NA - How Do I Verify the SOB is Dead (and How He Died)?

wanttaja

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Ron Wanttaja
Waaaayyy too much background to go into, here. But my wife had a saintly old aunt in her 80s, and the woman had a POS son. Said son had done prison time (for beating up his mother), had multiple arrests on drug charges, had multiple warrants out on him. She took him back in after he got out of stir, to finally kick him out for good after he stole her checkbook, trashed several rooms in the house, bought a car on her credit, then crashed it and abandoned it.

She passed about a year ago, with the house she and her (long-deceased) husband owned being the primary element of the estate. The executor sold the house, paid all the debts, and the son got about half the value of estate. He had trouble picking up his money because of the warrants, and loan sharks were contacting the executor demanding they be paid first before the son got the rest of the money. Oh, yeah. REAL winner.

After the estate paid off, we all wondered how long it'd be before the SOB overdosed.

Recently, one of his other relative's social media posted that he was dead. We're not surprised, but we ARE overcome with curiousity as to *how*. The name wasn't that common, and we've been all over the web looking for any sort of notices. Figure if he'd been murdered there'd be a some online stories. If he'd died shooting up in an alley, I figure it wouldn't have made the news. Somebody tried to contact local coroners, but they won't provide data due to privacy issues. The executor has settled the estate, so they don't have pull any more.

There's a bit of minor speculation that he might have faked his death (to escape the drug dealers and loan sharks). Don't think he had the brains to pull it off, but could have.

So: What can we do to try to verify the guy's demise? We're talking Virginia/Maryland area. We do have arrest reports for not long before the guy supposedly died, but if he'd died in the hoosegow, I figure there'd be news reports.

Ron Wanttaja
 
You might eventually be able to piece together some information between the social security death index and the vital records department of whatever county he died in.
 
If you can show a vital and tangible need to have the information, you can call the VA or MD depts of records and get a confirmation, maybe a death certificate. The googles say there's a 25 year delay in releasing records to the public in VA, but MD records are available immediately.

Being related and possibly entitled to part of the estate should qualify. It doesn't sound like the guy would have had a will, so the state would determine the distribution of the estate.
 
Is the next of kin your wife or someone she knows? It seems coroners would have to talk to whoever that is. Maybe start with wherever he was arrested. People die in lockup all the time without making the news. I have no idea what a private investigator would cost, but that’s another route.

OTOH, if he died in an alley with no ID on him, the coroner might not even know who he was.
 
Is the next of kin your wife or someone she knows? It seems coroners would have to talk to whoever that is. Maybe start with wherever he was arrested. People die in lockup all the time without making the news. I have no idea what a private investigator would cost, but that’s another route.

OTOH, if he died in an alley with no ID on him, the coroner might not even know who he was.
If he had an arrest record, they an ID him pretty easily through fingerprints.
 
Time for a small investment in a PI in the area. They usually have the connections and means. If it was Southern CA I'd have someone to recommend. :D

Y1j6wZ4.png
 
They will tell you they can't release the information, but cause and manner of death is public information in every state I've worked in...you just have to know how to get it. May take a FOIA request...and of course you have to know which office to send your FOIA. As said above, a PI can get that info.
 
Thanks much for everyone that responded. Private Detective would be the best way to go, especially from 3,000 miles away. Not sure if my wife is THAT interested in finding out....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Time for a small investment in a PI in the area. They usually have the connections and means. If it was Southern CA I'd have someone to recommend. :D
Here's the go-to guy ... ;)

1707192248231.png
 
Waaaayyy too much background to go into, here. But my wife had a saintly old aunt in her 80s, and the woman had a POS son. Said son had done prison time (for beating up his mother), had multiple arrests on drug charges, had multiple warrants out on him. She took him back in after he got out of stir, to finally kick him out for good after he stole her checkbook, trashed several rooms in the house, bought a car on her credit, then crashed it and abandoned it.

She passed about a year ago, with the house she and her (long-deceased) husband owned being the primary element of the estate. The executor sold the house, paid all the debts, and the son got about half the value of estate. He had trouble picking up his money because of the warrants, and loan sharks were contacting the executor demanding they be paid first before the son got the rest of the money. Oh, yeah. REAL winner.

After the estate paid off, we all wondered how long it'd be before the SOB overdosed.

Recently, one of his other relative's social media posted that he was dead. We're not surprised, but we ARE overcome with curiousity as to *how*. The name wasn't that common, and we've been all over the web looking for any sort of notices. Figure if he'd been murdered there'd be a some online stories. If he'd died shooting up in an alley, I figure it wouldn't have made the news. Somebody tried to contact local coroners, but they won't provide data due to privacy issues. The executor has settled the estate, so they don't have pull any more.

There's a bit of minor speculation that he might have faked his death (to escape the drug dealers and loan sharks). Don't think he had the brains to pull it off, but could have.

So: What can we do to try to verify the guy's demise? We're talking Virginia/Maryland area. We do have arrest reports for not long before the guy supposedly died, but if he'd died in the hoosegow, I figure there'd be news reports.

Ron Wanttaja
 
MD has a 'inmate locator'. If you have name / DOB you can see whether he is currently locked up.
 
Maybe it just changed?

Time for a small investment in a PI in the area. They usually have the connections and means. If it was Southern CA I'd have someone to recommend. :D

Y1j6wZ4.png

Here's the go-to guy ... ;)

View attachment 125109

Personally I would hire @eman1200 ’s biological father.

In the picture below he’s sharing the bathroom location at a bbq restaurant located in rural NC.


View attachment 125114


You need a tougher guy for this case, maybe

1707228093079.jpeg

Or

1707228138775.jpeg
 
I'm sure you started there, but I didn't see it in your post, wouldn't the other relative posting of the cousin's demise have some information? Perhaps contact them for more information?
 
I'm sure you started there, but I didn't see it in your post, wouldn't the other relative posting of the cousin's demise have some information? Perhaps contact them for more information?
The other relative has the same level of sliminess of the recently-deceased individual. We want to maintain isolation from that side of the family. Among other things, we had been financially supporting the recently-deceased aunt, and we figure they might start pestering us if they knew of our involvement.

Ron Wanttaja
 
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