Estranged dad missing for three decades, so Queens woman becomes private investigator to find him

After three failed attempts to find her estranged father, Eliza Perez decided to get some professional training to aid her search - she became a private investigator.

It paid off.

She met her father, Louis Perez, for the first time in 29 years on May 17 and had the added satisfaction of introducing him to her newborn daughter, Valeria.

They are now living in South Richmond Hill, catching up on decades of being a family.

"Sometimes now I sit here, and I look at her, and I'm shocked. It took a little while to sink in," Louis, 57, said of being reunited with his daughter.

The family saga may have found its happy ending in Queens, but it started in North Carolina and took a long detour in Puerto Rico.

When Louis was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1975, he moved to Manhattan. He was struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder from his three years working in an armory in North Carolina during the Vietnam War.

It was during one of his flashbacks that he stabbed his wife, Rosa, he said.

"I just woke up in the middle of a bad nightmare," he recalled. "I didn't really wake up until I heard her screaming and saw the kitchen knife and all the blood."

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Former Police Officer Facing Fraud, Intimidation Charges

SANTA ANA – A former police officer and unlicensed private investigator was charged Friday with defrauding clients, threatening another investigator and attempting to commit sexual assault by posting Craigslist ads seeking women to engage in bestiality with his dog.

The Orange County District Attorney's office charged Kevin Michael Sianez, 53, with a 63-count criminal complaint tied to what prosecutors describe as an illegal private investigation service and his online activities seeking women willing to engage in sexual acts with his Labrador retriever.

Prosecutors say Sianez, who worked for the Santa Ana and former Stanton police departments from 1979 to 1986, owned and operated his private investigation service from November 2005 to June 2010. He reportedly ran the business under several names, including KMS Investigations, Fore-Front Investigations and 4Front Investigations.

Prosecutors say Sianez falsely identified himself to clients as a licensed private investigator, posted false online reviews to increase his web presence and mislead people into thinking he operated a nationwide network of offices and investigators rather than a small suite office in Fountain Valley with less than five employees, primarily family members.

Sianez allegedly did little or no work on his cases, and defrauded properly licensed investigation firms by subcontracting work to them without paying.

Deputy District Attorney Israel Claustro said that on some cases Sianez would simply reiterate details his clients had given him or provide no proof that he had conducted surveillance activities.

"Other times, he didn't do any work and dictated reports off the top of his head to employees," Claustro said.

When two of his former employees alerted authorities, prosecutors say Sianez intimidated them by threatening to use his police contacts to file reports against them. Once another private investigator began posting Internet comments warning people about Sianez, prosecutors say he called the woman's business and threatened to burn down her house.

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Putting a Private Detective in Your Laptop

Baruch Sienna figured his teenage son’s laptop was gone forever. During a party in Israel, a thief had taken his MacBook, and there were no witnesses.

“The police were very unhelpful,” Mr. Sienna said, speaking from Jerusalem. “They said, ‘You’ll never see your laptop again.’ ”

But the son was fortunate that his father had installed Undercover, an antitheft program, on his computer. He remotely activated the software, which grabbed screen shots of the thief’s online activities, while the Mac’s built-in camera shot pictures of him. After eight months of activity on the Mac, the software had given police enough information to identify the thief and put the MacBook back in Mr. Sienna’s hands.

For the very reason you like to carry laptops, iPads, e-book readers and smartphones — they are lightweight and portable — they are easy to steal or misplace. The 2009 Computer Security Institute Computer Crime and Security Survey found that 42 percent of respondents had lost a laptop or other portable device to a thief in the last year. According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, 12,000 laptops are lost each week in American airports. Most people assume they are gone for good; only a third of those turned in to the airports’ lost-and-found departments are reclaimed.

You can keep an eye on your devices and not leave them visible and unattended, but they might best be protected with some software. A number of good programs are available for laptops, phones and tablets. Many will try to locate the computer when it is connected to the Internet. Others log keystrokes, take snapshots of Web pages visited, monitor e-mail being written and even take a picture of the user with the device’s built-in Webcam.

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Private Investigation Firm Hired to Dig Into Shady Business Man Solomon Obstfeld's 'Suicide'

A private investigation firm has been hired to review the death of a wealthy Brooklyn investor who plunged from the terrace of his posh Essex House condo.

The medical examiner has ruled the June 9 death of Solomon Obstfeld a suicide.

