[algranville2000]

I have a question on finding a person who defies finding. The subject I'm looking for was in USMC from 1960 to UNK. This person had two tours of VN. During his second VN tour, he was tapped by an intel agency, and went U/C. I was told that after he returned to US after his second tour, he was killed in a car crash. But pursuing this case further, I learned that that "accident" could have been a cover. This person doesn't show up on any people search sites; doesn't show up even on LAPDs sophisticated people tracking systems. He is not listed as dead in the Social Security Death Index. He simply vanished! At least his real identity vanished.

My question is multiple? Hope someone out there can give me some answers. Here are the questions:

1. If he went U/C in, say 1970, wouldn't he have surfaced by now?
2. If he is dead, why is he not listed on any death lists(SS Death Index; National Cemetery Administration grave listings, etc.)?
3. Is there a way to actually find an individual who might have been put on a "parallel" identity listing?
4. Are there other ways to find out if he is dead, other than the ones I have listed above?

Hopefully there are some former intel types, or U/C types, or regular military turned U/C types out there that can give me some tips on locating this "ghost." Any and all help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

[RickJ]

I used to be in the business of finding people who meant to disappear.

My current research activity is along Genealogical lines - which may be an angle to pursue.

If you'll PM or email me with his full name and any dates and places that you know of associated with him I'll browse for him from that angle. Any family information that you know (or have a lead on) will be very helpful, too.

[eawoodall]

The social security death list is for people who put in enough years to "earn" the $255 death benefit, if the person did not work at least 10 years (40 quarters) they would not have ever got to the $255. Furthermore even if they worked more than ten years and had no survivors (heirs) there would have been no one to ask for the $255. Notice they were in the military at some point so the military may have buried them for free, but people change their name all the time, so perhaps a different name is on the list. The social security admin should know if that social security number is still being used by that person (ie do they still work), but it is doubtful that such information is available to anyone but other governmental employees. If they got a check of some sort from the military regularly (retirement or disability) they might still get that, but again how to find out. All you can do is ask I guess. So write to the military or social security or whoever and ask under the freedom on information act about that person, be sure and include any information of your relationship to that person (next of kin have more rights to know than some people). At least they will eventually send you a letter back saying why they will not answer your questions, or that they cannot help you, whether there is no cover story and they simple cannot help or by law cannot help.
Do not expect them to explain. Consult a lawyer, many lawyers also do private investigations or searches for individuals, and as an officer of the court may be privy to info you cannot get. Try to find a lawyer who is also an officer who is in the military reserve or retired they have even more contacts or routes of info.
Warning: sometimes you are better off letting people seem or be dead