Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove said the number of people killed by Katrina could continue to rise as contractors remove storm debris around the Coast.

"We do expect to find a couple more," Hargrove said. Debris removal crews have been urged to be cautious as they work, he said. "I feel comfortable we will identify all of them."

Officials have used fingerprints and dental and medical records to identify those who died. The next step will be to take DNA samples from the remaining unidentified victims, Hargrove said.

A multi-law enforcement agency task force has found 717 of 771 people reported missing after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, Public Safety Commissioner George Phillips announced Friday.

Phillips said investigators collected at least 11 separate missing persons lists from several agencies and began checking off names. They immediately removed names of people known to have died and those staying in shelters.

"That was the easy stuff," he said. Since then, dozens of law enforcement officials have been interviewing neighbors and relatives to find the remaining people on the list.

Capt. Ronnie Turan, regional supervisor of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation's southern district, said investigators have been checking states from Texas to Florida to find people who have been reported missing. Eventually, they will use other means, including credit card and telephone records.

As part of a separate investigation, MBI Director Mike Berthay said Friday that state and federal law enforcement officials in one week had found 120 of 150 coastal residents identified as convicted sex offenders with DPS. State law requires convicted sex offenders to update their registry every 90 days.

By Friday afternoon, investigators had tips on two sex offenders who had been tracked to other states, said Michael Richards, chief deputy of the U.S. Marshal's Service in Birmingham.

Beth Webb of Pascagoula said she had often checked the state's sex offender Web site to protect her younger children, who are 12 and 13. She had discovered at least two sex offenders lived in her neighborhood. "I thought about it a lot before the storm," she said.

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