How To Disappear Completely and Never be FoundDoug 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
