Samaritans and Chennai cops join forces, use Google and OSINT to reunite missing woman with her son

One of the teams working on reuniting the woman with her family managed to contact the officials from the company where her son was employed.

A sixty-year-old woman, who went missing from her home for almost a week, was reunited with her son by a team of good Samaritans, who used Google Maps, trackers and other internet open sources to trace her family.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the woman was in shock after losing her husband a year ago.

On Wednesday, September 18, she was spotted in an unconscious state, lying on the side of a road in Chennai. However, timely intervention by a team of private detectives, not only saved her life, but they also managed to reunite her with her son in a short duration of three hours, with the help of local police and internet tools.

Sequence 1: Detective firm staffers find woman in an unconscious state

On 6.30pm, Wednesday, September 18, a woman aged around 60 was found lying unconscious on the side of a footpath near a private detective firm. Her clothes were shabby and she looked like a destitute person. Given the proximity, the staff at the detective firm immediately rushed to her and tried bringing her back to a conscious state by splashing water on her face. They also gave her lemon juice and managed bringing her in a semi-conscious state.

Sequence 2: Cops suspect woman had mental health issues

The incident was immediately reported to Ramapuram Police, following which a team of cops reached the spot. After preliminary inquiries, the police suspected that she was going through some mental health issues. The police planned to send the woman to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Chennai's Kilpauk area. The institute is one of the oldest and largest mental hospitals in Asia.

Sequence 3: ‘Operation Reunite' begins

Around 6.30 pm, the Samaritans launch an operation to reunite the woman with her family. "We approached the woman and tried to gather information about her identity and hometown. The woman mentioned a name related to her husband. Based on this, our instincts led us to trace her family using Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). With cooperation from the police, we moved forward quickly," said Esakki A, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the detective firm.

Sequence 4: Woman identifies son

The detective firm staffers and the cops first gathered key details about the woman's name and location. "Using the voter list, we identified potential family members, including one of her sons. We then searched for the son on LinkedIn and, fortunately, found a matching profile. When we showed the woman his profile photo, she confirmed that it was her son. Further investigation revealed that he worked at Ramapuram near an info-tech park," said Esakki.

Sequence 5: Technology comes to rescue

The team then splits into two groups: one with the police officers who went to the IT Park to locate the woman's son and another who worked to contact people from her hometown. Using Google search and Maps, we pinpointed the location and contact details of people in her area. Through Google Street View, we found phone numbers of the residents living in the same neighbourhood and made several calls until we connected with the relevant person.

In the meanwhile, the first team reached the IT Park and managed to contact the officials from the company where the woman's son was employed and obtained his phone number. When he was informed about his mother, the woman's son immediately rushed to the location where she was kept.

Sequence 6: Mother and son reunited

Simultaneously, the team also informed the woman's relatives in her hometown. "They stayed in touch with us throughout the operation to ensure her safety. By 9.30 pm, just three hours after the search began, the woman's son arrived and was reunited with his mother," the CEO said.

"The police were highly impressed by the efficiency and coordination of our team and appreciated our swift resolution. The use of available resources - including OSINT - and the strong collaboration with the police enabled us to reunite the family quickly. It was one of our proudest moments, as we demonstrated the power of teamwork and smart investigative techniques," said Essaki, who was overwhelmed by the success of ‘Operation Reunite'.