Missing Child Investigation Support in Colorado

01The first minutes

Call Law Enforcement Immediately, Then Gather Details

When a child is missing, call 911 or your local police or sheriff right away. Do not wait to see if the child comes home, and do not call a private investigator first. Law enforcement can enter the child into state and national systems, issue bulletins and request alerts, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Missing Persons Unit becomes involved only after a local agency is notified. Every minute spent elsewhere delays those tools. Our Colorado investigators begin only after the report exists, and we will tell you to call police if you have not.

While officers respond, gather what they will need: recent photos, height, weight and clothing; the child's phone, accounts and usernames; friends and their parents' numbers; medical needs; and any custody order or parenting plan. If a parent or relative may have the child, include that person's vehicle, plate, phone, workplace and likely destinations. Write down when and where the child was last seen and by whom. Families in a custody dispute should also contact their lawyer, and our Colorado attorney services explain how we support counsel.

• Recent photos, description and clothing
• Phone, accounts and usernames
• Friends, relatives and likely destinations
• Custody orders or parenting plans

02State alerts

How AMBER Alerts and Other Colorado Alerts Work

The CBI administers Colorado's AMBER Alert, added to its Missing Persons Unit duties in 2002. According to the Bureau, all four criteria must be met: the abducted child is 17 or younger, the child is believed to be in immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death, there is enough descriptive information that a broadcast could help, and a law enforcement agency requests the alert. Alerts are not mandatory; they are one of several tools available. Private citizens cannot request an AMBER Alert, and neither can a private investigator. Our Denver investigators help families prepare information the agency can use quickly.

When a case does not meet AMBER criteria, other tools may still apply. The CBI also runs a media alert for endangered missing people, a Developmental Disabilities Alert and a Missing Indigenous Person Alert, along with posters and bulletins, and our Lakewood investigators work near the unit's office when coordination helps. As the state clearinghouse under C.R.S. § 24-33.5-415.1, the unit compares new student records with missing children reports and supports families through victim advocates. If you believe an alert is warranted, raise it with the investigating officer, and see our adult missing person searches when an older teen has turned 18.

03Parental abduction

Parental Abduction and Custody Order Violations

Many missing child cases involve a family member. C.R.S. § 18-3-304 generally makes it a crime for any person, including a parent, to take or entice a child under 18 from a lawful custodian knowing there is no legal privilege to do so, or to violate a Colorado court order allocating parental responsibilities with intent to deprive the other party of custody. Either offense is generally a class 5 felony, and removing the child from the country makes it a class 4 felony. The statute includes affirmative defenses, such as a reasonable belief that the conduct was necessary to protect the child from danger.

Those rules make documentation important for both sides. Where the order says, when exchanges were missed, what messages were sent and where the child has been seen all matter to police, prosecutors and the family court. We document whereabouts lawfully, from public places, and build a dated timeline for counsel, and when the other parent may be staying with relatives, our missing family member searches identify where those relatives live. If the other parent claims they acted to protect the child, counsel needs facts about that too, and we report them honestly. Our guide to child custody investigations in Colorado and out-of-state surveillance service cover related work.

04Runaways and online contact

Teens Who Run Away or Are Lured Through Apps

Teenagers who leave home voluntarily are still at risk, and police should be called just as quickly. Runaways often stay with friends, a boyfriend or girlfriend or someone they met online, and their phones and social media accounts usually hold the best clues. Parents may be able to review a minor's accounts they already have lawful access to and should share what they find with police rather than confronting anyone. Older adults who contact a child online in a way that suggests grooming or exploitation should be reported to law enforcement immediately.

We help families and police by researching the people a child has been in contact with through lawful public sources, identifying addresses and vehicles connected to them and checking places a teen is likely to go, such as a friend's home, a transit hub or a former school, using the same lawful methods as our Colorado surveillance investigations. We never impersonate a child or anyone else online and do not access accounts without lawful authority. Persistent harassment of a child online is documented through our cyber bullying investigations, and our dating background checks can identify an adult who has been contacting a teen.

05What we add

The Limited, Useful Role of a Private Team

Police lead every missing child case; we never work around them. What a private team adds is dedicated time. We can organize a family's information into a usable case file, research addresses, vehicles, court filings and employment for a parent or adult the child may be with, check hospitals, shelters and transit points in the areas involved and canvass where the child was last seen. Each lead goes to the investigating officer as soon as it is found, in writing, so nothing is lost between agencies. Records research runs through our records-based locate team, and our Colorado Springs investigators handle southern Front Range field checks.

We are careful about what we do not do. We do not recover children ourselves or take a child from anyone, because custody enforcement belongs to police and the courts. We do not publish a family's information online without their direction. We do not pay for tips or contact a suspected abductor directly. Families sometimes ask whether a private search can move faster than police; the honest answer is that it can add hours of focused work, not replace legal powers, as our guide to what investigators can legally do explains.

