# Private Investigators, how?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-investigators-how/132477
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 16, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-investigators-how/132477 "2002-10-16T07:01:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chief)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-investigators-how/132477/1 "2002-10-16T07:01:51Z")
Just wondering, how do they find people who have been “lost” for years ? seems like they do it pretty quickly too!
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### Author:  [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2002, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/private-investigators-how/132477/2 "2002-10-16T09:45:09Z")
The key is knowing where to look.
Or more likely, knowing _how_ to look. Only my WAG, but most people, even those ‘lost’, leave a paper trail - bank statements, social security, credit purchases, receipts, anything.
There are public record halls and other institutions which may house some of this information.
Interviews with local people, family members ex-work colleagues etc… can give a direction to search.
The rest is the knowledge of how people _can_ ‘disappear’, which allows location of said person reasonably quickly.