CASE EXAMPLES:

In order to protect the confidentiality of the people involved, all names and places have been changed in the following case examples.

Case Example :

Susan Smith had been convicted for a crime and was due to commence a 6 year sentence. Susan obtained a court order permitting her to have monitored visitation with her young daughter in the lobby of the local Sheriff's Station immediately prior to her entering  jail. The court order was obtained in the face of strong objections by the father of the child, David. Susan had a boyfriend, John, and they were both practicing drug addicts. In addition John was a known narcotics dealer and had jumped bail. Susan and her daughter disappeared from the lobby of the Sheriff's Station unnoticed, apparently assisted by her fugitive boyfriend.

The case was referred to MCIA by a volunteer investigator and bounty hunter, who was looking for her fugitive boyfriend. The original investigator on the case had kept the garbage from the home Susan and Tom had shared and abandoned. This garbage had been sorted and searched for any information that may indicate the possible whereabouts of the couple and child. This was painstakingly reexamined by MCIA personnel. A small one inch corner of newspaper was found with a phone number scrawled on it but including only a partial area code.

With diligent effort various numbers were called, all of them out of state. Every time Susan and Tom were asked for. On one of these calls the response was "I'm sorry dear, you just missed them." The investigator called back a few minutes later saying that he had mislaid Susan's home phone number and it was offered by the speaker, who also confirmed was the old station wagon that Susan and Tom were driving. Immediately the phone number was researched for an address. The local law enforcement agency was notified of the situation and they confirmed the fugitive warrants with NCIC  (National Crime Information Center).

The local police went to the house where Susan and Tom were living and en route spotted Tom in the old station wagon. They stopped him and asked him his name, he initially lied but when asked again identified himself correctly. Tom told the police that Susan and her daughter were at home. Susan surrendered to the police with no resistance and the police took custody of the child. The father flew out to the location with MCIA staff and was reunited with his you daughter. Susan and Tom are now serving time in jail for a variety of crimes including kidnapping of a minor.