TADP Episode 31 – True Crime – Online How To’s on how to disappear

As most of my listeners by now have noticed that my podcast focuses on missing person’s cases so I figured why not look into the phenomenon that is the “how to disappear guides” that are floating around on the internet today. The internet is a very useful tool but when people create articles of this sort it can unfortunately give someone who is considering disappearing the tools to do so. These articles have been around for years but now are getting more and more present. I do not condone this, I simply want to talk about some of the things mentioned in these articles as a cautionary tale for those with loved ones who may use these guides. The more you know about these guides the more prepared you’ll be and more attentive you can be to the warning signs as well. I also want to discuss cases that I have already looked into where some of the things mentioned in these guides clearly are present in these people’s disappearances…

Ok, before jumping into the guide, lets have a look at who are susceptible to run away and disappear and what drives them to do so. One that I’ve seen is children and especially teenagers running away from their families because of something that happened at home. Sometimes it can be something very small, for some people it doesn’t take much. Sometimes it will be a spouse looking to run away from an unhealthy marriage or situation. It could also be that someone is running away from law enforcement or even the IRS or immigration officers. Sometimes they will try and run away from a difficult situation, however sometimes there is no explanations.

The guides list consequences to drying to disappear, mostly because this can lead loved ones to search for them and assume the worst. One legal ramification can be if a search party is sent out with the task of searching for you, the cost will need to be reimbursed once you are found. This is why people that have run away are reluctant to return home. There are also legal ramifications to those seeking to fake their deaths or to disappear since it’s a serious and potentially illegal act. Acquiring false documents and false identities is also a serious and illegal act.

Now to the guide, the first thing they say is always travel alone. The odds of you being discovered increase significantly if you bring others especially a child. For example if you disappear with a child, you could be charged with kidnapping even if you had good intention.

One of the other things it talks about is getting rid of personal possessions. In other words if someone you know decides to pack things up for no apparent reason, or starts selling or giving away their possessions, then you know something might be up. Another thing they say is to burn or destroy pictures of you because they say that family members and close friends will use the pictures to try and find you. They also say to abandon your car and to not bring any mementos since it will tie back to your old life and make you want to go back. So before you say, I know they would never leave without this or that, they probably left it behind on purpose. Something else they mention is to destroy your hard drive or wipe the hard drive so that none of your internet history which might lead back to you is recovered.

Another thing they say is to slow down your online activity especially on social media with the eventual goal of deleting your facebook or twitter or other online profile you may have. They say this way investigators won’t have information to follow up on. The guide goes on to say leave early when your parents are sleeping or after school if your parents work late. The article is clearly targeting young people.

The article goes on to say to get rid of plastic (debit and credit cards) and to carry cash and pay using cash only. It says consider riding a bike or travelling by train or bus or walking as these modes of transportation do not require a driver’s license.