How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found

  How To Disappear Completely and Never be Found

  Doug Richmond

  * * *

  Introduction

  Who Disappears - And Why

  Who Disappears

  Why People Disappear

  Marriage, Divorce & Revenge

  Dual Identities & Lovers

  Boredom & Frustration

  Social Security

  On the Lam & In the Slammer

  Amnesia

  Rebellion & Adventure

  How - The Mechanics of Disappearing

  The "Unplanned" Disappearance

  Capa

  Planning to Disappear

  Pseudocide

  Do It Alone

  Money

  Identification

  Mail Drops

  Cars

  Leaving the Country

  Mexico

  Who's Looking for You

  Missing Persons Bureaus

  The Feds

  Private Eyes & Skip Tracers

  The Salvation Army

  Insurance Companies

  Creating A Bullet-Proof Identity

  Locating An Identity

  Assuming a Living Identity

  A Built-In Second Identity

  Resurrecting the Dead

  War Buddies

  Childhood Friend

  Headstones

  Newspapers

  Personnel Records

  The Right Fit

  Documenting Your New Identity

  Birth Certificates

  Social Security Number

  Drivers License

  Passports

  Fake ID

  Forged ID

  Coping

  Where To Go

  Transportation

  The First Days

  Finding a Place to Live

  Finding Work

  Choosing an Occupation

  Landing the Job

  How to Get Credit

  Disguise

  Some Things to Avoid

  The Paper Trail

  Publicity

  Miscellaneous

  Detach With Your Past

  Postscript

  References

  * * *

  INTRODUCTION

  * * *

  "For life is not the thing we thought and not the thing we plan."

  --The Harpy, by Robert Service.

  To a man of a certain age there's a bit of magic in the very thought of cutting all ties, of getting away from it all, of changing names and jobs and women and living happily ever after in a more salubrious clime! To most it will always remain a tantalizing daydream, but for thousands upon thousands there eventually comes a day when wishes are translated into action.

  The stumbling-block that holds most dreamers-of-better-things back from concrete action--in addition to a simple lack of gumption--is their lack of specific knowledge about how to establish, document, and feed a new identity.

  The actual mechanics of identity change are not well known. Everyone knows how to get married or get divorced, but how many people know exactly how to establish credit in a strange town where one has only "existed" for a couple of weeks? And yet, disappearing is a relatively common phenomenon.

  Perhaps it is because I, too, am a man of a certain age that I became so enchanted by a disappearance story told to me by a perfect stranger who introduced himself as "Capa," a fellow passenger on a bus from Nogales to Mazatlan one spring day a few years back. When I met Capa again a half-year later in Sausalito, California, my interest in those who disappear and change identities was so stirred that I began to research this book.

  I had very little success at first. The books I found in libraries were virtually worthless. To my surprise, the people in the Missing Persons section of the local police department knew so little about the subject that they were quizzing me about the techniques involved! I was so engrossed in the subject that I began talking to friends, relatives, even strangers on trains, planes, buses, in hotels and saloons, about disappearing and identity-switching. And that is where I hit paydirt!

  The popular image of the disappearee is one of a sad and lonely individual who drifts from town to town full of remorse over the family and lifestyle he abandoned. In fact, the disappearees I met were quietly proud of having accomplished a very difficult gambit alone and unaided. Perhaps this is why they were willing to talk anonymously to a stranger who is obviously in sympathy with their great undertakings.

  I soon found that disappearees are much more prevalent than I'd imagined and that they come from all walks of life, from multi-millionaires to laborers, from judges to grocery clerks, from ministers to army noncoms. I found that the father of one of my best friends had pulled a classic disappearance, stepping out casually one evening after supper for a pack of cigarettes, and has not been heard from since. Complete strangers in bars and over the phone recounted in extreme detail and with great pleasure how a friend (almost always a "friend") changed his identity, the stumbling blocks vaulted, the legal obstacles hurdled, the loneliness conquered.

  I hit on the idea of handing out printed cards all over the San Francisco Bay area inviting people with first-hand knowledge of identity changing to call me. I received a considerable number of calls. Unfortunately, instead of people with first-hand knowledge of disappearances, I received a huge number of calls from people contemplating pulling the stunt and about an equal number from out-and-out screwballs. But I received more than enough contacts from bonafide disappearees and their immediate families to make it all worthwhile.

  The calls from dreamers-about-disappearing were not a total loss. From them I received a considerable amount of background information about the situations and problems that make people seriously consider chucking it all and beginning over again.

