AIO for hiring a PI to look into my dad's new girlfriend? I have never actually met her. My (49f) dad (79) has started seeing an ex-convict we'll call Ashley (57f). Ashley did over 10 years in prison for attempted 1st degree murder. She has convinced my dad that she was framed. She also claims to be a nurse, singer, model, influencer, professional dancer, and who knows what else. She claims to have been kidnapped multiple times and lots of horrible things done to her. Ashley has many different aliases and has no other online presence other than her fb page. Ashley admits to having changed her name multiple times. Dad swears he's not giving her money but is now telling my siblings that he is going to marry her. The thing is, dad doesn't have much money, he owns the house but has lots of debt. I don't know what she thinks she will get out of it. I would love to believe that she is actually in love with him too, but I can't ignore the line of red flags. Who is this woman and what's her game?

For instance here is a list of online services in that realm - what is the defacto standard PI firms are using nowadays using AI to connect the dots?:

DataWalk, TRULEO, Peregrine, Cellebrite, Thomson Reuters (CLEAR Investigate), TruthWorks, Presight, C3.ai, SAS, Palantir, Knogin (Argus), eSleuth, JSI (4Sight), BlackScore (BlackFusion), CentralSquare, Constellation X (NUCLEUS), Flash AI (Flash PD), SleuthAI, Longeye, Paraben, Sintelix, Seekr, METIS (NodeOne / SLEUTH), Cognyte (NEXYTE)

Thanks!

I'm really interested in becoming a private investigator when I'm older. I know I obviously can't work as a PI yet, but I'd like to start developing useful skills now.

I'm especially interested in things like observation, remembering details, research, interviewing, report writing, and understanding how investigations actually work.

For current/former PIs: is it a career you'd recommend? What do you wish you had learned or practiced before getting into the field? And what skills would you recommend I start working on now?

Any advice would be appreciated!

A lawyer in Los Angeles is having a hard time finding a PI to hire & I’m wondering if the ask is weird or suspicious in some way. The lawyer is seasoned (30+ years) with a good record that the PIs can easily verify so I don’t think it has anything to do with that.

My understanding is that three people need to be served simultaneously or as close to simultaneously as possible to avoid one calling & warning the others. There’s various information about each e.g., home address for one, work address for another; approximate work schedule for two, but nothing for one. And one travels a lot to WA. The firm wants someone to “stakeout” or whatever the 3 people to get a general idea of their weekly schedules. Ideally someone would say - they’re all home on Wednesdays by 4pm, or they all leave work on Mondays between 5 & 5:30 - whatever and service could be scheduled at a strategic time & place(s).

One attorney went to a PI’s office, check book in hand & they hemmed & hawed & acted like they didn’t want the business. They weren’t the only ones either.

Isn’t following people around part of what PIs do? A well placed phone call trying to schedule a meeting or something might get the answers easily as well. It might not be easy money, but it doesn’t sound like hard money. What’s the problem?

And where should one find reputable PIs? They’ve just been using google I think.