If you've read "The Case of the Long Lost Sibling," here's more to the tale from my sister, Sandy:

When Barry got your message, he brought home the information and told me that he wasn't sure if this was a joke, hoax or what, but he handed me the info. On it was your name and number. I knew I had at least one brother and it was too much of a coincidence not to be true. So, I sat down, had a shot of whiskey and gave you a call.

We had a wonderful conversation and tried to cram so much catching up into a short period of time, it was wild. Anyway, you were going to Sacramento a few weeks later on business and we had the time to drive down. I brought Barry and the kids, so you had a chance to see my family. You brought along pictures, the camera our dad had which he used taking pictures of me as a baby/toddler and a lot of love.

In December 1992, my other brother, Mike flew out to Orange County and I got to meet him for the first time. After hugs and smiles, the first thing he said was, "Phew, at least we didn't date." I thought that was funny. We all had a wonderful visit and I so close to my two brothers that it felt as though we were actually raised together.

Where you say you have two great nephews maybe should be two super nephews so it doesn't sound like they are actually great-nephews? That would make us both really old (ha-ha).

Sandy

There have been several times when I feel like I am chasing my own tail while I am searching for someone.

I check all the standard sources, like last known address or former employers. Nada, Zip.

I finally check the jails. Bingo! There they are. I’ve found people in jails and prisons when all else failed.

Gaining access to people in jail or prison is not an easy task. You need to have a bona fide reason to visit unless you want to stand in a long line with a bunch of girlfriends and snotty nosed children.

California prisons require a security check prior to meeting. California prisons have a “no hostage” policy so you are on your own if you end up in deep doo doo.

The only good thing is, I’ve never met a prisoner that didn’t want to talk with someone from the outside. It is a true “captive audience.”

A few days ago I got home after a long day of chasing people. I was road worn and beat up and just wanted to sit down to an adult drink and a good cigar.

As soon as I walked in the door, my wife announced, “Moo Shu is missing.” I didn’t think it was my favorite moo shu pork at the local Chinese restaurant so it had to be my neighbor’s cat Moo Shu.

Moo Shu is a big old yellow tomcat with crooked ears. Moo Shu owns the neighborhood as cats go but a big yellow cat can become coyote chow in the blink of an eye in our part of the world so Moo Shu’s mommy was worried.

Finding a neighbor’s cat is a lesson in finding people. The basic “peeling the onion approach” works with both cats and bad guys.

What did I know about Moo Shu? I know what Moo Shu looks like and where he hangs out. I know his neighborhood. I know his name, age, and description, last known address, where he hangs around and where he works. Moo Shu works the neighborhood. What does he do? Moo Shu “cats around” and tries to make baby cats.

A human works in a certain trade, industry, or for a company. He or she may have the same drive of making babies so knowing the place of work and family members helps. With humans it is good to know if they belong to clubs, sporting teams, trade organizations, etc.

With a cat or dog you can look in the local animal shelter. With the human I adhere to the maxim “When all else fails, check the jails.”

Several times I have run up against a block wall where the person seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. Sometimes I find them in jail, prison or rehab. Once in awhile I find them dead and buried.

I was on my way to Moo Shu’s mommy’s house to tell her I had seen him the day before, catting around, when I looked down the street and saw Moo Shu putting the moves on a girl kitty that was new to the neighborhood.

Moo Shu’s mommy was happy, Moo Shu was safe and Rick solved another case.

Do we have a mushy Moo Shu movie?

Maybe.

Do you need help finding someone? Let’s talk.
Call me at 1-949-837-9946 or send me an email.

The Assignment:

To go to Boston, find my client’s missing son and escort him home.

The Background:

My client’s son was a brilliant student at M.I.T. Unfortunately, he was also homely and had very poor social skills. He was a pre-dweeb dweeb. He was a pre-nerd nerd.

He had inherited a substantial pile of money from his grandfather and was now, unfortunately, giving it to a religious cult that had befriended him.

