  • Seen alive (if the person may have been witnessed before death)
  • Found alive (if the person was located while alive but may have died before being identified)
  • Dismembered (if the victim's remains were divided into pieces for concealment or other reasons)
    • Please note, any case that belongs to this category should have {{Graphic}} posted at the top of the page.
  • Sexually assaulted (where sources confirm the victim had been sexually abused, such as molestation, against their will.)
    • Please note, any case that belongs to this category should have {{Graphic}} posted at the top of the page.
  • Possibly sexually assaulted (where circumstances are present that the event was possible but could not be proven or has not been stated.)
  • Raped (if the victim was verified to have been involuntarily subjected to sexual intercourse.)
    • Please note, any case that belongs to this category should have {{Graphic}} posted at the top of the page.

Miscellaneous

  • Nicknamed (if the person was nicknamed while unidentified, such as "Sahara Sue")

External links

To provide links to websites that profile certain cases, some templates have been created to make the process easier. Some, like news reports, no templates have been created. If you wish to include some in the article, make sure to add them on a bulleted list underneath a header titled "links" at the bottom of a page.

Unidentified

  • {{NCMEC|CASE NUMBER HERE|Article title}}
  • {{NamUs|CASE NUMBER HERE|Article title}}
  • {{Charley Project|first name-middle name(if applicable)-last name}} *<nowiki>{{Doe Network|CASE NUMBER (LOWER CASE) FOLLOWED BY .html|Article title}}
  • {{Wikipedia|ARTICLE_TITLE|Article title}}
  • {{FLUIDDB|CASE NUMBER|Article title}}
  • {{TXDPS|CASE NUMBER|Article title}}
  • {{Maricopa|CASE NUMBER|Article title}}

Missing

  • {{NCMEC MP|CASE NUMBER HERE|Article title}} (if subject was under 18 and profiled by NCMEC)
  • {{NamUs MP|CASE NUMBER HERE|Article title}}
  • {{Doe Network|CASE NUMBER (LOWER CASE) FOLLOWED BY .html|Article title}}
  • {{Wikipedia|ARTICLE_TITLE|Article title}}
  • {{Charley Project|missing-person-name}}

Resources

Doe Network

USA Canada Mexico Europe Australia
Males Males Males Males Males
Females Females Females Females Female

North and Central America

Europe

Oceania

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement