US citizen, is there a way to find out if he passed away ?

[jethro69]

Yes I know, the title sounds stupid.

So here's the story. Yesterday a girl from our village came to my house with a pile of paperwork, basically her whole liffe, and asked me if I could go through.

She's married to an US citizen, but I never saw one around and I know her for 9 years. So I assume he just left, for whatever reason. Among the papers, everything is translated, even the birth certificates of her children, so I tend to believe he was quite serious about taking her (them) over.

There's a copy of the guys passpor, if still alive, he would be 82 now. So, is there a way to find out if he's still alive or passed away? And it's not about money, because from pictures I saw, that guy apparantly lived in a trailer .

[Rc2702]

I think you could start by using Google and hoping his name is not too common.  Also some background info might be useful in identifying correct person. Given his age he may not be on social media but if you find people with the same (not common) surname you may at least find a relative who may be able to confirm if he is alive or not.

[Damrongsak]

Any indication of where he lived? Sometimes you can search on the various address/white pages sites by name and state. Sometimes an approximate age and former addresses will be listed.

 

I recently found out that an acquaintence had died.  All I knew was his nickname, last name and the town he lived in.  I added "obituary" to the search and found out he died last year. PM me if you need help - I'm pretty good at searches.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Damrongsak

[Jingthing]

If the easy ways don't pan out, see if you find out his social security number. That can much more useful than a passport number (which changes). With that, there are probably online firms in the U.S. that can research this if the actual social security office wouldn't give out that info for free if you can show a credible reason and connection. Social security is very interested if older Americans are living or dead. 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Jingthing

[jethro69]

Thanks for your help guys, had a second glance through the paperwork, to see if I could find a social security number (how many digits ?, I have no clue, not from US), however I found a certified copy of a birth certificate, which I did oversee the other day. I'm pretty sure that will bring me much further in my investigations.

[Damrongsak]

U.S. social security numbers are 9 digit:  nnn-nn-nnnn

[jethro69]

Thank you guys, I just found it, he passed away just a couple of months ago.

[Damrongsak]

I wonder if he left anything of value that she would be entitled to, even if she was not in the will.  Doesn't appear that she could collect his Social Security, being a non-citizen who hasn't resided in the U.S or has been outside the U.S. for awhile.

 

I found that my acquaintance had died and his 93 year old Dad, whom he had been caring for, died 3 months later.  Sad.  In the past, this fellow had been assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group , Bangkok, and spent 19 mos running long range patrols into N VN, Cambodia, and Laos. Then took an A team into the Mekong Delta (IV Corps, VN).  Tough guy.

[jethro69]

Found just a gov site from the state of Missouri, but of course, they do nothing for free. I guess if you got a matching state, name/first name/middle name, and birth date, you could be pretty sure to have found the right guy. However, still try to dig a bit, makes fun now.

If I really found the right one he was a SSGT US AIR FORCE with Korea and Vietnam behind him.