She Didn’t Want $100,000

When I was an FBI Agent, I was used to working investigations knowing I had a full team to support me.  That team included other agents, analysts, technicians, and FBI offices around the country and world ready to help at the drop of the hat.  I don’t have anything approaching that as a Private Investigator.  Sometimes I long for the good old days.  But sometimes, I just build my own team.

A few months ago, I had the pleasure to work with two exceptional private investigators in different parts of the country.  One was in San Francisco. I hired her for a client who was looking for the widow of an heir to mineral rights here in Texas. The heir died in 1960 in San Francisco.  He left behind a widow, and we didn’t know if she was alive or dead.  To complicate the search, the widow’s first and last names were common.

I had done as much online research as I could and had limited the possibilities to around 10 women. The problem is that online searching rarely goes back to 1970 let alone 1960. That’s even using genealogy websites. The information is there on those sites, but you have to have specific information and all we had was a name from 1960.

That’s why I reached out to the San Francisco private investigator. She had a research background, which is perfect for this kind of investigation. She was also in San Francisco where any records of birth and marriage would be maintained.

Looking at her work and talking to her on the phone was great. She did old fashioned PI work. She used the phone to call people to get answers. She went to county and city records departments to search through old handwritten records. She went to physical addresses to find out about residents. She used good common sense. She used databases as well, but to just get her started. She got her results from talking to people, both on the phone and in person. Because of that hard work she came up with a strong possible location for the widow. She had remarried two times and moved from California, eventually settling in a small town in rural Alabama.

The PI and I spent quite a bit of time on the phone together discussing the case. Each of us adding something to the investigation. We were bouncing ideas off each other to try to verify if the woman in Alabama was our widow. I could hear in her voice the joy and satisfaction of trying to figure out a puzzle. Because of her hard work and doggedness, with a small contribution by me, we were almost 100% sure the woman in Alabama was our widow.

But of course, the widow didn’t have a good telephone number. We eventually found out she didn’t have a phone at all.  We had spoken to her landlord who promised to give her a message, but no call had come back in over a week. We had also tried to reach out to family members and leaving messages.  But again, no one called back.  The widow was an older black female, and she and her family had an inherent distrust of white people calling them trying to confirm who they were. They were worried we were bringing bad news or trying to collect on an overdue bill.  The widow grew up and lived most of her life in a segregated America, and we had to overcome her fears.

Stuck, I reached out to a private investigator in Alabama about an hour and half from where the widow lived.  I purposely chose a black female investigator; thinking the widow would be more trusting of a female and a member of her own race.  This PI wasn’t normally slumming in rural Alabama.  She primarily worked employment discrimination and Title IX violations.  Think corporate boardrooms instead of single wide trailers.  Think Gucci instead of homespun cloth.

Once she knew the story, the Alabama PI jumped on board.  She and I had numerous phone calls regarding strategy and tactics.  To be honest, she did most of the strategizing and I did most of the listening.  She made multiple trips out to the widow’s home to convince her she brought good news.  Sitting on threadbare furniture situated on sagging floorboards, the PI met with the widow and members of her family to build trust and show that this wasn’t a scam.  She convinced the widow to provide not only her identifying data, but to look for and produce her original marriage certificate with the heir who had died in 1960.

With the information gathered by the three PIs, the client was convinced we found the rightful heir to the mineral rights.  He quickly put together the legal paperwork and a six-figure cashier’s check.  I sent all this to the Alabama PI.  She traveled to a small Alabama town to pick up a notary, and then drove to the widow’s home.  There surrounded by her family, the widow happily signed the paperwork and accepted her unexpected windfall check.

Its not every day when private investigators get to bring good news to people. Normally, we spend our time identifying the person behind a fraud; exposing the hidden secrets someone has buried from friends, family, or employers; or telling a spouse that yes, their significant other is cheating on them. This case was a joyful thing. All three PIs worked hard on this case and we were happy to do it.  We put together a team of people who didn’t know each other, but ended up trusting, respecting, and liking each other.   Because of that we got the desired results.  The client was happy.  The widow was happy, and her family was happy.