tomissingpersons.com - How to Find Missing Person by yourself

2mp

How to Find Missing Persons

The following are things that you can do yourself, if you have the time. Be sure to keep a detailed record of all the work that you do so that it is not duplicated.

Armed Services - If the missing person served in the Armed Forces, then check with the office for the particular branch of service he/she served in.
Associations - If the missing person is known to be member of a particular association, club, group or organization, then contact that association (both national and local chapters).
Church - Depending on the reason you are trying to find the missing person, his/her church may have and provide some useful information. Check with other church members as well as the church staff.
Computer Reports - You can consider buying a computer report. There are now many companies selling reports (especially via the Internet) about individuals containing information from many databases that are available to the public.

Pro's - Most of these reports are inexpensive and costs less than $100.00, an amount that is usually not enough to pay a private investigator for one hour of work.

Con's -
1. There may be useless or no information available for a particular person.
2. Missing persons may use aliases or change names, making it more difficult and expensive to find them.
3. There is information that a private investigator may find and that is not available in any computer database. For example, who the missing person may have dated?
Computer Search - There are Internet web sites that you can check yourself for information about people including:

Classmates at http://www.classmates.com/

Birth Dates at http://www.
Death Records - If you suspect the person may be deceased, check newspaper listings, hospital records, death certificates (via coroner's office), funeral homes, cemeteries, etc.
Government Information - Check all local (city, town or village plus county), State and Federal government offices regarding all records that can be searched for information regarding your missing person. Be aware that some government records are still not computerized and are available only on paper in file cabinets. For example, contact the County Clerk, Recorder and Tax Collector to find out all records that can be checked and the procedure(s) to do so.

Court Clerks - Write the local, state, and federal Court Clerks in the areas corresponding to the last known addresses for the missing person to find out if he/she was involved in any legal proceedings (like bankruptcy or lawsuit). Also, check for any name changes.
Board of Elections - Check voter registration records at the county Board of Elections office(s) for the last known address(es).
Public Library - Contact the local Public Library(-ies) for the last known address(es) for all public information that they have access to. Also, ask for the procedure to obtain any confidential information that they have for the missing person.
Department of Motor Vehicles - Request a search for missing person's driver's license and vehicle registration(s). Full name and date of birth are usually required.
United States Post Office - Send a postcard or envelope to the last known address(es) of the missing person. Mark it DO NOT FORWARD - ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED. The Post Office (Address Correction Service) may return it to you. Be sure to include sender information (your name and address) on the envelope for it to be returned.
County & State Departments for businesses - If missing person is known or likely to be involved in small business, be sure to check business information as well as personal information. This includes Doing Business As (or D/B/A) and license records.

Also, if the missing person is known to participate in any activity requiring a license or permit, then check with the appropriate office that issues such license or permit.

People - Contact family, relatives, friends, co-workers, business associates, doctors, dentists, retail establishments (that the missing person was likely to have used), neighbors, acquaintances and others for leads or any information that they know of.

Telephone Company Information - Search for the missing person's phone number on the Internet. If you suspect a phone number to belong to the missing persons, you can do a "Reverse Lookup". There are numerous websites where this can be done. (Go to Google or Yahoo! and search for phone+directory) However, beware that like paper telephone books, the information in these phone number databases may not be up-to-date.

Also, you can check with local and long-distance telephone company(-ies) that may have serviced the missing person for all information that they may have. Ask them if they have a procedure for you follow to get such information. If they do not give you any information, it does not mean that they do not have any information.

NOTES:

In the United States of America, a person Social Security number is his/her most important number besides Date of Birth. With the correct Social Security number, it usually possible to track down the person providing the person was active in society.
Sometimes, contacts at older addresses may have more useful information than contacts at more recent addresses.
Make a list of items (or places) to search. Prioritize all of the items on list. Follow-up on all leads until they lead to a dead-end.
There are some books, videos and computer software on how to find missing persons.
There is some information that private investigation firms can obtain that the ordinary person can not. Also, the private investigator may obtain information that the ordinary person will fail to because of experience and skill level.