How to Find a Missing Person in Mississippi

Leave no stone unturned when you search Mississippi for a loved one.

You read and hear about them every day: people who have gone missing due to hurricanes and tornadoes, foul play or mental or physical illnesses who are unable to help authorities get them back home among friends and relatives. Mississippi is no exception, but this small southern state isn't without its resources. Use all of them to help with your search for a loved one or friend, and you will always be reassured by the fact that whether or not you find them, you will have given the search your very best effort.

Things You'll Need

• Law enforcement agency contacts
• Personal data
• Media contact
• Licensed private investigator

Instructions

1. Use the Internet to do a search on Google and other search engines to use this cost-free option for locating the person you seek. Search also for Mississippi agencies and companies that devote themselves exclusively to the task of recovering lost and missing people. Key in "Find missing people in Mississippi" and see what turns up after you provide the name of your loved one in the search box.

2. Visit the Missing Persons Forum, a site devoted to locating people all over the U.S. Use the link in References to go directly to the agency's Mississippi page and peruse photos and biographies to see if your missing person is among them. Check out public records in areas of Mississippi that are likely to be places frequented by your loved one. Bring with you pertinent information like a photo, Social Security number, vital statistics and a list of birthmarks and scars that can be used to ID a person who died anonymously or went missing due to amnesia or another debilitating condition.

3. Fill out a missing persons report with your local law enforcement authorities. Wait 24 hours before you contact them as law enforcement officials won't take a missing person report until a full day has elapsed. Bring your background information to every Mississippi agency in the area, police, sheriff, highway patrol and county authorities. Don't give up until someone offers to put out an all points bulletin.

4. Contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation if you have had no luck with local and state authorities. Review the data listed in Step 2 to provide FBI and MBI agents with information about the missing person's personal habits, facial characteristics and close contacts. Provide a license plate and/or credit card numbers should they need to extend their search outside the state.

5. Contact local media---TV and print---to see if a local Mississippi reporter or producer is looking for a human-interest story. Offer a brief overview of the circumstances surrounding your friend's or family's disappearance and ask if the person with whom you're speaking is interested in doing a story on your missing person. If you have a special hook---something related to the state of Mississippi's policy on finding missing people or a fact about your loved one that will spark a reporter's interest---mention it.

6. Hire a Mississippi-based and licensed private detective. Give your PI information you have collected to help him put feet on the ground to follow up on leads. Save yourself a bundle by telling the PI that you've already done an exhaustive search on the Internet so your bill isn't padded with time spent in cyberspace that could well replicate your efforts.

References

• Find the missing
• Al.com
• Public records