Mantrailing | Human Scent Tracking Dogs | Search for Missing Persons

Mantrailers are human scent tracking dogs that are able to pick up and follow the trail of sought-after – mostly missing – persons using scent carriers such as worn clothing, bed linen, toiletries and many other objects and materials. With its mantrailing experts, Kurtz Investigations Munich can look back on a very successful history of people searches.

We would be pleased to place the quality of our trainers and their scent tracking dogs at your disposal as well: +49 89 7007 4301.

Case Example: Son of a Mexican Coffee Baron Missing | Search for a Missing Person Using Mantrailers

Alejandro was a young Mexican who was completing a semester abroad in Freising and living near the campus. One evening, while out celebrating with his predominantly Mexican friends, he went over the top by not only consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, but also using marijuana as a “downer” and, to compensate, energy drinks intended to keep him alert. Under the influence of this highly mind-altering combination, a trivial matter escalated into an argument between Alejandro and his friends. As a result, in the early morning hours the young Mexican ran out of the flat where the party had taken place, barefoot, and has not been found since. He neither returned home nor could he be reached by telephone or via various chat apps.

Three and a half days later there were still no indications of Alejandro’s whereabouts, and so his family decided, from Mexico, to commission our detective agency (+49 89 7007 4301) to conduct the missing person search. Initially, an aunt of the missing person contacted us in English; a few hours later, an entire emergency management team became involved, managing new leads from Mexico and taking over communication with us. At this point, it dawned on us that Alejandro’s family was probably not positioned on the lower rungs of the social ladder.

Extraordinary Clients from Mexico

In order to commence the investigation without delay, a meeting was arranged between our operations manager and the missing person’s brother, who flew from London to Munich that evening to accompany the search on site. After completion of the preliminary discussion and the investigation contract, the brother informed us that the father also wished to join the search. For this purpose, he would fly from Madrid to Munich the following morning. A meeting with the police and the Mexican consul had also been scheduled.

As the case was therefore beginning to gain wider attention and it could not be assumed that just any Mexican citizen would receive direct support from the consul in such a situation, our lead detective was keen to know whom he had as a client. Accordingly, he instructed the office to urgently check the principals. It emerged that they were a large industrial family clan from the coffee sector, exerting significant political influence in Mexico.

Preliminary Investigation: Instructing All Emergency Services in the Surrounding Area

As the mantrailers – highly sensitive human scent tracking dogs – would only be operational in a few hours due to the short-notice commissioning, our private detective began preliminary research. To this end, he inspected the missing person’s flat and questioned his Mexican flatmate. The latter stated that, together with friends, he had already been searching the surrounding residential area and various parks for Alejandro for two days – without success. The flatmate had noticed in recent weeks that the missing person often sat motionless on the sofa for hours, staring into space. Alejandro had also repeatedly hinted at depressive moods to his family. The seriousness of the case thus increased once again, as depression can very quickly lead to suicidal thoughts – especially under the influence of mind-altering substances.

While waiting for the arrival of the mantrailers, the investigator from our commercial detective agency searched online for all hospitals within an ever-expanding radius. He called each of them, unsuccessfully enquiring about Alejandro, and left his contact details in case the sought-after Mexican should be admitted to one of the hospitals. As data protection was cited in individual cases, our private investigator urged the staff in these instances to immediately notify the police in the event of any indications or sightings. For this purpose, he provided the hospitals with Alejandro’s details and a distinctive personal description. Subsequently, the detective also reported the missing person to emergency services, accident transport services and the fire brigade emergency call centre. None of these points of contact had transported or found an unidentified male person of Alejandro’s age in the past three days.

Protracted Mantrailer Operation | Location of the Missing Person

Late in the evening, the mantrailers were finally ready, so the search had to be started in the dark. First, the handlers took scent samples from worn laundry from Alejandro’s room, which enabled the first deployed mantrailer to immediately pick up his trail. Even though a few days had already passed, tracking the scent does not pose too great a challenge for these human scent tracking dogs. However, the elapsed time could present the problem that Alejandro might have covered considerable distances in the meantime. If this were the case, the dogs would have to follow these routes, and the larger the distances the young Mexican had travelled, the longer the operation would take. And indeed, the search continued throughout the entire night.

When, in the late morning, it could just be verified that the trail led onto the suburban train towards Munich, and the operations team of our private detective agency was about to continue the pursuit via the various stops of the S1 line, the operations management received information that Alejandro had been identified in one of the Munich hospitals that our investigator had previously contacted and instructed. The missing Mexican was uninjured, but distressed and confused. The fire brigade had found him outdoors by chance.

Notice

To protect discretion as well as the personal rights of clients and target persons, all names and locations in this case report have been altered to the point of complete anonymity.