You have an impending case, but you need to track down a witness, plaintiff, or even a defendant. What are your options to locate a missing witness, plaintiff, defendant, or other important people for your case?
The following outlines the best ways to find a missing witness or person for a court case when they have fallen off the radar.
How to Locate a Missing Witness, Plaintiff or Defendant for Your Case
In litigation or other legal cases, a single witness can mean the difference between winning your case or losing. So what are your options if your witness goes missing?
What if the person your client is going after is nowhere to be found? Or they don’t know their name or information? How can you track down that defendant?
Or perhaps you have won a case but can no longer locate your client. Without finding your client, you cannot close out that case and settle up. What can you do then?
Two Ways to Locate a Missing Witness or Person for a Court Case
In general, there are two ways that you can search for your witness or defendant. You can put in the labor yourself and conduct a search through public records. Or, you can hire a professional and let them do the work for you.
1. Utilize Public Records
One of the best ways to locate a missing witness is to search public records. First, begin with an online people search from a public records search platform. That can turn up many results and might be an easy way to find who you are looking for.
Your next step is to closely look at the records that can help easily locate someone’s whereabouts: addresses, DMV records, and utilities records.
Searching through public records can yield addresses associated with the individual you are searching for, even if it is not their current address.
It provides you with a general location where the person used to reside, narrowing your search. You might be able to use an old address as a starting point to locate an individual, especially if they left a forwarding address with their old landlord or neighbor.
Real estate property title records can also greatly aid your effort in finding a missing individual. However, this type of search is much simpler if you can locate the witness’s date of birth. Otherwise, you may have to sift through a high number of false positives, especially if your witness or client has a common name.
Other places you can easily search for a witness include social media websites, blogs, or other websites.
2. Hire a Professional
If you have tried searching public records to no avail, or do not have time to sift through this information, your next option is to hire a professional.
Hiring a private detective can easily locate your witness or defendant without you having to put in the time. A professional will utilize public records, personal contacts, and other resources to locate your client so you do not have to.
A private investigator has legal experience working with witnesses, gaining their trust, and securing witness statements. They have the know-how, resources, and technical methods to locate anyone, anywhere.
We Can Find Your Missing Witness, Defendant, or Plaintiff
At Castro Investigative Agency, our highly-trained, professional private investigators can help you lock down your case. We have the skills and the connections to find people across the country and the world. Contact us today for a consultation.
Castro Investigative Agency has offices in New York, Florida, and the Dominican Republic. Our private investigators take on domestic as well as international cases, from New York City, New Jersey, to Florida, Dominican Republic, the Caribbean and Cancun Mexico. We will locate your missing witness, plaintiff or defendant anywhere. We can be wherever you need us to be! Just call us at 1-877-774-8232 or email us at hello@investigativepros.com We’re available 24/7 365 days a year.
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