Part of the reason why insurance companies, attorneys and self-insured companies hire a private investigator like is because we can uncover the truth in a wide variety of situations.
For example, in one case where a car was allegedly stolen and recovered completely burned out, the insurance company asked us to investigate the owner. The insurance company did not share their file, which is not uncommon, nor did they share why they were asking us to investigate. We were provided with information about the claimant and simply were asked if we could investigate to see if he had been involved in burning the car.
After getting the details of the location where the car was burned and the location of the claimant’s home and work, our investigator determined that cell phone forensics might be a useful tool to determine the claimant’s location around the time the car was burned. From the cell tower location and cellular tower triangulation he determined that the claimant was not near where the car had been destroyed at any point within a day of the incident.
He was able, however, with the same forensic cell tower evidence, to determine that the claimant – and a friend – had been in the area twice in the preceding week. With that information, the investigator was able to provide the accurate and complete legal wording for cell records in order for the attorney for the insurance company to subpoena the cell records for the friend of the claimant.
After completing cell phone tracking through cellular tower triangulation, the investigator could say that the friend was in the area of the burned car around the time the incident allegedly took place.
The insurance company was happy with the evidence connecting the claimant and the friend and then the cellular forensics evidence connecting the friend with the location of the burned car.
As I have said in the past, it is a good feeling uncovering the truth so a client can make a good decision based on the facts. We don’t know if criminal charges were pursued, but we do know the insurance company got the facts they needed to deny the claim in this case.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations
