There are times when the authorities may not be the best source of help, and in the case of six-year-old Colton O’Neal, this is certainly true.

Countless children go missing every year. Some of them are lucky to be found, but many stay on the missing lists, their faces buried under new ones as time passes. Colton O’Neal might have the same unfortunate plight if not for concerned loved ones and the generous and efficient services of a private investigator.

Daniel O’Neal was wanted for sexually molesting his teenage daughter and evading prosecution. Nevertheless, he was able to abscond from authorities and take his six-year-old son Colton with him.

Tracy Gibson, a resident of Griffin, Georgia, and ex-wife to Daniel, teamed up with Olivia Dupree, the boy’s mother in hopes of recovering the boy. The two had launched a website to gain more exposure for the missing the boy. They had already expressed their impatience with the lackluster response from the FBI.  According to the website, an Atlanta FBI agent had informed Dupree that the case “was not a priority” and that he “had other things to do with”. Gibson had been given a similar answer for her inquiries.

WASHINGTON — A 6-year-old Georgia boy is back home in Villa Rica after his fugitive father was discovered hiding out with the boy at a Mexican resort. Daniel O’Neal, who is now in Miami awaiting extradition to Cobb County, faces charges of sexually molesting a teen-age daughter from a previous marriage and flight to avoid prosecution.

From Police to Private Investigators
In the end, Tracy Gibson had to turn to a private investigator for help. She was able to make her acquaintance with a private investigator commonly hired by celebrities. Jake Schmidt had offices in Beverly Hills, California, and he had accepted Tracy Gibson’s case pro bono. Finding missing children was something Schmidt took on several times a year as they were cases that federal authorities commonly considered as an annoyance.

It only took Schmidt less than a month to find the boy. By then, Colton had been virtually missing for a year in a half. Schmidt’s leads pointed him to a Mexican phone number and which later turned out to belong to Daniel O’Neal. The private investigator located father and son in a Mexican resort and when Daniel admitted his identity, Mexican authorities immediately arranged his deportation. Mother and son were then reunited in Miami amidst media frenzy.

image credits to sxc.hu

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