A Missing Mother, and Her Six-Month Old Baby
We received a call from an associate investigator from the west coast who indicated to us that there was a young mother and baby that were missing for over a week from a very small town. As part of a small network of very “special friends”, located through out the US, we assisted as asked, pro bono and headed out on our search.
The mother had been a victim of severe domestic violence in the past. A restraining order was placed on her boyfriend. The young mother did not show up at her place of employment to pick up her check.
It was mentioned to us that were signs of foul play at her residence. Our assistance was required to locate her and the baby, but the family could not afford to hire a investigator, and local officials had exhausted all efforts and manpower to locate her, and the baby.
I arrived at the mothers residence which looked like it was ransacked with no signs of forced entry. Some things were missing that belonged to her and the child, but many things were left behind which led us to believe that there was a possibility that she may have been abducted.
Starting at 3 pm, we interviewed every neighbor that had a view of the residence, and worked our way outward to surrounding areas where friends of the mother resided. We interviewed over 35 people.
At 11:30 pm that evening we discovered that there was a strong possibility that the mother was not abducted. She may have left town with her boyfriend to resolve relationship problems, and avoid court ordered restraint. Now we had to find out if this was true, and if so, where she went.
At 1:00 am we located the residence of another relative. This person was not home when we hit the door and we called it a night.
Two days later….
We returned to find the evasive relative at home. Utilizing interview techniques we were able to get the relative to confess that the mother and baby were alive and well. The individual claimed she did not know the exact location of the mother and child but agreed to our demands to have the “missing mother” verbally contact 2 known relatives and a law enforcement representative if contact was made, ASAP.
1 hour later after we had left the relatives residence, as we were returning to Nashville, we received a call from our associate that the missing mother made contact as we had requested, and stated that she and the baby were alive and well. This was re confirmed the following day, by the officer who we stated contact needed to be made with.
Case Closed
Missing Money
A retail establishment was experiencing significant shortages from their daily receipts, there was a CCTV system in place that worked, but someone figured out a way around it….
Interviews were conducted with all personnel who had access to the register, of course denial was rampant but once again, good interview techniques revealed questionable employees. Fingers were pointed at each other, and record keeping was difficult to decipher as changes were constantly made to the daily reports. We decided to do some dumpster diving ( we understand laws of curtilage) to see what kind of treasure we would find. We found an employee had dumped overdue notices from various creditors. There was no way the employee could pay these bills based on the sole source of income that this person was making.
The one thing the employee threw out was a bank deposit slip that had indicated that she was depositing nearly twice the amount that she was earning (from her real job) into her bank account weekly over a period of time. Repeatedly.
Case Closed
Reunion for a Happy Client
“When my adopted sister made the decision to search for her birth parents, MD was a Godsend. He was diligent and professional, and before we knew it, my sister’s mom and dad had both been found.”
“MD was sympathetic, not only toward my sister, but also her birth parents as well. He helped facilitate a meeting with both of them. I cannot imagine things turning out any better and I would recommend Mitch without hesitation.”
(name withheld by request)
Where’s my money?
A residential service provider received a complaint from a customer that money was repeatedly being taken from the residence while two employees were working in the home.
We installed 2 hidden camera systems and arranged for the same two employees to return to the home to provide additional service. After the employees completed their task, we reviewed the video we obtained, and discovered that while one employee was working the other would remove money from the clients drawers.
We brought the suspect in for an interview, where the suspect denied taking anything from the home until the suspect was shown video of the theft itself. The suspect confessed returned the estimated funds to the owner and was appropriately dismissed.
Case Closed
What car?
A terminated employee had a company car and was missing for several weeks. The car was to be returned because the lease had ended. The leasing company would not report it stolen, and notified the company that it would still have to be paid for.
We ran an exhaustive search on the former employee, who was transient, and noticed a recent pattern of arrests for illegal activity. A grid search was conducted of areas frequented by transient individuals, the vehicle was located within 2 days, and returned to the owner.
Case closed.
There’s some things money cant buy, for everything else….
A client came to us with a complaint that a credit card number was stolen, and was being used on shopping sprees for miscellaneous “luxury” personal services. The creditor had cancelled the card, but our client wanted to know who had used it, as it caused an upheaval in a relationship.
We reviewed the expenses and found a certain entity would charge the account for services on a weekly basis that included an unusually large gratuity. We located and confirmed who the thief was. With his employers permission, we set up hidden video inside of the crooks place of employment. We discovered that the thief would target cards from large companies, and would record customers card info with his own personal card reader.
He would then use the card info over the phone at work to pay for goods and services in advance. His employer was notified of our findings, and a sting was setup.
The individual was arrested and terminated.
Case closed.