Soon after he arrived at M.I.T., a religious cult lured him into their web and convinced him to begin handing over his inheritance.

The mother found out about what was going on when he tried to get her to co-sign on the bonds and securities.

The Investigation:

I flew to Boston with a round trip ticket for myself and a one-way ticket for the boy.

The only clues I had were a list of old addresses and few leads.

As soon as I got on the ground, I checked in with the Boston PD to let them know what I was doing and to ask if they had any information on the cult and my subject. The good news? The cult was well known by their department. The bad news? They had no information about my subject.

The desk Sergeant offered to load the entire cult on the airplane with me.

I went to Cambridge and checked out all the old addresses, but ran into nothing but dead ends.

At the end of a long day, I returned to my Copley Square hotel and placed a call to the client’s attorney from a pay phone in the lobby.

Sometimes luck is a private investigator’s best friend.

As I was explaining my findings to the attorney a group of brightly-dressed cult members entered the hotel lobby and began panhandling from hotel guests. I realized my subject was one of the panhandlers, quickly hung up the phone and followed them when they left the building.

They continued panhandling as they walked down the street and a few blocks later, I was able to isolate the subject from his cult-mates. We talked for a few minutes and I was able to “convince” him to return to Southern California with me.

When the other cult members realized they were about to lose their meal ticket, they surrounded us and tried to intimidate me into abandoning the boy.

I won the debate.

Case Closed:

We drove directly to Boston Logan airport and flew home. I delivered him to his grateful mother that night.

Do you need help finding someone? Let’s talk.
Call me at 1-949-837-9946 or send me an email.

The Assignment:

My client’s son was delusional. He wore his hair and beard long and dressed in robes and believed he was Jesus Christ. He was last known address was in the Sacramento area and was homeless.

The son was an adult, so under California state law, the parents were unable to demand treatment. But they worried about their son’s well being and wanted assurance that he was safe.

The Investigation:

I traveled to Sacramento with a few slim leads. I scoured the areas where the homeless and street people gathered to be fed and cared for by several wonderful organizations.

I ended up with a guide who reminded me of the character “Ratso” in Midnight Cowboy. I paid him for his assistance and information with cigarettes and a bit of cash.

Ratso claimed to know my subject and referred to him as Jesus. He claimed to have seen him in the past few days.

Ratso and I wandered through the street people and the places that fed them as we looked for my client’s son.

Everyone who would talk had a lead. All the leads were false or a dead end.

I later contacted the local police and Coroner’s office. I found a local Sacramento detective who had taken my subject to a homeless shelter in San Jose.

Case Closed:

I was able to confirm my subject was in San Jose and provided my clients with contact information and the information their son was alive and well.

During the next few years I was periodically rehired to update the family about the son they loved.

Do you need help finding someone? Let’s talk.
Call me at 1-949-837-9946 or send me an email.

Assignment:

This case involved a child endangerment issue and child custody case. I was hired to document the endangerment issue and locate the child.

Background:

My client was a good ol’ boy who married a younger woman. They had a son together. The son was a toddler.

One weekend, my client went out of town with his buddies. When he returned home he found out his wife had held a garage sale while he was gone, had sold almost everything they owned and skipped town with the couple’s son and all the cash.

The husband suspected that she had gone back to her previous boyfriend the president of a well-known “outlaw biker” gang in Portland, Oregon.

My assignment was to locate the missing wife and child and document the dangerous environment the child had been placed in.

Investigation:

After landing in Portland, I met up with an old college roommate who worked as my back up. I arranged to have several rental cars available to switch out as needed.

I checked in with the Portland PD and let them know I was in the area and armed. I was given a briefing by the police and told I had a good chance of being killed.

The motorcycle gang was known for drug sales, drug trafficking and illegal weapon sales.

We were given leads to a possible address for the subject and the location of the gang headquarters.

During the next three days we tailed the gang and surveilled the residence. (NOTE: If you have an assignment involving an oulaw motorcycle gang, call a different private investigator. Once is enough for me).

