He's Dead, Jim.
He's Dead, Jim.
A hard poke with a sharp stick isn't the only way to tell.
Last week, or more recently, or perhaps never, during my very glamourous, jet-set, thrill-a-minute day job, one of my newer colleagues came to me with a novel issue.
“Some Lawyer,” he began, as pseudononymously as plausible under the circumstances, “I think this witness is dead.”
“Oh,” I said. “What makes you think so?”
“His obituary.”
My colleague explained that the only documents we had from this witness were quite old, and so he’d taken it upon himself to verify the witness’ current business address, before he asked our assistant to prepare a subpoena.
The witness’ office was, however, listed as closed, and when he called the number, it was disconnected.
Systematic as fuck — and lawyers almost never admit to starting with Google — my colleague went to the relevant professional licensure board. No listing. And no notice of suspension, termination, or discipline.
Finally, he Googled. And found the telltale obituary. To close the loop, we worked together to verify that the obituary belonged to the witness.
We did what anyone would do — or at least what Justin, MJ, or Kennedy would do — by chasing back the objective information in the obituary to known facts about the witness. Specifically;
Same profession (check!)
Same alma mater (check!)
Same middle name (check!)
Same state and region (check!)
This witness had a rather unusual name and was in a fairly specific professional specialty, so my biggest concern — having done this before — was mistaking a dead senior for a live junior.
But it all checked out.
Great job, young colleague.1
Round of applause.
…
As “Is this guy dead, lying, or just avoiding me,” seems to be not just the story of my pre-thirties love life, but also a task common to lawyers and the OSINT community, some tips:
First, as always, gather what you know, or, as we’ve been calling them, “selectors:”
The subject’s name, aliases, common misspellings;
Names of any family, including parents, siblings, spouses;
Known addresses, businesses, professional associations;
Anything known of the subject’s educational history, religion, interests.
Google them, with the magic phrase “survived by.”
“Survived by” is a lovely, magic term, because of its singular use — it appears almost exclusively in English-language, primarily American (possibly also Canadian, there’s no way to tell, inscrutable northerners) obituaries and death notices after about 1920 — before a listing of a dead person’s surviving family members.
If you find the obituary believed to be your subject,2 use the other information in your arsenal to determine if the dead guy is, in fact, your dead guy. Right middle name? Right region? Right education? Right interests? Right age?
If the obituary is minimal, and you can’t tell, broaden the search:
If a subject is — as my witness was — a member of a licensed profession or associated with a particular school or college, check alumni magazines, local trade groups, and newsletters for more detailed obituaries and memorial articles.
Often the information provided in the non-standard obituary (though glowing) will give other useful kernels of information useful in narrowing the search, and verifying information.
Probate court records often will provide listings and addresses of heirs, date and place of death, and information sufficient to identify a subject. This is useful where family members were not listed in a death notice or obituary.
Search for probate court records both where you believe the individual lived at the time of death, and also where they may have owned property.
If there is no probate court record — and there often isn’t, as the wealthy try as hard as they can to avoid probate, and the non-wealthy don’t often die with sufficient assets to make it worthwhile — take a spin through regular court records.
If your subject was a party to a criminal or civil proceeding at the time of their death, their death might be apparent on the record, whether as a “suggestion of death” (in a civil matter) or relating to the forfeiture or redemption of bond (criminal).
…
If all else fails, hunt them down and poke ‘em with a stick. If they make a noise, they’re probably still among the living.
Because this was my day job, none of this was billable. Please observe the single tear rolling poignantly down my cheek.
Even where you do not find the person’s obituary, a recent obituary of close family member will often yeild important information.