Brother is missing, how to find him?

June 29, 2024 7:15 PM

My brother was last seen on Wed at Orlando airport by the taxi driver. Nobody has heard from him since, and we can't find him. We are thinking about using this service to find him. Does anyone have any experience? interventiongroupllc.com/missingpersons.htm
posted by halehale to Human Relations (9 answers total)

Oof, that's stressful. Was he leaving Orlando, or had he just arrived?
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:43 PM on June 29

Is there a specific reason why you haven't filed a Missing Persons report with the police? They would normally be the first approach, and have several dozen times the number of staff vs. any private agency.

...obviously, drawback: they're cops.

...but the website you linked gives me some pretty serious "1990s webdesign, never updated, not really a company" vibes.

I'm sorry.
posted by aramaic at 8:44 PM on June 29 [14 favorites]

That service seems to be about addicts. Is your brother an addict?
posted by NotLost at 9:05 PM on June 29 [2 favorites]

The service is based in Atlanta and is staffed by therapists. Would it be better to find someone in Orlando who has knowledge of people and places there?
posted by slidell at 9:46 PM on June 29 [1 favorite]

Can't figure out how you would have been able to say "the taxi driver" saw him, as probably a fair number of those. If you do have that information, definitely the police for the missing persons report. Unless your brother would have reasons NOT to want the police looking for him.
posted by Windopaene at 10:08 PM on June 29

If you mean the taxi driver who took him there, that timeline ought to be confirmed by airport security before being assumed accurate, even if there's some kind of receipt supporting the claim. They may be willing to disclose to you (or a spouse or parent if available) whether he boarded a specific flight number, for example, without needing to involve the police if that's an issue.
posted by teremala at 1:32 AM on June 30 [1 favorite]

Airports have all sorts of video footage, airlines can confirm passenger status; and that would be another reason for contacting the authorities there.
posted by mightshould at 3:42 AM on June 30 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I think you should file a missing person report, unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. If this person is an adult they probably have "the right to be missing," unless you have reason to believe they are the victim of a crime. But filing the report at least gets his name in databases.

There are also crisis lines like the SAMHSA helpline that that may be able to connect you to local support.

I couldn't find any reviews for the organization you linked to. Perhaps it would make more sense to start with a private investigator and then to hire a separate organization for help with an intervention? Again, building a local support network may help you make a more informed decision based on your circumstances.
posted by toastedcheese at 5:33 AM on June 30 [4 favorites]

Best answer: That organization says their staff are former law enforcement officers who have “facilitated interventions” for issues including Anorexia, Morbid Obesity, and Chronic Tardiness.

That makes me a bit skeptical because I can’t really imagine that a downgraded cop is the right person to solve a lot of these problems successfully. (Also why aren’t they cops any more? Retired? Disgraced? Seems like a sorting mechanism to find bad cops tbh)
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:33 AM on June 30 [14 favorites]