Case Study | Missing Person | Return

When your child has the right to go missing, it can leave parents with very little recourse in maintaining contact, leaving you with innumerable questions and no answers.

Lauth received communications from a pair of desperate parents, the Clients, who had experienced difficulty with their teenage daughter in the home. The daughter had been struggling at school and had been withdrawing from her relationship with her parents. She had been missing school and the parents suspected that she was on drugs. The daughter left home on her 18th birthday and was in and out of the house with a history of transience for a few years. When their daughter didn’t return home that last time, the Clients called Lauth Investigations.

The Investigation

Lauth missing person investigators contacted the Clients to build a full background history on their daughter—jobs she’s held, her friends, her usual hangout spots, her interests and hobbies—all pieces of information that can allow missing person investigators to develop a strategy for following the daughter’s trail. 

Documenting the daughter’s history of transience and drug use was also imperative to identifying a pattern in her behavior that could lead to her recovery. Because the daughter was over the age of 18, no authority could compel her to return to her parents unless she were a danger to herself or others. Lauth missing person investigators asked the Clients to prepare letters for their daughter to be hand-delivered to her when she was found. After following leads generated by the human sources in the case, Lauth missing person investigators were able to track down the Subject and pass along letters from her parents.

The Solution

After developing some rapport with the Subject, she was eventually convinced to return home to her parents, escorted by the investigator. The Clients were grateful to Lauth missing person investigators for returning their daughter to them.