Michelle Malkin has this report out today about her missing cousin, Marizela Perez. This case remains heart-breaking in the extreme. It also remains infuriating, because the Seattle police seem on many occasions to suffer from don’t-give-a-damn-itis. Those who have read Malkin’s reports for the past seven months will understand her frustrations. Here’s the latest:

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and the King County Medical Examiner’s office, by contrast, were amazingly responsive and helpful. I found out they have tried for weeks to obtain Marizela’s dental records and DNA from the Seattle Police. But for some inexplicable reason, the police have yet to provide them or the Washington State Patrol with the information.

Marizela’s parents provided her dental records and their DNA samples to the Seattle police five months ago.

Washington state law – RCW 68.50.320 – requires the missing person’s case detective to obtain this crucial information “within thirty days” of the person going missing and to input the data with the Washington State Patrol “as soon as possible.”

… On Friday, after we proactively contacted King County and Lewis County authorities, Marizela’s dad Edgar immediately provided a summary letter from Marizela’s dentist to the medical examiner. The actual radiographs, however, are in the Seattle police department’s possession. Without them, there can be no definitive word on a match or no-match with the Morton, WA remains.

What is wrong with these people? Why are they so unhelpful? I can’t imagine a police department being this negligent — especially one in a city that impressed me greatly both times I visited there. Readers in the Seattle area, please put some pressure on for these police to do their jobs!