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Successful Search Stores The search for John Smith* was commissioned by a financial institution with which he had maintained significant savings. Mr. Smith* had not availed himself of the institution’s services for a number of years and so, they were eager to reconnect with him. He was last known to reside in the United States, however, no current contact information was available for him. The JSI team commenced its search in October 2004, first by attempting to locate all persons bearing the same name and residing in the state of New York. Although we were successful in contacting them all, none was our John Smith*. This effort was followed by contacts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Genealogical Research Unit of the Registrar General’s Department of Jamaica, with a view to determining whether (i) Mr. Smith* might have been incarcerated in the United States OR (ii) He was deceased or had any relatives through whom we could attempt contact. The genealogical search revealed his name on a birth certificate, as the father of a young lady born some 23 years earlier. We were successful in contacting the lady and her mother. Unfortunately, neither of them had spoken with him in over five (5) years, nor were they aware of his precise whereabouts. They were, however, able to provide contact details for other children he had fathered – three (3) of whom were residing in the United States. Our contact with these children and their mothers revealed that they too were unaware of his precise location, but had heard that he was working at an auto-repair shop on a particular street in New York. We called or visited each auto-repair shop on that street, but Mr. Smith remained elusive. We remained in touch with his children for the next several months, reminding them to advise Mr. Smith* of our attempts to locate him, in the event that they heard from him. Mr. Smith* contacted us in May 2005 and was reunited with his financial institution and his savings shortly after. * Name changed to protect identity |