Finding Private Investigators

[Merry Thies]

The family of Jacque Similhomme, who our volunteer group searched for and located in October 2009, is asking for help in finding a private investigator to look into the cirmcumstances of Jacques disappearance and death. The family lives in Rochester, MN, but Jacque lived in Cedar Rapids, IA. Can anyone help with finding someone reputable? Any suggestions on how to best help this family will be greatly appreciated.

[Sara/Peace4 Co-Founder]

Merry, I just sent this out to all our members...praying with hope that help will soon come this family's way...xoxoxo

[Vicki Siedow]

Merry, I head up FLIP http://flipmysteries.tv and FLIP Justice, the new nonprofit. http://flipjustice.org. We have many private investigators, and more. Contact, or have her contact, me. [e-mail] 818-242-0130.

[Thomas Lauth]

I would consider doing the case pro Bono
for I do 1-3 case a year pro bono. Please
email me at [e-mail]

[Delilah]

It's great to see the impact of reaching out and having people reach back!

Thanks, both Vicki and Tom for reaching out to this cry for help.

[Merry Thies]

It amazes me how many caring and compassionate people are members of this awesome group! Thank you all so much. I am so honored to be a member along side all of you!

[Sara/Peace4 Co-Founder]

Seconding that...thank you both for your compassionate hearts...xoxoxo

[Sarah Teague]

I would highly recommend Thomas Lauth.

[Lisa Seltenreich]

Finding a private investigator is usually about the almighty dollar. If you have it, you may purchase an investigator. There is state licensing boards that list investigators and/or their company. you can also google. I know while I was looking for my daughter, I contacted well over 20 investigators and never received a return call. We didnt even get to the money aspect. So be prepared for rejection, just keep on keeping on.

[Maureen]

Get lots of recommendations and find out if they do the investigating themselves or subcontract it out. I made the mistake of hiring a low tech investigator who was looking for an IT specialist, bad move. He also subcontracted out parts of the investigation....my favorite was to someone who talked to my husband on his cell phone months after he went missing....LOL...didn't happen. The cell phone was my cell phone on my account that Verizon at my request (I reported it stolen) turned it off so it would ring only busy, no one could pick it up and use it, and it did ring busy until 2007 when I ran out of money to pay for it and had it dropped from my account. Lessons learned.

[Windspirit]

I just want to add that some of the negative comments here must be from personal experiences, as NOT all PI's are after the "almighty dollar". I am a trained non licensed PI because of where I was living at the time I became a PI they did not require one. A lot of states do and PI's are all regulated, but please I ask you NOT to continue this negativity towards Private Investigators. There are tons of reputable ones in every corner of the world, so I ask you to keep an open mind. There are some, yes that will be after that "almighty dollar", but that is certainly NOT the majority. There are these types of people in every profession, we just have to keep alert and know the ones to stay away from. You, yourself can be a type of investigator before actually hiring one. You do your homework on him/her, by calling the BBB, the PI state license board, try to go to their actual office or to meet them in person, notice and be aware of their character, demeanor, etc. There are lots of ways to tell, so a person doing the hiring needs to do their homework too.

That being said, I hope that all will find the resources required and the family will get some peace. I never say closure, as to me there is no such thing. One learns to deal and cope, but it is NEVER closed from our hearts.