One of the reasons for starting this is to ask which type of cases others think should be the priority for DDP (despite it really being none of our business of course). Put it another way, if you were one of the main movers and shakers there which cases would you prioritise and why, assuming no issues over funding individual cases?
For me the order of priority would be:
Murder victims
Accidental deaths
Natural causes
Suicides
For me murder victims are the Number 1 priority. They need and deserve justice, and the first step in providing that in many of these cases is to identify the victim. They didn't choose to end their lives and deprive themselves of a future. Identifying them does not only return them to their families but hopefully leads to their killer or killers being held accountable for their deaths, even many decades after the event and even if their killer or killers have gone on afterwards to lead exemplary lives.
I know how much of a "following" Lyle Stevik and Annandale Jane Doe have here, but the fact that these individuals went to great lengths to conceal their identity means that for me the lengths the authorities go to in order to identify them has an element of intrusion into their privacy which I am slightly uncomfortable with. Their privacy and anonymity seem to have been very important to them and much as I like a mystery to be solved part of me wants to respect their wishes in that regard.
Accidental and natural deaths fall somewhere in the middle for me. Cases of these types that I'd particularly like to see resolved are Bibb County John Doe (
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...-WhtMale-UP13483-14-17-MVA-hitchhiking-Mar-61) and Las Vegas (Greyhound Bus Station) Jane Doe (
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...em-UP355-55-60-in-bus-station-restroom-Jul-82). The latter is already on the DDP list of cases under consideration but the former is not.
It's just possible that Bibb County JD has one or both parents still wondering what happened to him. Much more likely he has one or more siblings wondering. It's also possible that the girl in the photo he was carrying may be wondering why he never wrote to tell her how he was getting on.
Las Vegas JD would probably be in her mid-90s now so it's unlikely she has even siblings wondering about her, but she might well have children or nieces/nephews wondering what happened to their aunt.
How would you prioritise cases?