06Family court

Parenting Time, Best Interests and the Automatic Injunction

Colorado uses the term allocation of parental responsibilities rather than custody. Under C.R.S. § 14-10-124, courts decide parenting time and decision-making based on the child's best interests, giving paramount consideration to the child's safety, and they weigh factors such as each parent's willingness to encourage the child's relationship with the other parent. There is no presumption of equal parenting time. A parent who hides a child or blocks contact may find that conduct weighed against them, which is why accurate documentation matters.

Divorce filings add another protection. Under C.R.S. § 14-10-107(4)(b), an automatic temporary injunction takes effect on filing and personal service and generally bars either party from removing the children from Colorado without the other's consent or a court order. Serving the respondent promptly therefore matters, and our evasive person locates help counsel serve a parent who is avoiding papers. Background on a new partner living with the child can be researched through our Colorado potential tenant and household screening methods where counsel requests it.

07Distance, jurisdiction and cost

Interstates, State Lines, Tribal Land and Cost

Colorado's highways make leaving easy. I-25 runs from New Mexico to Wyoming, I-70 from Utah to Kansas, and Denver International Airport handled more than 82 million passengers in 2025. A child can be out of state within hours, so we work national records early and coordinate with counsel on interstate custody steps. Delator also works in neighboring Wyoming, where our Wyoming investigators can follow leads. In southwest Colorado, cases touching Southern Ute or Ute Mountain Ute lands may involve tribal police and tribal courts, and jurisdiction depends on the facts, so counsel should confirm it early.

Remote records work on one adult connected to the case is $102. Field work is billed at $100 per hour, with a $1,000 minimum for field-work skip traces, and travel is quoted in writing first. When a task belongs to police rather than to us, we tell you before any work is billed. Colorado no longer licenses private investigators at the state level, so families should vet any firm; Delator is a licensed Tennessee firm and works to Tennessee's standard here. Rates are on our Colorado service pricing page.

Services

Missing child investigation support services in Colorado

• Family case filePhotos, descriptions, accounts, contacts, custody orders and timelines organized into a case file that police, counsel and our investigators can all work from.Learn more
• Records research on adults involvedAddresses, vehicles, employment and court filings for a parent or adult the child may be with, researched through lawful, permissible-purpose sources.Learn more
• Place and contact checksFriends' homes, transit points, shelters and places a child or teen is likely to go checked and canvassed, with every lead passed to police.Learn more
• Custody order documentationLawful, dated documentation of a child's whereabouts and missed exchanges for counsel when a parent violates an order allocating parental responsibilities.Learn more
• Online contact researchPublic research on people contacting a child online, identifying real names, addresses and vehicles without impersonating anyone or accessing private accounts.Learn more
• Out-of-state follow-upNational records work and field follow-up in other states when a child may have been taken across state lines, coordinated with counsel at each step.Learn more
• Service on the other parentLocation and service of divorce or custody papers on a parent avoiding contact, so court orders and the automatic injunction take effect promptly.Learn more
• Household background researchBackground research on a new partner or adult living with a child, requested by counsel and run through lawful sources for use in family court.Learn more
• Written reports for courtDated written reports and timelines prepared for family court or criminal proceedings, with investigators available to testify about how facts were gathered.Learn more

How it works

How Colorado missing child support runs

1. 01

   Confirm police involvement

   We confirm a report exists with the case number and officer. If no report has been made, we tell the family to call 911 or local police before anything else.

2. 02

   Organize what the family knows

   We build a case file of photos, accounts, contacts, orders and timelines, and share it with the investigating officer so the agency has everything in one place.

3. 03

   Research and field checks

   Records research on adults involved and checks of likely places begin promptly, with each lead sent to the officer in writing as soon as it is confirmed.

4. 04

   Court support and reports

   Counsel receives dated reports and timelines for family court or criminal proceedings, and our investigators remain available to testify about how each fact was gathered.

Compare

Who handles what when a child is missing in Colorado

Statewide coverage

Missing child support across Colorado

Denver metro families and counsel are supported by investigators assigned to Denver and Aurora, close to the CBI Missing Persons Unit in Lakewood and to Denver International Airport. Southern Front Range cases run through Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and northern Colorado cases near the Wyoming line through Greeley and Fort Collins. Southwest cases, where tribal jurisdiction may apply, are handled through Durango. Every family has one point of contact and one written scope, and every lead we develop goes to the investigating agency first.

• Denver
• Aurora
• Colorado Springs
• Pueblo
• Greeley
• Durango
• All of Colorado

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Every service

Investigations available in Colorado

Every service below is available in Colorado and across Colorado, run by the same Delator Group leadership that manages our Tennessee casework. Choose a service to read how it works in Colorado.

Service areas

Private investigators across Colorado