(and locating people who don’t want to be found)
There are many reasons people disappear. Sometimes, people disappear willingly for various reasons and other times people go missing under suspicious circumstances. Sometimes mental illness and cognitive impairment as well as physical disabilities also play a role.
Whatever the circumstances, if you want to find someone, Babnick and Associates can help.
Missing under Suspicious Circumstances
These cases should first be reported to police. However, unless there are specific leads to follow-up on, many police departments will only “take a report” and do a cursory investigation. If the obvious leads dry up, the case just gets “filed” and becomes a “cold case” until some new information surfaces. Meanwhile, the person is still missing.
Waiting around for investigative leads to appear is not a good option. Babnick and Associates can start working on a suspicious circumstances missing person case immediately – at any time of the day or night. We can delve deeply into the circumstances of the disappearance and can “get-out-on-the-street” and develop new leads. Time is of the essence and Babnick and Associates recognizes the importance of quickly mobilizing its network of resources to identify leads with the ultimate goal of locating the missing person.
We use creative investigative approaches and techniques that might uncover leads that police investigators have not discovered. A few examples of investigative approaches that can lead to the recovery of a person missing under suspicious circumstances, include using undercover investigators to “befriend” associates of a missing person, providing financial incentives, and using cognitive interviewing techniques to gain information from reluctant informants, as well as using subterfuges.
Birth parents, estranged heirs, estranged relatives, long lost loves, etc.
The element of foul play is rarely present in these types of investigations but these investigations can be uniquely challenging. One of the challenges is what to do once the person is located. After decades of no contact, it can feel nerve-wracking and anxiety provoking to unexpectedly enter or re-enter the person’s life. If the situation is delicate, it may be wise to have an objective, professional party make the first step in contacting the person. Babnick and Associates can take on this sensitive role and can explain your situation and express your desire to make contact. In many cases the contacted person is surprised, apprehensive, and nervous. But often, if approached in a professional and tactful manner, they will agree to meet the person looking for them. Oftentimes, this meeting is more productive than an individual randomly appearing and stating their desire to establish a relationship. Babnick and Associates understands timing and tact are crucial to helping establish conditions palatable to relationship building.
Debtors, deadbeat parents, tenant skips, etc.
Does someone owe you money? Did a tenant skip out in the middle of the night? Locating these types of “missing” persons involve searching numerous data bases, many of which are not available to the general public. It can also involve interviewing people like neighbors, landlords, former colleagues, ex-spouses, etc. Once leads are developed, targeted surveillance can often be used to verify information obtained from these witnesses.
BEWARE OF INTERNET “PEOPLE LOCATE” and “PEOPLE FINDER” WEB SITES
For a sum of somewhere around $29.99 to $49.99 many websites claim they will give you information on missing people. They often claim they will give you the name, address, social security number, etc., etc. of almost anyone. All you have to do is type in some information and PRESTO! you have the information. BEWARE – BE VERY CAUTIOUS of these “public domain” websites. You just never know how accurate the information they give you is or where it really came from. Getting a hold of a real live person at one of these websites is nearly impossible if you have questions or are dissatisfied with the search results.
Often these websites give you old, public domain information that you could have gotten for free or information that you already know. Why pay for someone to give you an address where someone lived many years ago or a phone number that has long since been disconnected? Unfortunately, the information on many of these websites is not just old and outdated, it was never correct in the first place. Then, you are out the cash and don’t have anything useful to show for it.
In missing person investigations, Babnick and Associates uses professional data bases that are only available to licensed investigators and law enforcement. Babnick and Associates is not a heightened version of a public records people search. We are real investigators. We can get out on the streets and knock on doors and ask questions and employ sources and investigative techniques that allow us to get you accurate, up-to-date, results.
Locating missing persons, whether they are missing under suspicious circumstances or under their own volition, can be difficult and time consuming. Each missing person case brings its own set of unique challenges. Babnick and Associates is prepared to meet those challenges and get you results – not just some outdated and inaccurate data gleaned from public records.