Martirosyan and her colleagues spend three years investigating a case before relinquishing the deceased to a communal gravesite, a last resort in the county cemetery. Similar work is done in cities across the U.S. but in Los Angeles, with one of the nation’s largest homeless populations, the efforts are particularly difficult.

— Stefanie Dazio, “Los Angeles County has thousands of ‘unclaimed dead.’ These investigators retrace their lives”, The Associated Press, January 4, 2024