Identifinders Blog

They Never Thought I'd Find Them but I Did!

When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them “I read minds”. This is not far from the truth. The case of the Chedidi’s* stands out in this regard. In about 2007, the international investment company I worked for gave me an assignment to find a couple named Jack and Lily Chedidi* who were owners of unclaimed property in the US. Their last known address was in London. My only responsibility was to return the phone number of the couple or their next of kin, leaving the business end of things to the investment company. Easy enough. I searched the UK phone books on www.numberway.com, to discover there was only one

May 23, 2016 1 Comment

An Adventure in International Unclaimed Property – Seeking The Von-Fiorellos

About ten years ago, when Andy and I were in Merida, Mexico on business, I received an email from the international investment company I worked for. They had been trying to find owners associated with unclaimed property, but without success. They contacted me, as usual, for a last ditch effort in solving the case. The names they gave were Ernest and Maria Von Fiorello* with an address in Innsbruck, Austria, dating back perhaps ten or more years. From what I was told, the company had sent a Private Investigator to the old address of the Von Fiorello’s, hoping that the neighbors would be able to tell them where the couple had gone. The PI had also gone

May 20, 2016 No Comments

Who Am I? What is My Name? – Part VIII – Gertrud and Leo’s Trial

May 19, 2016 No Comments

Who Was Joseph Smith – Close Calls and Possible Candidates

We have just a few scraps of information to go on in searching for Joseph Smith’s original identity, many of which are questionable. But we have to make the most of what we have, since that’s all we have. Joseph always said his birth date was 15 July 1896. My experience has been that if someone changes his name, he usually keeps his original date of birth, but if he steals someone else’s identity, he is forced to use the date of birth of his victim. In Joseph’s case, we have to assume that he changed his name but not his date of birth; without a birth date, we lack a key search criterion, making the potential

January 19, 2016 5 Comments

Who Was Joseph Smith?

The early life of Joseph Eugene Smith is a complete mystery. Joseph’s son Morton and Morton’s daughter Karen have researched Joseph for over 20 years, yet they still don’t know who he was. Hopefully by reading his story, someone may come forward with new insight into Joseph’s so far impenetrable history. Over the years, Karen has gathered an impressive collection of information about Joseph starting with his enlistment in the US Army in November 1913, yet she has not been able to discover anything about him before that. Although Joseph Smith claimed he was born on 15 July 1896 in Philadelphia, his birth certificate has never been located. His life prior to WWI is unknown; nothing has been found about his parents and family. Joseph died on 25

January 14, 2016 3 Comments

Who Am I? What is My Name? – Part VII – Gertrude’s Other Children?

Last week we received surprising new information about a woman who may be Gertrude Priess-Spiro.

October 30, 2015 10 Comments