Latest / The Unscripted Investigator Podcast / Behind the Scenes of a Murder Case - Episode 4
Transcript
- Daniel: Welcome back everybody to the unscripted investigator podcast with Austin the PI and Daniel. Austin The PI: Also Dale. Daniel: I thought you were gonna do my intro. Austin The PI: yeah. D Snizzle, the Gliz Doctor, Daniel Feppy, that's my boy, Daniel Bowden Marketing. Daniel: There it is. Br. Austin The PI: Get get. Daniel: I gotta pull out the the super obnoxious soundboard. All right. we don't even have a an air horn. Yeah. Austin The PI: Episode four, man. It's it's already been it's already been like a little bit since we've been doing this. I again, Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: I said it last week. I was thinking about this all day. Daniel: Facts. Same this week for me. Austin The PI: And you know it's been cool. I was talking to you before the show, but I've been I've been getting questions and feedback about the podcast already. It's only one episode and Daniel: Right. Right. Austin The PI: I'm excited. People are excited about this. They like are hitting me up. It's cool. Daniel: Yeah, because we are recording episode for today, but so far we've only released the first episode. And Austin The PI: Right. Daniel: so, like you said, we're already getting good feedback. We had someone in our Instagram DMs tell us that like they were gonna share it with their PI group in Oklahoma, I think it was, which was super nice. Austin The PI: Mm. Daniel: You were saying you shared a message with me about Someone was listening to it who was like training to become a PI and found a lot of like really insightful content from it, which was really cool. Austin The PI: Yeah, that stuff is really rewarding 'cause as you know, I'm super passionate about like the education piece. And so seeing that actually happen when we're just talking, you know? Like Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: we're just shooting the breeze. That's pretty fun. Daniel: Yeah, no, that is super cool. And I didn't even really think about that, honestly. You might you probably thought about that more, but I just kind of thought about it as like a cool chance for you to share your stories more in depth and for me to kind of listen to them a little bit. but I guess yeah, there's tons of people out there who are learning a lot. Well, not tons, there's like thirty four. One one Austin The PI: Hey, we're getting there. Daniel: day there'll be tons. Austin The PI: Yeah, we're we're vibing. This is gonna we're gonna look back in a year or or two years and be like, dang, that was episode four. And it's gonna be a fun Daniel: True. Austin The PI: memory. Daniel: Yeah, that's right. Hey, but we've come a long way. I have upgraded my mic. Austin The PI: It's no green spoon. Daniel: To match your style somewhat. I was actually Austin The PI: Yeah, no. Daniel: I spent like ten minutes looking for something that I could actually clip this onto and hold. It was actually a lot harder than you might think. Austin The PI: For the people watching online, it is a surprisingly small clip on these things. Daniel: It is. But Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: fun fact about my microphone holder for those who aren't watching, it is a a recent purchase. I actually purchased this in the mail to make cocktails. It's a double strainer or just a strainer. so that was the thought, but now it's dual purpose. Austin The PI: And something that I always say to Daniel when he says the word thought, I always say, you would thought. And that's Daniel: I don't even think I said thought. Austin The PI: you did. but but thought for those who don't you know is an abbreviation for that ho over there. and so I I speak to Daniel like that pretty frequently. Daniel: That's right. Indeed. Austin The PI: Yep. Daniel: All right. Austin The PI: All right, let maybe we keep it moving. Daniel: Let's get into it. yeah, we got some we Austin The PI: What's what's Daniel: got the usual lineup today. We got a video for you to react to that you might have already seen. I actually spoiler alert, I sent it to you earlier today, so I hope you didn't watch it, but Instagram did say that you had seen it. we'll get we'll Austin The PI: Mm. Daniel: get into it later. You have a story, more importantly, that Austin The PI: Yep. Daniel: is a new one. And I'm a little afraid to touch it. Austin The PI: Well, good news is you don't actually have to touch it. all auditory. I that might be surprising, but I'm just Daniel: Perfect. Austin The PI: gonna speak it. Yeah. No, I think Daniel: Great. Austin The PI: what Daniel what Daniel means by that is this one's a little sensitive. Yeah. Daniel: Touch on it. Yeah. Austin The PI: Well, good news is you don't have to touch on it either. In it, around it. Okay, Daniel: Perfect. Austin The PI: that's enough of that. I'm obviously in a mood. so Basically, this story is a criminal case that we have to we have to prance around, as it were. Daniel: Brands. Austin The PI: Yeah. We all know how I Daniel: Good. Austin The PI: like to prance. So Yeah, we'll we'll get to Daniel: Yep. That's what I always say. Austin The PI: that. But I've got a a really interesting piece of that story that I like to talk about and it's kind of a nerdy part. So you guys are all gonna get to nerd out with me on this. and Daniel, I Daniel: Can't wait. Austin The PI: think you specifically will find this interesting. It's a it's a Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: very niche and weird project I had to do. so we'll we'll get there. But Daniel: Well, I am a nerd, so we'll all be nerdin' Austin The PI: Yeah. And then finally we'll have we'll have question and answer. Daniel: That's right. Austin The PI: but you know, I'm springing this on Daniel, but last time we did this the story in the middle. you know how I like to get all lubed up for a good story. