The phone goes to voicemail for the third day. The apartment is quiet, the car is gone, the last message makes no sense in hindsight. Police take the report but tell you that an adult is free to leave. This is when families call a private investigator for a missing person. FSO Guard’s licensed investigators handle missing persons investigations in Florida from our office in Hollywood, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale: adults who vanished, teenagers who ran, elderly parents who wandered, people hiding from debt or from family, and the long searches for a relative nobody has seen in twenty years. We hold Florida private investigative agency license A 1000095, we work in English, Spanish and Russian, and we coordinate with law enforcement from the first hour.
Missing persons cases we take
Missing adults
A spouse, sibling or friend who stopped answering, left work or a rehab program, or disappeared after a conflict, a financial loss or a mental health crisis. Police may classify the case as voluntary; we do the searching.
Missing teenagers and runaways
Parallel to the police report: friends, messaging apps, gaming platforms, the places young people in that area actually go, and the adults they may have met online. Recovery is always coordinated with police.
Elderly and vulnerable relatives
A parent with dementia who left the house, a relative discharged from a hospital to an unknown address, an adult with a disability who left a care facility. Hospitals, shelters, transit and canvassing, quickly.
Estranged family, birth parents and adoptees
Reconnecting with a parent, a child placed for adoption, a sibling separated decades ago, a friend from another country. Discreet intermediary contact once the person is found.
Witnesses, heirs and beneficiaries
For attorneys, executors and insurers: the witness who moved, the heir nobody can reach, the beneficiary of a policy. See also skip tracing and locate investigations.
Cold cases
A disappearance from years ago, a file the police closed, a family that never stopped looking. Fresh eyes on the timeline, new records that did not exist then, DNA and open-source leads, and interviews people are finally willing to give.
How a missing person investigation works
- Intake, the same day. A licensed investigator interviews you in person or by video: last confirmed contact, phone, vehicle, bank and card activity you have access to, medication, relationships, previous disappearances, social media handles, a recent photograph. We advise you on the police report if it has not been filed.
- Records and databases. Lawful investigative databases for addresses, phones, vehicles, employment, relatives and associates; court, arrest and jail records; property and utility trails; checks with hospitals and medical examiners through proper channels.
- Digital and open-source work. Social media activity and connections, new accounts, marketplace listings, gaming and dating platforms, public photos with location clues. See OSINT investigations. We never access accounts or devices without lawful authority.
- Field canvassing and interviews. The last known area, workplace, gym, church, favorite bars and cafés, bus and rideshare patterns, with a photograph and a timeline. Neighbors and acquaintances often tell an investigator what they did not tell the family.
- Surveillance and verification. When a likely address appears, an investigator confirms it in person before anyone is told: surveillance, time-stamped photos, vehicle checks.
- Locate, contact and report. Coordination with police for minors and endangered adults; a welfare check or intermediary contact for adults who left by choice; a written report with everything documented for the family or the attorney.
Working alongside police, not instead of them
Law enforcement has powers we do not: alerts, warrants, phone records and access to national databases. We have time, focus and the freedom to canvass one neighborhood for a week. The best missing persons investigations use both. We encourage every client to file a report, we share leads with the assigned detective, and we step back from anything that could compromise a criminal case. In voluntary-disappearance cases, where police involvement ends quickly, we carry the search alone and keep the family informed at every step.
Why families and attorneys choose FSO Guard
Licensed Florida investigators
Agency license A 1000095 with licensed private investigators, insured, and bound by Florida privacy and data laws. Evidence is gathered so it can be used in court if the case turns into one.
Field capacity across Florida
Investigators in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, and regular work in Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Naples and Fort Myers. Trusted partners in other states and Latin America.
Three languages
Many missing persons cases in South Florida cross into Spanish- or Russian-speaking communities, or into Latin America and Eastern Europe. Our investigators interview in the language people actually speak.
Honest scope and cost
A written plan with phases, an estimate before each phase and a stop when leads run out. Read our guide on what a private investigator costs in Florida.
What we will not do
We do not access phones, email or bank accounts without lawful authority, do not impersonate police or officials, do not track a person’s vehicle without a legal basis, do not disclose an adult’s location when it could put them in danger, and do not take cases meant to harass or control someone who has chosen to leave. Investigations of that kind end badly for everyone, including the client.
Start a missing person investigation today
The first days matter most. Call 888.881.8099 at any hour, use the live chat or send the form on this page with the person’s name, the last contact and your relationship; a licensed investigator will call you back and can begin the intake the same day. For attorneys and executors who need a witness or an heir located, see also litigation support and our private investigation services in Miami.
