10 U.S.C. § 1507 — Recommendation of status of death

(a) Requirements relating to recommendation. A board appointed under section 1503, 1504, or 1505 of this title may not recommend declaring a person dead unless: (1) credible evidence suggests that the person is dead; (2) the United States has no credible evidence suggesting that the person is alive; and (3) United States representatives have (A) completely searched the area where the person was last seen, unless they made a good-faith effort to obtain access and were denied access; and (B) examined the records of the government or entity controlling that area, unless they made a good-faith effort to obtain access to the records and were denied access. (b) Submittal of information on death. If such a board recommends declaring a missing person dead, the board's report about the person must include: (1) a detailed description of where the death occurred; (2) a statement of the date of death; (3) a description of where the body is, if it was recovered; and (4) if the body was recovered but cannot be identified by sight, a forensic pathologist's certification that it is the missing person's body. In deciding whether to make that certification, the forensic pathologist must consider any additional evidence and information that the Secretary of the military department concerned determines is necessary and that appropriate specialists in forensic medicine or other appropriate medical sciences provide.