Q&A for How to Find a Lost Friend

If you have tried the methods in the article and have had no success, you could try placing an ad to find them on classified websites.

Did you try asking your parents? Adults often know the last names of their neighbors. Are you in touch with anyone else who lived in that neighborhood or anyone that person might have gone to school with? Try reaching out to people on social media and asking if anyone has any information.

If this friend means a lot to you then keep trying. Try to think of someplace that she mentioned that she would like to go to like to live.

The best bet would be to see if you can find her on social media.

Get in touch with people who knew your friend. They may have updated contact information. You can also try searching on Facebook, especially on the profiles of your mutual friends who may be Facebook friends with that person.

Try searching for her on social media sites. If you find someone that you think looks like her, send her a message and explain that you are looking for a friend with the same name.

Try to find her relatives or friends on the internet. If you know the city where is she now, you can find a Facebook page about this city and try to ask there. If you have her old photos you can try to find her page in the social networks.

She might also have closed her Facebook account. If you know anyone who knows her, try contacting them and asking them if she is still using Facebook, or if they know any alternative ways you could get in touch with her.

Try showing the photograph to some people who might know that person. If you can find out the name of the person, do a search for them on Facebook or Google to try to find out more about them. If you can locate an email address, send them a message.

Do you know anyone who might know them, might have gone to school with them, worked with them, or be related to them? Without a name, this is probably the only way to find them. Ask around.

You'd have to remember other important details that will help distinguish your friend, such as hometown or middle name. Otherwise, trying to find your lost friend will be nearly impossible. Try to remember specific locations you last saw them in (neighborhoods, schools, small towns, not broad areas like "USA" or "New York City"), as well as other people who knew them. Without a specific location or a clear photo of them, you probably won't find them at all.

Contact the funeral home listed in the obituary. You can do this in person, on their social media or via email or phone call. Give them specific information about your friend such as a picture of her. They can probably verify if the woman in the obituary is the same person as your friend. If this is not possible, the only other thing you can do is ask people in the town you last saw her in or the town that's mentioned in the obituary.

If they used a unique screen name, then type it in a search engine and see if you can find any other results, as many people use the same username across different sites. Also, to help narrow it down, search for other terms related to them, like specific hobbies, interests, as well as their location, birthday, and photo of themselves if they shared it.

Ask your grandparents, other relatives, and other people you know who lived nearby if they know where he has gone, and start from there. If you search for his location, nickname, and names of his siblings online, it might be specific enough that you could find him. Search schools and even funeral homes in that location in case any of them died.

If he died recently, it may not have been published yet. Obituaries are usually written and posted within a week of the person's death. There is also the possibility they kept his obituary private.

Obituaries are almost always public, but there are rare cases of them being deleted or edited to protect a family's privacy.

Search for their names and known locations online and see if you can find any contact info or social media profiles. Go to the website of her employer and explain that you are her friend and want to know where she is and if she is still working there or not. Don't forget to ask other people who knew them.

New York is a big place. You would have to remember specific locations like boroughs, neighborhoods, avenues, and small towns, within the state, where they might have lived. Remember any places like schools they attended or companies they worked for. Ask around places you know they lived. Search for their name online as well.

He may have a different phone number now. Try calling his other friends in the city or his employer. They may know what happened to him. Do a search for his name online, too, as it could be a hint to his whereabouts.

Just call the number and say something like, "Hello, this is [your name]. Is [friend's name] there?" Or you could have one of your other friends call if you're too afraid to do it. If the number is still attached to him, he may respond. If that is not his number anymore, it will either hang up or the person on the other end will say you have the wrong number. If his number doesn't work anymore, call his acquaintances or look online or go to places he used to frequent.

If you are ever in any of the towns they last resided in, ask people if they know either of your friends or know what happened to them. Look in places where they regularly hung out. Search online for their names together and separately, too, in case they later divorced or if one of them passed away.

If you can, investigate the person who told you that. A person with an established online identity probably wouldn't lie about something like that. If the person's account is new, it is possible they are lying. Ask other friends and see if they know anything.

Since you only knew them online with no information tracing back to the real world, you would have to remember their unique screen name at least, along with identifying traits/interests (favorite shows, games, personality, name of pet, etc.), and any community they might have frequented. If you know any of their friends, ask them what happened. If they showed a drawing or avatar of themselves, remember that as well. It is possible they are busy with school, perhaps moving to college, a new job, or other big changes in their life, and they want some personal time for themselves.

Search for their real name or screen name. If they are dead, it is likely an obituary or death announcement would show up. You might have to dig deeper and even look for results within websites that might not show up in a general search engine. Find their other online friends and see if they posted anything about them. Ask them, too.

Type their name without quotation marks into a search engine or people-finder website, and it might come up with similar names that might be them. Also, do you remember anything else about them, like what school they went to, or do you know any of their relatives? The more info you have about them, the easier it will be to track them down.

If you are in the area where the old school is, ask people who you think might know him, including staff members at the school and his friends and relatives. Don't forget to search for him online. He might have moved too.

Did this friend suddenly delete all their profiles entirely or are they idling but inactive for a long time? Either way, you need to at least know their screen name, their interests, their friends and others who interacted with them, and of course what websites they were active on. If you know someone who knew them, ask them, especially if they were even closer and even more especially if they knew them in person.

You would have to know other important details, such as their location, friends, their screen name if they used one, and other identifying information. Ask people who interacted with them. They might have deleted their social media accounts for a good reason, so don't be surprised if they don't want to talk to you.

Go to a search engine and type in her first name, both of her last names and the name of the school she attended. Also, ask people who went to the same school or lived in the same location if they know where she is.

Type his name into a search engine. If he has a fairly common name, you'll have to include more details, such as the city you last saw him in.