an idea to help find missing persons: what do you think?

[mark brewer]

for awhile i've had an idea of a way that might possibly help to find missing persons. but i don't have the kind of computer or math knowledge to do it myself.

i imagine that it must be life-destroying to have a child or spouse or sibling to just disappear one day, and never have any closure.

my idea has to do with this:

"There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first."

this is a statement from Sherlock Holmes from "the Sign of Four". even though this is from fiction, it is actually quite true in the real world. this is why whenever there is a "mysterious" murder wherein it's not obvious what has taken place, the first thing investigators will do is look at the spouse and other persons close to the victim. most murders are committed by the people close to the victim. the police then work outward from relatives to coworkers, neighbors, acquaintances.

when it comes to missing persons, this database i'm thinking of is made up of persons who went missing but were eventually found, alive or not. the details of many similar accounts would have to be codified in some way - i don't know enough to do it - and if there are enough cases entered, i really think this could help investigators to find a certain amount of missing persons.

but i don't know how to do it. does anybody think such a thing could be done? would it help find anyone?

 

[SMSgt]

I thought Google could find anything.

 

[waffles]

So what's the idea?

 

[03hemi]

Milk cartons would be a good idea, anybody ever do that?

 

[moralem]

Lots of those folks don't want to be found

 

[mark brewer]

So what's the idea?

i apologize for not making myself clear. the idea is to create a database consisting of as many facts as can be ascertained in cases of missing persons who where later found.

many different crimes have very similar aspects that can help solve them. i think that this could be applied to some missing persons cases if enough of the right information was compiled.

i am aware that there is such a thing as a missing persons database. what i'm talking about is different from that, a database of missing persons who were later found.

 

[quikdraw67]

I've heard that somewhere before.

I once was lost, but now I'm found....

Something about regaining sight too.

Yeah.

 

[petepeterson]

Give their names to the student loan collection agency. They'll be found in no time.

 

[Onomea]

I bet that data base already exists. What I mean is I assume there is a missing persons data base that allows one to select among the missing persons for only those who were later found, and to further search for common elements among the found.

But, maybe I watch too many detective shows...

 

[LoboGunLeather]

There are people who do not wish to be found, and they will usually go to some lengths to avoid leaving a paper or electronic trail.

There are people who do not know (or care) that others may be looking for them. That is where the data analysis would be of best use.

Back in the late 1970s to early 1990s, as part of my fraud and forgery investigation specialties, I taught classes on false identities (creating, building, maintaining as well as investigating such cases). The invention and exponential growth of the internet has changed a lot of things; with the proper protocols it is easier than ever to examine individual lives and histories in great detail. Background investigations used to be time consuming and expensive, but now consist of little more than punching a few keys or subscribing to a service.

What has not changed much is how very easily a person can create or assume an entirely new identity. If anything it has become even easier than ever. Documents can be created using computers and withstand all but a very rigorous technical analyses. The biggest problems in pulling this off are in building the records so that no tell-tale gaps in time are easily detected. Also, modern federal and state privacy laws can prevent most efforts for investigators to access much of the best evidence that exists. Even the cops are frequently unable to get much information without court orders, and those require evidence amounting to probable cause (no general fishing trips allowed). Back in the 1980s as a criminal investigator for a major state agency I had many contacts (credit bureaus, licensing agencies, social security, IRS, postal inspectors, telephone company, public records, you name it) and if I didn't have a contact to call one of my other contacts would hook me up quickly. Today all I would receive would be a polite request to deliver the court order.

Most interesting, perhaps, is the fact that in many cases the use of false names or identities involves no criminal conduct. Only when there is evidence of intent to defraud or to evade arrest or civil process will usually make these practices unlawful.

I don't recommend such things, and I don't want to go into specifics on methods (why encourage fraud or duplicity?). I have just found the subject to be a very interesting field over the years.

There are some top-rated skip-tracers out there, usually associated with financial institutions. Probably the best folks at tracking anyone down will be found in the US Marshals Service, absolute pit bulls!

Edit to add: In most missing person cases (those involving adult non-fugitives) there will be little or no effort made by law enforcement or other public agencies. There is no crime involved in walking away from a life, home, or job to live elsewhere in other ways. Public budgets and resources have to be reserved for uses authorized by law, so the most that might be expected would be a simple incident report and an entry in a computer record to indicate some interest in the missing person.

 

[cadmike]

If the missing person is covid vaccinated, supposedly Bill Gates can find them with an app on his phone.

 

[mark brewer]

hopefully, this database could isolate anomalies and give investigators something different to look for. let me imagine a scenario:

say in the database, you have 1000 cases of 3-4-5 year old children lost after wandering off from their yards. looking into the info you have, you find that there are several cases of children who drowned in drainage ditches and were found in culverts after heavy rain. so it would be worthwhile to give attention to culverts in the area after heavy rainstorms.

that's not a great example because searchers would probably know enough to search local culverts, it's all i can dream up for the moment.

i think that folks who have lost a child or other loved one would welcome any help they can get.

 

[Muss Muggins]

There are regional crime information centers across the country that compile and organize data such as you suggest, and they have the ability to share information across platforms. The one I worked with was MOCIC (Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center). All you had to do was tell MOCIC what you wanted and what you wanted it to look like, and then stand back . . .

 

[johngalt]

Sign them up for a 3rd party vehicle warranty.

 

[sigp220.45]

It's legal to be missing if you are an adult. Many missing people are escaping a bad situation.

NCMEC is really good at getting the word out about missing children.

I appreciate the desire to find missing kids. If you think you have a really good way to find missing kids no one has thought of, I'm sure NCMEC would love to hear it.

Home

 

[DWalt]

I would not be surprised to find that the FBI already has a similar database. Whether it is useful is a different question.

 

[Greyman50]

Law firms have access to Very good search sites online. Went to a course back about 99 that was unbelievable in searching for people. Had a case that involved rear duals " coming off " a lowboy trailer crashing into pickup going opposite way. Boss told me, " find this guy" as he was prime witness. Told me been looking for guy for weeks, no luck. Using site on line had guys address, phone number and vehicle in less than 5 minutes.Driver of pickup spent 6 months in hospital but ended up with over 1 mil $$$$ and all future meds.

 

[DWalt]

Surprising what data you can find on the internet today, even from free sites. I have been doing some genealogy reserch for several years, and have managed to find (often by accident) many living relatives I didn't even know I had, along with considerable personal information about them. And I didn't even need to subscribe to any of the numerous pay-for-access "People Search" or genealogy websites. One of the best sources is Facebook. It is amazing the extent of information that many people will post about themselves on it. Another is the free Mormon genealogy website.

 

[2152hq]

X-wives are very good at finding men that have gone missing.

Some sort of a heavenly like gift they seem to acquire.

 

[Golddollar]

People have always left tracks if you knew where to look for them. Back in the 1990s, my firm was engaged by one of the major title insurance underwriters to try to locate a 4th generation heir of someone who had died around 1957. Remember that this was long before the internet became widely accessible. With estate records from the Register of Wills office, a telephone book and a road atlas, I started burning the phone lines and I found the guy. We paid him a small sum and he signed a deed for his small undivided interest in the insured property.