The gang was very alert and suspected they were being watched. The good thing was they didn’t know who was watching them. Were we the Feds? ATF? The local police?

Thank God that confusion helped us avoid an “unpleasant” confrontation.

Case Closed:

I was able to prove the child endangerment and the custody issue was settled in my client’s favor. He got his son back.

And I consider myself very lucky that wasn’t my last assignment.

Do you need help finding someone? Let’s talk.
Call me at 1-949-837-9946 or send me an email.

The Assignment

To find the sister I never knew I had.

The Background

In July 1974, the day after my father died, my mother came to me and said, “Rick, your father never told you this, but you have a sister.”

"When you were a around six," she said, "your father and I were separated for a few months. He moved to Los Angeles, met another woman and had a baby named Sandy." The only other information she had was that they lived in the Santa Monica area and that the baby was born in June 1953.

During my four years in the Marine Corps I was taught that you don’t leave ANYONE behind. I decided there was no way I wasn’t going to find my sister. But I have to admit that it was one of the most difficult searches I've ever undertaken.

The Investigation

I started by scouring the birth records index at LA Vital statistics. I found an entry for Sandra L. Topping dated June 3, 1953. I requested the record, but was told it had been sealed and I would not be allowed to obtain any additional information.

Turns out the birth record had been sealed because of a step parent adoption. After a step parent adoption the name of the adopting parent is listed as the birth parent. No one would ever know by looking at the birth certificate that the new parent wasn't the birth parent.

This is a great protection for parents and child, but it's a tremendously difficult roadblock for someone in my position to overcome.

I didn’t know Sandy’s mother’s name, but I was certain Sandy was born in Santa Monica. So I searched copies of the local newspapers for birth announcements, checked every city record I could find, and combed old phone books, but found no leads. None.

Eventually I found a wonderful organization made up of parents and children dedicated to finding each other. It's sort of a clearing-house for people searching parents and children.

Thanks to them, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Sandy’s amended birth certificate - one that listed her adopted name - and within hours I was able to pinpoint where she was living.

But that presented me with a whole new set of dilemmas. How do you approach someone who may not have any idea she has siblings? Does she even want to know them? Who is he or she? Is she a biker queen or a druggie? You never know.

I thought it might make sense to find out more about my sister before bursting into her world. My business partner had a cousin who lived in the same town as my sister. Coincidental as it may seem, his cousin knew my sister and reported that she was a highly respected realtor, was married to a law enforcement office and had two young sons.

I was still torn even after learning who she was and what she was. How do you approach someone who doesn't know that you exist? Will you upset her life? What now? I didn’t want to disrupt her life so I decided to set the information aside again.

Two years later, I was sitting at my desk reading an article in the O.C. Register about a traffic accident in Northern California. The article quoted my sister's husband. If this isn’t a message from God’s mouth to my ear, I thought, nothing is.

I called information, got the phone number of my brother-in-law's office, called him and left a voicemail. I identified myself and told him that I believed his wife is my sister, but that I didn't want to disrupt her life unless she was interested in meeting me.

In less than an hour, my phone rang. It was my brother-in-law. He said, "Call this number right now, because I have a very excited wife waiting to hear from you."

Case Closed

The rest is history. Sandy and I spoke that day, met in Sacramento a couple of months later and we have been close family ever since. She truly is the sister I thought I never had.

Sandy's mother, who had died not long after my father, had told her about my father and the fact that she had two brothers. She had spent years searching for my father, my younger brother Mike and me, but kept running into the same roadblocks I had run into.

In May 1992, Sandy, my brother and I had a wonderful family vacation in Hawaii. Sandy and Mike met for the first time and it was like we had grown up together.

Sandy now calls my mom "Mom." I have two great nephews. One is a career U.S. Marine and was in the same squadron I was attached to 30 years earlier.

And we're all living happily ever after.

Do you need help finding someone? Let’s talk.
Call me at 1-949-837-9946 or send me an email.