The biggest question you must have is “where to begin” looking for your beloved one or a friend? The answer depends on the information you already have and usually, the answer is different for every particular situation. Yet, below you will find the basics of searching for a missing person and the best places to start from.
Search engines
With the help of Google, Yahoo, Bing, or Ask you can easily find missing person’s address and phone number. Make sure to use several of them to obtain the most exhaustive results for your search.
Professional PIs also advise paying attention to Zabasearch, which is not a well-known website that can provide information about the US citizens (it searches for addresses [both current and past], phone numbers, birth dates, and much more). Switchboard is another useful search engine, which is basically a directory with phone numbers and addresses of 106 million Americans.
Social networks
Today even elder people have social media profiles, so researching a person has become a much easier task. This method works even better if you have some information about a missing person or known his/her friends. The most popular social networks include Facebook, Instagram, Google +, Twitter, or Reddit. The search system there allows searching for a missing person by name, email address, school, zip code, etc. However, it’s much easier to find someone with social networks if you know several friends of a missing person.
Other web pages
Besides the obvious sites, professional private investigators also point to the usefulness of the following websites.
- World Wide Internet Directory – a directory that lists people search services worldwide. Regardless of the location of your missing person, you will get information about him/her here.
- The Federal Parent Locator Service – a section of the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. This is a website that lists information, systems, and various agencies for those trying to locate participants in child support cases.
- The Ultimates – an invaluable website that can assist with roughly 85% of all lookups for a missing person in the US.
- Welfare/Whereabouts Services Abroad – a service that helps to locate US citizens overseas. It’s very useful when there is some emergency or issues with the person’s welfare.
- RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative Page – tracks surnames.
Directory assistance
Even though you think that it’s obvious, you might easily oversee this option source. If the information about the latest location of a missing person is at your hand, then you can call local directory assistance at (area code) 555-1212. Sometimes you only need little help from the White Pages instead of spending hundreds of dollars for nothing.
Libraries
In the library, you can find criss-cross directories containing phone numbers and addresses. Furthermore, most libraries have extensive collections of Yellow Pages from the previous years; this might be of a great use if you’re looking for a person you last met several years ago.
Public records
Sometimes little pieces of information can lead to some publicly recorded event, such as birth, death, marriage, or any other legal process that involved a public servant (for instance, you might find missing person’s attorney’s address or phone number). These servants may provide you with lists of public records at all levels. Here are the most reliable of these lists:
- Fictitious Business Name Index: these are lists of business owners’ names and addresses who have a company name.
- Derogatory Financial Records: financial records, in this case, mean everything from bankruptcy information and tax lien information to notices of default and judgment index. Here you’ll find all filings of a particular kind with names and addresses, sometimes even a Social Security number.
- Real Estate and Tax Information: here you will find information about an individual or business that own some real estate.
- Registered Voter Information: the information in such directories varies from state to state. You may find only a phone number in one state, and in the other get the date of birth and a Social Security number. However, not all states provide this info as publicly accessible.
State records
There are such state records as license information for various professions that can be accessed without restrains. If you know that a person was in a particular trade or occupation that required state licensing, then you may find information this way. Here is the list of state records:
- Birth records
- Death records
- Marriage licenses
- Divorce files
- Bankruptcy records
- Corporate records
- Workers’ Compensation records
Federal records
Getting federal records is tough and requires a lot of effort. Yet, it’s possible with the Freedom of Information Act or you can write directly to specific federal agencies for information. Be ready that some agencies will provide you information after half a year of waiting, but this kind of services is free. Here are a couple of listings you can opt for.
- Military Records
- Federal Aviation Administration: Pilots’ licenses.
- U.S. Post Office: To obtain business owners’ names and addresses.
- U.S. Tax Court: IRS filings.
- Interstate Commerce Commission Records
Dead ends
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, nothing works or you have no time to wait six months for an answer. In such cases, hiring a professional private investigator to find your missing person can be the best and fastest option. These experts know all the loopholes of the legal system and everything about the search for a missing person with very little information. If you need to find someone urgently, press the button below to find a private investigator in your area.
