An official written report or record, or duly certified copy thereof, that a person is missing, missing in action, interned in a foreign country, or beleaguered, besieged, or captured by a hostile force, or is dead, or is alive, made by any officer or employee of the United States authorized by the act referred to in § 9-19-19 or by any other law of the United States to make the report or record shall be received in any court, office, or other place in this state as prima facie evidence that the person is missing, missing in action, interned in a foreign country, or beleaguered, besieged, or captured by a hostile force, or is dead, or is alive, as the case may be.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-19-20