. In unsolved murders and missing persons cases, a large amount of detective work involves tracing the last known steps of the individual that could provide clues as to their whereabouts or reasons for death.
. Common methods are looking at social media accounts, newspaper articles, census and marriage records, and court records that can unearth persons of interest to question, locations to search, and potential red flags to consider.
. The cases provided below are a mix of recent, decades old cold cases, and missing persons cases. Some of these cases are very well covered and public records have been heavily utilized but need a closer look. Others require extreme detective work since the victims are from underprivileged groups, small towns, or their cases were not looked into right away.