The declaration of someone’s death in absence of their physical dead body, corpse or skeletal remains. One who is presumed dead. “In absentia” is Latin for the term “in absence”.
Such a declaration may be made when a person is missing for an extended period of time and the evidence overwhelmingly supports the belief that the person has perished. For example, ticketed and verified passengers aboard an airplane that has crashed. Jurisdictions vary with regard to the length of time and procedure for legally declaring someone dead in absentia or “death in absentia“.