Page 18 - PPIAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2022

Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado

FIELD INVESTIGA-

TIONS
INVESTIGATING AN INTERNATIONAL MISSINGS PERSON CASE
Continued from page 17

ing in risky behavior before his this, and they eventually agreed.
disappearance, including doing Recommendations
ayahuasca prior to going out on
the lake, refusing a life vest, and In a missing persons case, if you
standing up while paddling in a run up to the end of your budget
kayak during or right before a or timeframe, and there’s more to
storm. In our report, the tentative do, it is important to provide rec-
conclusion was that it was most ommendations that the family
likely that Abiodun unfortunately can choose to follow if they want
drowned in Apoyo Lagoon, and to leave no stone unturned. In
that because of the depth of the this case, we informed them of
lake, the body never resurfaced. two diving outfits in the US who
The family had hoped we’d be we could contract to either send
able to retrieve Abiodun from aquatic robots or use high-tech
Nicaragua, and this was disap- diving suits to go to the depths
pointing for them. However, it that were necessary to search for
was also helpful for them because Abiodun’s body. Unfortunately,
it provided closure for them, de- this was cost-prohibitive for the
spite the numerous social media family, and they elected to rely on
claims of sighting Abiodun later, our conclusion.
and they were able to start mov- Takeaways and Resources
ing on with their lives. Approxi-
mately a year later they contacted Missing persons cases, especially
us to thank us again for our assis- international cases, are so differ-
tance. ent that there’s no one-size-fits-
all approach.
A NOTE ON SCAMS However, above you will have

It should be noted that through- seen a general outline of how to
out the entire investigation and proceed, which is broken down as
afterward, both we and the family follows:
were approached by people in 1. Info-gathering phase, where
person and online claiming to you do research, talk to the
have seen Abiodun in other parts family, research the location,
of Nicaragua and requesting a review evidence, coordinate
reward in exchange for the infor- with the government, etc.
mation. This is almost always a
scam. This is always difficult for 2. Planning phase, where you
the family because they want to figure out where you’re going
cling to the possibility of their to go, what kinds of people
loved one being alive. The family you need to talk to, and what
briefly considered sending us kinds of experts, if any, you’ll
back to Nicaragua to follow up on need.
a number of these so-called leads, 3. Field phase, where you actu-
but we recommended against

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The Informant March—April 2022 Issue