NYPD detectives have yet to close the case, although they have not found anything that contradicts that conclusion.

But some of Obstfeld's friends are not convinced.

They say the father of five was involved with a host of shady business partners - including one caught in a bribery scandal involving former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"The people who hired us do not believe it was a suicide, but what they really want are answers to why this happened," said Tom Ruskin of CMP Protective and Investigative Group.

Ruskin declined to comment on whether he was hired by Obstfeld's family or by one of the businessman's close friends.

"People who commit suicide, even those really depressed, leave a note, make a will, think of the family they leave behind and take care of them," Ruskin said.

Obstfeld was entangled in a series of murky business deals, including ties with billionaire Martin Schlaff. Israeli police recommended this week that Schlaff be indicted for bribing Sharon.

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Kyron Horman Investigation Receives Questionnaires for Possible New Leads

Portland, Ore. - Kyron Horman investigators are gaining new leads from a questionnaire turned in by Skyline Elementary School parents and students, according to News Channel 8 Portland KGW.

Kyron Horman questionnaire investigation - why authorities handed out fliers

On Friday, June 18th, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office handed out a flier with several photos of Kyron Horman's step-mother, Terri Horman, and of her white Ford F250 pick-up truck. Attached were questions for anyone in and around Skyline Elementary School the day Kyron went missing. Capt. Jason Gates said in a news conference on Friday the questionnaire was designed to "jog" people's memory if they saw Terri Horman or her truck anytime that day. The questions were due Sunday, June 20th.

Kyron Horman questionnaire investigation - what leads are investigators sharing?

Many parents had emailed the questionnaires to Multnomah sheriff over the weekend and a large amount were turned in Sunday.

What are the answers so far in the missing Kyron Horman investigation? All the authorities are indicating, is that Kyron's step-mom, Terri Horman, is the prime focus. She is not an official "person of interest."

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Sheriff's Detective Accused of Having an Affair With Suspects Wife

A Los Angeles County sheriff's detective is the subject of an internal investigation looking into accusations that he had an affair with a woman whose husband he had investigated and helped prosecute for allegedly threatening her.

The department opened an investigation into Det. Phillip Solano in April after the allegations were brought forth by the husband, Alberto Gutierrez. Solano, who had been assigned to the City of Industry station, is on administrative duty for now.

A lawyer representing Gutierrez said his client was taken into custody twice in 2008 on charges of violating a restraining order. The criminal charges, which Gutierrez was acquitted of, were meant to hurt his chances in divorce and custody proceedings, he alleges.

Solano "was the investigating detective and he had my client arrested," attorney Arnoldo Casillas said. "The guy has been put through the ringer."

During Gutierrez's trial, Casillas said, information surfaced that Mayela Gutierrez Gil and the detective were Facebook friends who had exchanged messages and calls.

Solano could not be reached for comment.

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Heidi Montag Hires Private Investigator

Heidi Montag has allegedly hired a private investigator to find out whether her husband has been cheating on her.

The reality TV star is reportedly concerned her estranged spouse Spencer Pratt - who she split from in May - has been romancing other women.

An insider told RadarOnline.com: "She is very anxious to find out if her suspicions and the rumours are true, especially if he's spent any money on another woman.

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Private investigator: Joran Van der Sloot is a 'homicidal maniac' Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/10/2010-06-10_private_investigator_joran_van_der_sloot_is_a_homicidal_maniac.html#ixzz0qYmDbKhX

He has looked into the eyes of alleged murderer Joran Van der Sloot, and what he saw gave him chills.
"This is a homicidal maniac," said private investigator Bo Dietl on CBS' "The Early Show" on Thursday. "I've met him. I looked in his eyes... We should be checking Interpol and the FBI should be checking where he's gone all over this world. You've got a serial killer here."

Brought in by the Holloway family, Dietl worked with the FBI during its sting to snare Van der Sloot for extortion, as well as attempt to gain evidence to prove he killed their 18-year-old daughter Natalee in 2005.

The private detective previously claimed the 22-year-old admitted to him he killed the Alabama high school student.

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PI: Joran Van der Sloot had $25K from FBI sting

 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A private investigator who helped build an extortion case against Joran Van der Sloot says the young Dutchman should have been arrested before he went to Peru.

Bo Dietl says FBI agents recorded a meeting last month in Aruba where Van der Sloot requested money from a lawyer for the family of Natalee Holloway in exchange for information about her 2005 disappearance

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