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Topic: How to Find Someone....
| Author | Message |
| testing123 | Posted – 5/13/2008 11:50:17 PM | show profile | email poster I'm looking for two guys who worked for my manuscript's (nonfiction) subject/main character thirty years ago. Their both alive, but I have no idea where they are or what industry or professions they worked in after separating from my subject's employ in 1986. I have put feelers out online in online communities populated with persons who may know, but zero success after two months. However, one man did reply, identifying himself as a lawyer (he is - I looked him up) and offering me his private investigator to find these guys so i can contact them (by letter, to ask about their interest in being interviewed). Has anyone ever been in such a situation? Does anyone have a suggestion? Can anyone advise me on the "rights" and "wrongs" and/or "be carefuls" of such an undertaking. These two guys are not in any way subjects for whom anonymity is required. They may PREFER to not participate, which is fine, but they're not in witness protection, or famous, or on the run or anything else like that. They're just two guys who, in 1978, were instrumental in my subject's successful execution of his craft/job. Thanks for your help and for reading. |
| Grateful Deadline | Posted – 5/14/2008 10:34:20 AM | show profile If you've tried the usual ways -- Web searches, phone directory searches and such -- and come up dry, you could try an online DIY "people finder" service such as Intelius. My private investigator friend tells me it's not completely accurate, though -- but I've been able to dig up some of the same information with it that she gets. Beyond this, a PI may well be able to help, and within minutes, by using databases we ordinary people can't get access to use. |
| Louisewasnothalfbad | Posted – 5/14/2008 2:24:09 PM | show profile Lexis/Nexis public record searches. Do that before you hire a PI, because the first thing the PI will do is a public record search. |
| snappiness | Posted – 5/14/2008 2:49:59 PM | show profile Public record search first, turning over every stone you possibly can (court records, Nexis, real estate records), and then hire PI. I hired one and found the source I was looking for, and I even got the PI to go to his house and ask him questions. I needed to establish (for legal reasons) that I had tried to contact the guy, and had given him a way of contacting me. The PI was a great help. Because I had done the public records search I was able to hand my PI a bunch of info (and hire a PI in the town the guy was most likely living in). I even paid for one online Dbase search. The PI didn't turn up anything I hadn't already found when he searched online, but then he found the guy in person, which I hadn't been able to do. |
| testing123 | Posted – 5/14/2008 9:41:24 PM | show profile | email poster Found 'em. Thank you all, very much! :-) |
