Where our work ends and law enforcement begins
We investigate historical sites. Some situations belong with the authorities — here is how to tell the difference.
If you believe you have found human remains, or have information about a missing person or a possible crime, contact local law enforcement first — before submitting anything here.
Call your local police or sheriff’s department, or 911 if the situation is urgent. Just Beyond the Grave is not an emergency service and cannot act in their place.
Does Just Beyond the Grave work missing-person cases?
No. Our mission is historical: forgotten cemeteries, unmarked graves, burial grounds, and historic sites. Missing-person cases, suspected recent deaths, and possible crime scenes are matters for law enforcement, medical examiners, and the professionals who work with them. We are not a private-investigation service.
What counts as “historical”?
Generally: sites and burials old enough that they are matters of history and preservation rather than active legal concern — the family plot lost since the 1930s, the church cemetery abandoned a century ago, the burial ground that appears on an 1880 plat map and nowhere since. If there is any realistic possibility your situation involves a recent death, treat it as one and call the authorities.
What if I’m not sure?
Call law enforcement anyway. It costs nothing to be wrong in that direction, and everything to be wrong in the other. Our intake also asks directly whether a submission could involve a recent death, missing person, or crime scene, and submissions that raise that possibility are routed accordingly rather than treated as ordinary historical tips.
Will you report what I submit to the authorities?
If a submission gives us reason to believe it involves recent remains, an unreported death, or evidence of a crime, we will refer it to the appropriate authorities. Historical privacy preferences do not extend to concealing matters the law requires to be reported.
Can you help law enforcement or official agencies?
Where a coroner, medical examiner, archaeologist, preservation office, or law-enforcement agency is already involved with a historical site, we are glad to coordinate — our intake asks whether any authority is already engaged. Any assistance on their matters happens at their request and under their direction.
What about old graves discovered during construction?
Most states have specific legal requirements when human remains are encountered, no matter their age — typically stopping work and notifying law enforcement or the state’s designated authority, who determine whether the find is forensic or archaeological. Follow those steps first. Once the proper authorities have made their determination, a historical site may well become something we can help research and document.