If the police have not uncovered the perpetrator of a homicide, you may consider hiring a private investigator. Rick Roy of Rix Investigations, based in Phoenix, Arizona, has the experience and aptitude to make it work for you. Here, he explains what you need to do to make sure that a homicide investigation gets the best start possible.
Hiring a private investigator to work on a homicide case often occurs when law enforcement has failed. Sometimes the cases are relatively fresh, sometimes they are even decades old. One thing is clear, however: Somebody wants to see justice done, and wants to put a loved one to rest.
Advance Preparation
The number one thing to do when hiring a private investigator to investigate a homicide is to collect every single detail of everyone and everything involved. This includes the names of all law enforcement individuals that have been involved in the case, which jurisdictions, and which towns.
When I get hired on a homicide case, I do a lot of background work on the person hiring me before I even meet with him. I want to make sure the story he give me jives with my psychological portrait of him. If I run a background check on somebody and look at him criminal record, and I find he has been heavily involved in drugs, and he tells me nothing bad has happened to him in his life, then I know someone has been lying to me.
Understanding the Victims
Most people hire me when the law enforcement officials have not found who the perpetrator of the crime was. I just put myself into another mode. My sister was murdered when I was 12 years old. She was shot in the head by her boyfriend when she was 19. That has changed how I deal with homicide.
I intend to solve my sister’s case someday, as they were never able to prove it to put anyone in jail. I take homicide a lot more seriously than perhaps other private investigators would, as I know what being a victim feels like firsthand.
