While murder is unfortunately a part of the Oakland landscape, it stays close to sea level. But one murder and saga gripped the hills for two years, the Nina Reiser case and then the trial of her husband Hans. Henry Lee, who reported the case for The Chronicle, has written a book about it: Presumed […]
Maybe it’s because I’m in the business of the lawful uncovering of information or that I am so used to my profession that nothing shocks me much anymore, but the “privacy concerns” of others amuse me. I had a friend who recently dropped her Facebook account. I guess she just didn’t like the idea how […]
A minivan struck her husband and daughter while he rode his Harley in the Laurel district after picking her up from school. In a scuzzy, dank garage, the wife cried when she found his clothes shoved in the bike’s luggage compartment–the jeans, shirt and sweatshirt had been shredded from paramedics who worked to save his […]
To become a licensed private investigator in California you need 6,000 hours documented experience in the field and then must pass the examination. Many don’t realize the somewhat strict requirements. I don’t know all the particulars but the only states that might have tougher requirements are New York and Nevada. What triggered my thinking about […]
“I punched him. His teeth hit the wall like Chiclets.” Okay, so maybe my first private investigator boss John Nazarian didn’t pull tough-guy stuff like the fictional line above but he wanted you to believe he did. The year was 1994. I was 29 and had uplifted everything–job, friends and family–to move from Florida back […]
I remind myself that when I contact potential witnesses, that they are doing me the favor. Investigators and attorneys need to be aware that some witnesses should be treated with kid gloves. Witnesses did not ask to be dragged into depositions, multiple interviews by investigators from both sides, be made “limited purpose public figures” or […]
Sometimes it’s okay to lie in the private investigator business. Let me rephrase, sometimes it’s less harmful and you will not be made the fool. The rule is I try like H-E-double hockey sticks to avoid lying on the job. Why? Simple, you don’t want to hurt your credibility should the matter make it to […]
Do anything long enough and it becomes a blur. I have worked in the business since 1994. Still, there are those wonderful cases that keep fresh past expiration. It’s the sidewalk slip-and-falls, the auto v. pedestrian crashes and the misdemeanor criminal defense cases that head straight for the temporal lobe trash bin of this private […]
(The Oakland Tribune has reported that the suspect has committed suicide in Stockton as a SWAT team closed in on him.) When a double-murder happens just a half-mile down the hill from me, I pay attention. The daily papers gave it the one-and-done treatment, then it was onto the next “murder haiku,” as I dub […]
I had never thought about it that much, but being “in the wind” is a cottage industry. Desperate times for desperate people, I guess. It makes sense: if industry, lawyers and private investigators are all hot and bothered to find people, then there should be money in keeping people hidden. And there is! While cutting […]
