Every parent’s worst nightmare is discovering that their child is missing. Sometimes the child is the victim of foul play, but other times the child has voluntarily decided to run away. Private investigators often work with families of teenagers who have run away from home. Even strict parents, who seem to know everything about their child, may wonder exactly who to call or how to start looking for their child.
It can be difficult to locate a runaway child because they don’t leave the paper trail that adults do. They have limited resources and no credit history. In some cases, they take a parent’s credit card and use it for groceries and other necessities, but many teens get away with only a small amount of personal belongings and some cash. Private investigators with experience tracking fugitives know exactly where to start looking for a child using digital forensics.
Technology can help find a fugitive
Today’s world is all about technology. In the past, if a child ran away, the parent might be lucky enough to receive a phone call from a public phone booth, but locating a location with a pay phone was almost impossible. Today, children everywhere have cell phones, laptops, personal computers, smartphones, and tablets. These pieces of technology are what essentially leave a paper trail.
Private investigators skilled at cracking password codes and easily accessing password-protected social networking sites, phones, and computers can glean a lot of insight into a teen’s technology habits. Cell phone records, including text message logs, blogs, social networking sites, and emails, can hold clues to a child’s whereabouts.
Many teens will walk away with their cell phone. Unless powered off, a cell phone will ping the nearest tower to remain operational. By locating the source of the pulses, an investigator can attempt to determine the general location of a fugitive or determine if the fugitive is currently on the move as pulse locations change. If a teen continues to update her social media sites, it can often be traced back to a location as well. Private investigators will also look for clues in recent emails and blog posts to help them locate a child.
Use private investigators to help crack the children’s code
Most parents know the code for children. It is the code that each group of friends has that you do not give away, you do not give information and you certainly do not talk to the parents of others. Even if you get along with your child’s friends, there’s no guarantee that any of them will give away information easily. You can cry and beg, and they can feel horrible inside if they don’t give you information, but the rules that friends have with each other tend to run deep.
Private investigators, while not police officers, can cause a level of intimidation when it comes to teens. While a teen may not be willing to talk to you, he may change his mind when confronted with an authority figure. Experienced investigators will also be able to tell which friends probably know something and which ones don’t.
Although no parent wants to think about their child running away from home, the possibility always exists. The teen years are tough, and some kids think the best solution is to leave home. With an investigator on your side, you can feel confident that everything possible is being done to locate your child.