  Seven years have passed since my chance meeting with Capa. During that time I have talked with hundreds of people about the art of disappearing and switching identities. What follows is a collection of anecdotes from the lives of the disappeared showing what motivated them to leave, how they created their new identities and the way they live the new lives they have built.

  While talking with the disappearees I never attempted to disguise that I was researching a book. Still, they were extremely gun-shy about notebooks and tape recorders. Therefore, the conversations recounted herein are essentially reconstructions from memory rather than verbatim quotes. In every instance there are slight changes in the stories to shield those who generously shared their thoughts and experiences.

  If one of the disappearees I quote recognizes himself I'd rather like to hear from him...

  * * *

  WHO DISAPPEARS - AND WHY

  * * *

  "The Problems of Victory are more agreeable than the Problems of Defeat, but no less difficult."

  --Winston Churchill

  WHO DISAPPEARS

  There are no reliable statistics on the number of people who disappear each year. This is obviously due to the nature of the action, the goal of which is to remain undetected, and also to the method used to collect such statistics. All disappearance statistics are ultimately based "on official" records of "missing persons." These records are completely unreliable because of the way they are compiled. The two main sources of error are: (1) the large number of disappearees who are never officially reported as missing persons; and (2) the smaller number of people listed as missing who are not. Let's start with the first category and see why some people are never cataloged as "missing."

  A person who disappears has to be formally reported missing before the police will take any official notice. Most disappearances are reported to the Miss
ing Persons Bureau (MPB) of the local police department. There are many reasons for truly "missing" people to go unreported.

  Fugitives from the law are almost never reported as missing persons. Think about it for a minute: if you were a close relative or friend of someone who skipped bail, would you run to the nearest police station to report your relative or friend missing? Aiding a fugitive is against the law but keeping silent about his departure is not. Most people in this situation would just let the police find out in their own sweet time.

  Statistics on the number of fugitives are not collected by MPB's. Federal and state law enforcement agencies usually handle such cases and it is doubtful they will ever reveal the actual number of fugitives; the reaction of Congress and the public to the huge number of criminals roaming free in this country would focus unwanted attention on their operations.

  Other disappearees go unreported because nobody cares enough about them to try and find them. Many disappearees do not have broad social ties. They are loners who do not suffer from guilt or regret at leaving loved ones behind. Indeed, it is the emotional attachments people have to family, friends and co-workers that keeps those who have good reason to leave from doing so. If they do leave, it is these attachments that either force them to come back or lead to their capture.

  A good example of this kind of unreported disappearee is the clever embezzler whose carefully-planned theft goes undetected. In these days of computerized finances such misappropriation of funds is easier to hide, and many companies are reluctant to admit publicly that they are vulnerable to such a crime. They may call in detectives but almost never the police.

  Most adult missing persons reports are filed by wives whose husbands have ducked out. As we shall see later in this chapter, the majority of legitimate disappearances come as the final act in an unhappy marriage. There are many sensible reasons why a great number of such disappearances would go unreported.

  If the relationship between husband and wife is one of mutual hatred the wife may be relieved to have "hubby" out of her life. She won't report her husband missing because she couldn't care less. In fact, she might be afraid that if she does report him missing the police will find him and bring him back--and that's the last thing on earth she desires!

  A wife might feel shame that her husband left her or guilt that it was her failure as a woman that drove him away. Reporting her husband missing would force her to confront the reality of their messed-up lives. She'd rather believe he just went somewhere to cool off. Or maybe she feels if that's what he wants, fine; she'd rather work things out, but she won't interfere with his decision to leave.

  For other women there is complete disbelief that their husbands would want to desert them. They are loath to report their husbands missing because of the adverse publicity: "What will the neighbors think?" Again, it is easier for them to believe that he's out on a drunk--no need to report that. As days turn to weeks turn to months she comes to accept the disappearance although she never reports it.

  Those are the main reasons disappearees do not get officially reported as missing persons. Now let's look at the reasons for reporting people missing who are not. We'll start with the married couple and look at them from the other side.

  It is not uncommon for a fierce argument between cohabitants to end with one of the partners slamming the front door on their way out. The police have learned through years of experience that the husband off on a hundred-dollar drunk will be back before the week is out. The wife who was so eager to run to the MPB and report him missing forgets to notify them of his return amidst all the apologies. In some cases the police stumble on someone who has been on the missing persons list for years but was back in the harness long ago.

  Probably the largest source of over-reported disappearees are juveniles. In fact, teenage runaways make up such a large proportion of officially missing persons that most MPB's are part of the juvenile section of the police department. It is not uncommon for teenagers to flee unhappy homes or strike out on their own in search of fame and fortune. Even though their parents may have started out the same way, they are quick to report Junior's disappearance to the MPB.

