The Harris County Cemetery is a place where even grief is blind. Where after death, a man is lucky simply to have a name. Or a headstone that's above the ponding water.

"It's very sad to die alone. Especially when you're out on the streets,” said Kathy Tabor of the Star of Hope Mission.

The Star of Hope shelter has held services in the cemetery for people who have died with no loved ones to claim them. The county often buries those who die without a family. But the medical examiner always assumes that someone still cares.

"It's a full time job just reuniting people after death,” said Dr. Jennifer Love, Harris County’s director of forensic anthropology.

On Sunday morning, police say a drunk driver missed an on-ramp and wedged his Volkswagen under a bridge; killing the man sleeping beneath the freeway.

The Medical Examiner did identify the man who had slept here, and died here. They used a thumbprint, and because he'd been arrested before, they had a record.

The problem now, like in so many cases, is finding anyone who knew him.

It's the same challenge any time a homeless person dies. Walter Bell hasn't talked to his family in more than a year.

"But I lost their phone I don't have any communication how to get in touch with them,” he said.

Even when the county can find relatives through a search of public records - some want nothing to do with the body.

"At the end sometimes they don't want to claim the body so they go on to be buried as an unclaimed decedent,” said Dr. Love. “But sometimes simply notifying the family is rewarding itself."

But laying the unnamed or unwanted to rest has its price. In addition to the tax dollars spent, officials said the cemetery will be full by the year 2025.