I'm trying to locate a friend who has gone missing and may be in a lot
of trouble. All I have to go on is her cell phone number. I've found
plenty of services that can tell me what calls were made from her
number but I'm also looking for a service that can tell me the 
approximate location of her cell phone.

I found something called 'Fugitive-Finder' which reportedly did just
that. Unfortunately they no longer seem to be operating. This seems
like the sort of thing a private investigator service would do.

Can you help?

Dear harry1967-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your very interesting question. In
years past I had been a supervisor of an Emergency 911 center for a
police agency. This of course was after cell phones became quite
popular but before the technology existed to pinpoint cellular phones
through an enhanced 911 system. In other words, cell phones were
everywhere and almost everyone has one, but 911 Operators had no
ability to determine where any given call was coming from.

Nowadays, this same Emergency 911 center has the technology to
pinpoint all cellular telephone calls within a 25-100 meter radius of
the caller. This is done with overlapping signal monitors that
triangulate in order to identify the most likely global positioning
coordinates. I tell you this in order to illustrate how difficult and
also rare this ability is, but also to explain how the process is
commonly done (the FCC has now mandated that this technology be
installed).

The services like the ones you mentioned are few and far between. I
had difficultly finding even one until I found I.C.U. Inc. ? then I
found out why that is:

Eventually I contacted Jill Landers of I.C.U. Inc. (a very friendly
and knowledgeable young lady, by the way) who gave me a brief
telephone class on how their system works. To my surprise she
explained why other companies are not more prevalent ? she told me
that ICU is one of the only companies providing this service; many of
the others (including ?Fugitive Finder? or ?Fugitive Locators? or
whatever name they may be going by) are actually BUYING the
information from ICU FIRST and then reselling it slightly higher to
their own customers!

For about $200.00 ICU, Inc. offers to locate a cellular telephone by
pinging the phone ? a kind of triangulation process similar to the one
I mentioned earlier. Ms. Landers explained that the cell phone appears
as a ?blip? on a screen. They provide the service 24 hours a day, 7
days a week in order to help locate missing persons, fugitives,
cheating spouses, etc. They regularly serve bondsmen, authorities,
investigators and many others. You will receive the results within 7
to 10 minutes of a successfully completed ping that will indicate
within approximately 50 feet, where the phone was located at the time
of the ping.

I.C.U. Inc.
http://www.tracerservices.com/cpl.htm
http://www.tracerservices.com/cplfaqs.htm

Phone 1-888-342-7737
Mon. - Fri. 9:00 - 5:00 PST

Fax 1-866-329-8787
24 Hours

So, according to ICU Inc. they are the most reliable source for this
type of information.

There is another source that was unable to contact so I can?t really
vouch for them, but here is their information:

Hi Tek Info
http://www.hitekinfo.com/links/Surveillance/
http://www.hitekinfo.com/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=638

Hi Tek Info also advertises a service but doesn?t go into great detail
about it. Reportedly this is a service used by professional
investigators to track cell phone locations.


I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

CELLULAR

MOBILE

CELL

PHONE

TELEPHONE

LOCATOR

PING

INVESTIGATOR

TRACER

TRIANGULATION

GPS

Thank you, the service you've found is exactly what I was looking for. 

Sadly, in the less than 24 hours between posting my question and your
prompt reply, her cell phone went dead. Unfortunately the service
you've found only works with a live cell phone.

I may still contact Jill Landers to find out if there are any other
avenues, but I'm losing hope.

Many thanks

Thank you for your much appreciated generosity!!!

tutuzdad-ga

The following opinion is *not* intended to impugn the motives of the
Asker but doesn't this kind of service just scare the heck out of
people?
I asked something similar last year: 

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=449852

Whatever happened to the presumption of privacy and personal security?
In some States the social security number is equal to the driver's
license number.  Renting a video usually requires ID like a driver's
license. I was once asked for social security number just to get a
library card.  What vetting of clients does this service do--I know,
its a "cheating" spouse, of course.

I remember a case in New Hampshire where a woman was stalked by a guy
who paid 109 bucks to a data aggregator for all her personal info like
residence and place of employment. He killed her.  The aggregator said
they were just supplying a demand for such data.

http://www.crimetime.com/stalker.htm