  The not-so-amazing fact about teenage runaways is that they seem to find their way home as soon as the money runs out. If Mom & Dad forget to notify the authorities it could be a long time before Junior is stricken from the

  rolls of the missing. And if the parents move around a lot (especially common with military personnel), their child may be listed as missing in several cities even though he's always come back home. In such a case it is unlikely the MPB's in those cities would ever learn the child's fate or be able to strike him from their records.

  Teenage runaways do not fit into the scope of this book because they seldom change identities. They are young and it is relatively easy for them to establish new lives once they reach their destinations. They are not encumbered with the problems and established lives that require adult runaways to build completely new identities. In fact, most teenage runaways re-establish their family ties somewhere down the road.

  One of the interesting aspects of teenage runaways is that they often possess the skills and background to become successful adult runaways. They have severed their emotional family ties early in life while developing the skills to survive as "strangers in strange lands." Successful identity-changing later in life will be much easier for these kids than it is for the run-of-the-mill estranged spouse.

  The foregoing are only a few of the many reasons for the inaccuracy of missing persons statistics. Some others: people who are murdered but whose bodies are never discovered; people who die without identification, particularly when they are some distance from home; people killed while posing as someone else. Many people who die in airplane crashes and shipwrecks are never identified or incorrectly identified.

  WHY PEOPLE DISAPPEAR

  Now that we have examined who disappears, we will try to understand why they do it. What motivates reasonable people to take the severe, difficult and often painful act of complete detachment? Through my encounters with the disappeared I have found three major motivations for the decision: legal, financial and psychological. While some of the cases described below fall neatly into just one of these categories, most people who disappear are motivated by a formula combining all three.

  By far the strongest motivation for disappearing is psychological. There are many ways to deal with life's difficult situations without disappearing. Most people fight to overcome their problems through the use of marriage counselors, attorneys, accountants, etc. When they lose, most people do their time, whether in prison or an unhappy marriage. Those who disappear are neither willing to do their time or to battle for something that's not worth the fight.

  Generally speaking, deliberate disappearance is a defensive reaction to overwhelming and intolerable social pressures. Furthermore, successful identity change takes a special kind of psyche. Many of those who attempt disappearance are unable to cope with the stark reality of displacement or with the longing for reunion. They find that it's easier to deal with the problems of home than the problems of not having a home. The successful disappearee usually has a taste for risk, the ability to think and act quickly, and either a strong resistance to, or fear of, re-connecting with their past.

  Let's look at some of the specific reasons that compel people to abandon their former lives and create new identities for themselves.

  Marriage, Divorce & Revenge

  As mentioned earlier, the prime reason for disappearing is an unhappy marriage. Men and women caught in an unhappy relationship often dream about leaving their partner and everything else behind and starting over in a new town with a new name. Fear of the unknown and lack of knowledge about identity changing prevents most of them from acting on their wishes. They may even take off one day, but a few nights in boxcars brings them back or they fail to disguise their identity or location and are forcibly brought back. They do not have the psyche of the identity-changer. For a
rare few individuals, the dreams of leaving their spouse eventually develop into concrete plans and a successful escape. I met such a person one evening at Specs' 12 Adler Place Saloon in San Francisco. He recounted his story over a Green Death using the transparent guise of his "friend," a convention I had become familiar with already.

  "This friend of mine was in his mid-forties when he decided he'd had enough of his wife. They had been married for many years but never had any children. He had a job that paid him pretty well but was dog-ass boring. About the only thing that meant anything to this guy was model trains. He belonged to a 'model railroaders club' and spent most of his evenings building these complicated models in his basement.

  "His pride and joy in life was this elaborate scale model of a High Sierra logging railroad. You should've seen it. He built it all with his own hands and it was the envy of the club. There were articles about it in model-builder magazines and even a feature spread in the local paper.

  "One evening his wife followed him downstairs after supper. A man's got to have a private place, you know, to be by himself and that basement was his private place. She shouldn't have gone down there. She was all uptight because he wouldn't go visit her folks with her. She started bitchin' and naggin' and working herself up into a tirade. And what do you think she said to him? 'You think more of that damned toy train set than you do of me.'

  "There was something about her tone of voice when she said 'that damned toy train set' that made the light go on. I guess he suddenly realized that she was right, he did care more about his models than he did about her--a helluva lot more! And he knew that this was about as sad a commentary as it's possible to make about the relationship between a man and woman."

  "So he split right then and there," I offered.