A frantic Mother and Father reached out to the Investigations Team with a request for assistance locating their grown son with whom the family had become estranged, and whose whereabouts were unknown. There was no reason given for the estrangement, but the family was concerned for the safety, health and general wellbeing of their son and brother. No contact with the Subject for a significant amount of time has occurred between the family or any of the Subject’s close friends and associates.
The family further requested that the search for the son be done as discreetly as possible so as not to upset or embarrass him and to avoid causing even greater separation from their loved one.
The Investigations Team immediately initiated the standard investigative methods and tools typically employed for investigations of this type. The Subject’s Biographical information and other descriptors were run through our extensive and broad base of Search Platforms. We reached out to our contacts in Law Enforcement to check for any information related to an arrest or incidents naming our Subject. Our Intelligence Analysts searched traditional Media, social media and the “Dark Web” for any leads as to where the Subject may be living and or working. The last known addresses and past associates of our Subject were checked along with any known work sites associated with recent or past employment. Known haunts were also checked out. For a while it appeared as if this otherwise normal millennial had simply vanished from the face of the earth.
We soon found that this was not all that unusual for many members of our Subject’s generation that moved from the suburbs to large urban areas. In this environment it was not uncommon to share and pay cash for apartment space, utilities, food and often work off the books. In so doing the usual methods used to locate a person were of little or no use to us. Even the modern ways of banking and paying bills either intentionally or unintentionally served to provide great cover for subjects wishing to be “off the grid” protecting them from being located, intentionally or unintentionally.
A breakthrough occurred when Investigators learned that this Subject utilized e-banking services such as Venmo, Pay Pal etc. to pay for the necessities of life. The Investigators then meticulously examined the lists of friends, old phone bills, former work locations, work associates and favorite restaurants and cross referenced these lists with one another to the the public online data of payments being made and payments being received, many of which were coded by the Subject’s use of Code Names for his friends. This process provided investigators with a general area where the subject appeared to be living or at least frequently visited.
Discreet Interviews of friends and family, plus uncovering recent phone location data further assisted in narrowing down the Subject’s area of residence and employment. Surveillance of these areas was established and performed on various dates and times. This surveillance paid off when the Subject was observed by the Surveillance Team exiting from his residence. A subsequent surveillance performed by the Investigations Team at a location described during an interview as a potential work location proved to also be successful. The assigned Surveillance Team set up surveillance on this location which resulted in the Subject being observed and photographed by the Surveillance Team as the Subject worked and interacted with others.
As a result of the combined efforts of the Brosnan Investigations Group, the in house “High Tech: Intelligence Analysts review of financial records and data combined with the ‘Gum Shoe’” efforts of Investigators operating in the field, conducting interviews, performing surveillances, and following up on leads, resulted in a positive result for our clients, their loved one was found and observed to be safe and apparently living a relatively normal life as was the Client’s hope, and these results were obtained discreetly.