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.

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.

A friend would be lost to you if you don't have contact with them anymore: no social media accounts, not knowing their current phone number, email address or home address.

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.

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.

Show the photo to people in the area he was last seen or where you know he spent time in.

Search for her name on social media and other places across the web. If she used her real name on her profile, you can probably contact her. You can also use a website like TruthFinder or AnyWho. These websites may give you her phone number, email address, and names of relatives. Some info is available for free, but you need to pay money to see more. If you have contact info for any of her relatives or friends in areas where she used to hang out, you can ask them where she is, and they might have an answer.

Look for them on social media, and see if you can contact their other friends there, too.

With that info you can ask someone else who may know him if there's something important that needs to be done. If not, just forget about it. It sounds like he doesn't want to be found.

It's really unlikely for a person to have died without a single trace of it, unless you only knew them online and they never revealed their real name. Some obituaries are private however, but it's rare. If you know this person's name, you can search on sites like FindAGrave or Legacy.com and something might come up. You should also ask anyone who might know the person, tell them the missing person's interests, name, and anything else you know. The person might be still alive but off the Internet.

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 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.

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.

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.