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GIZMO !
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Bulletin Board |
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TIPS FOR LOCATING PERSONS
People
become "missing" for a variety of reasons. Most missing persons can be
found through the paper trails they leave behind. If the person has taken flight
from the authorities for criminal acts, it is not likely this person will leave
behind the typical "trails" that investigators look for.
Someone
who is simply avoiding lawsuits, bill collectors or who has simply moved around
or lost touch will not be willing to make an entire identity change and will
frequently leave a trail you can easily follow. If the person has taken flight,
you have to hope that person "slipped up"
somewhere.
The
first step is to try and establish IDENTIFIERS. An identifier is a piece of
personal information about a person that separates that individual from all
other persons with the same name. The best three identifiers, in addition to the
exact full name are:
1.Social
Security Number
2.Date of Birth, or age
3.Last known address (less than 7 years old)
Without
at least one identifier, you will likely be spending time locating persons with
the same name and then trying to determine whether it's the same person you're
seeking.
Your
first step is to check the phone book for similar names in areas you feel the
person may be living. If you don't actually find the person, you may end up
contacting a relative. It's amazing how many "missing" persons were
listed in the phone book, waiting to be found.
There
are nationwide phone records available on CD ROM from most software retailers
that can scan for a given name or similar names. If they don't locate the name
outright, they are great for
finding
relatives. These directories are also useful for identifying former neighbors
who are usually willing to provide information about the person that you are
seeking.
Assuming
the person is still alive, he or she will generally leave some sort of paper
trail which can be used to locate them. Do you know a GENERAL AREA where you
feel the person might be?
Most
people have a driver's license somewhere, but the records are maintained
state-by-state. This is public information which can be obtained by writing to
the State motor vehicles department,
and
there is always a nominal fee charged.
Most
people have a credit profile. Most any investigator, for a small fee, can obtain
the non-confidential portion of this credit report which can give you an address
history to work with.
If
you have a general area where the person may be, many research services can
check to see if the person has utility services in that area, such as electric,
gas, cable TV and water. These records are
particularly
helpful regardless of whether the person you are seeking is renting an apartment
or owns a home.
If
the person owns real estate, those records are public and could provide many
leads. Check with each county clerk for those records, or contact an information
broker with database access to nationwide real property and mortgage records.
If
you feel the person may be deceased, an early check with the Social Security
Administration master death index would save you many hours of research if your
hunch is correct.
What
else do you know about the person? If he/she is working as a licensed or
certified professional, you should check the licensing and certification boards
in various states to see if the person is listed there. Do you know any
relatives or friends of the person? Call them up. If they
won't
cooperate, there are services available to trace phone records from a given
person which may lead you to the individual you seek. Is the person a voter? Try
checking local registration records.
Women
are usually more difficult to find than men since they change their names with
marriage. A search of marriage records or a phone disc search (using first name
only) would be in order. The County usually maintains marriage records.
Only
once when you have exhausted
all the public records in your search, is it time to turn to a
professional.