On November 7th, 2022, my son Ryan died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in San Diego County and remained unidentified for five months. During that time, he was searched for constantly by me, his family, and friends. I filed a missing person report, and authorities were contacted - we were desperately trying to find answers. Ryan was an artist and had tattoos of his own design and dreadlocks. He looked younger then his age and was very fit from his passions for surfing and skateboarding. I contacted the Medical Examiners office and was assured there was no individual matching Ryan's unique description in the Medical Examiner's custody. The search for Ryan continued for months. And months later, Ryan was identified hours after information about him was finally entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). The County of San Diego later settled litigation arising from the mistakes made by the medical examiners office in failing to identify Ryan and post his information to Na Mus in a timely manner. [cbs8.com]

What happened to Ryan should not happen to any family.

As a mother, I cannot change what happened to my son. But I believe we can change the systems that failed him. My goal is simple: ensure that every unidentified person receives a timely, thorough identification effort and that every family receives answers as quickly as possible.

Our goal is simple with The Ryan Lim Act. It is intended to ensure the available tools particularly NaMus is utilized as it was intended- to assist in identification of persons when proper procedures are not followed as they should be and persons remain unidentified. And to establish common-sense statewide standards so that no family spends months searching for a loved one when reasonable investigative tools and identification resources could help provide answers.