In general, most of us don’t have the knowledge, experience or resources to begin an in-depth search for a missing person, which is why finding a professional investigator to do so is your best option. At best, we can resort to searching online and on social media platforms, but that’s about as far as we can go as private individuals

Why do people go missing?

It’s truly terrifying when friends or family members simply go missing, especially when there seems to be no apparent reason for their disappearance.

Among a variety of reasons that people go missing, are those who simply disappear because they aren’t coping with life, or those who are skipping out on criminal or civil court cases.

In some cases someone is abducted or has become a victim of a crime, especially if family and friends are absolutely certain that the person would never just disappear, which is something we are all to aware of in our crime-ridden society.

When children are abducted by a parent it’s devastating, however, with the help of a professional investigator, the odds of finding the child safely are a lot better.

In many cases, witnesses to crimes also need to be located in order to take a case to court successfully. There are also cases in which people have been left an inheritance and can’t be found, which is when a private investigator has to be called in to investigate all avenues to find the person, so the relevant estate can be wound up.

Often people also disappear when they owe large sums of money. So as you can see, the reasons anyone disappears are myriad, which means that as many investigative approaches will need to be used.

The police and missing person’s cases

The police services can only do so much where it comes to finding a missing person due to their already over-stretched resources as a result of exceptionally high crime rates. Though they will do the best they can to find someone, they can only give a missing persons case a limited amount of time before it becomes a cold case.

Private investigators and missing person’s cases

As registered and licensed professionals, private investigators have far more resources to trace missing people than we as individuals can, which is why you do need to make sure you have an experienced, well-connected professional to tackle the trace.

Ultimately, private investigators aren’t restricted by the same laws as the police, and although they may not overstep the boundaries of the law, they are able to go places the police aren’t allowed.

Here are a few examples of what a private investigator can do to trace missing people:

Undercover surveillance

Undercover surveillance gives the private detective the opportunity to visit places the missing person may have been or may still be at any given time, or to keep under surveillance anyone suspected of being involved in the disappearance of a missing person.

Finding debtors

As a result of the fact that private detectives aren’t bound by the same strict laws as the police services, they’re able to go into places no one else can in an effort to find a debtor that’s hiding out or on the run, and to bring them back to face the music.

Established networks

A well-established professional private investigator who has been in the field for many years will have built up an extensive network of investigators and other professionals in different capacities who can be brought on board to assist in the search for a missing person.  A private investigator is also able to pay informants for bona fide information, something which is not allowed for the police.

Whether you’re trying to find someone who owes you money, a friend you’ve lost contact with, a missing relative or a loved one, contact King Investigators in Pretoria and Johannesburg to help you trace those who are missing.

King Investigators will start off by asking you for as much information as possible about the person you want traced, in order to get started on doing what they do best: tracing missing people in South Africa and overseas!