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Dr. Christina Lane instructs students at the Saint Rose Cold Case Analysis Center
Dr. Christina Lane instructs students at the Saint Rose Cold Case Analysis Center

The 20th annual New York State Missing Person’s Day provides an opportunity for families and friends to reflect, remember, and join together to honor the nearly 4,000 missing persons in the state and over 100,000 missing persons throughout the United States. An event will be held to mark the occasion April 15 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the New York State Cultural Education Center Museum, 222 Madison Avenue in Albany. Speakers will address attendees between 1:20 p.m. through 3:15 p.m. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.

The event is organized by The Center for Hope, a Ballston Spa-based nonprofit organization co-founded in 2001 by Mary and Doug Lyall, whose daughter, Suzanne Lyall vanished from the University at Albany in 1998. Suzanne Lyall’s case has not been solved.

The event includes a talk by Dr. Christina Lane, associate professor of criminal justice and program director for the Cold Case Analysis Center at The College of Saint Rose, where students majoring in criminal justice, forensic psychology, and forensic science have the opportunity to work with law enforcement on real cold cases. The center is the only one of its kind in New York State and one of only six in the country. Lane will discuss the work of the center, which has also focused on Lyall’s case for several years. Mary Lyall has received assistance in organizing the event from students in the center, and the students will work with the families of missing persons at the event.

The program will conclude with a ceremony to recognize missing persons and their families at The New York State Missing Person Remembrance site, which is adjacent to the state museum.

A family DNA collection also will be available to families who have missing relatives, allowing them to add the tool of DNA analysis to the investigation and make it easier to identify a loved one when they are found.

Also invited to attend the event are families, friends, and missing person organizations from New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, North Carolina, Georgia, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maryland, as well as political leaders, teachers, neighbors, police officers, and others affected by an unexplained disappearance of a loved one.

For more information contact Mary Lyall at 518.885.1331 or 518.421.5311. Lyall and Lane, from the Cold Case Analysis Center, are both available for interviews in advance of and during the event. To coordinate an interview with Lane, email marketing@strose.edu.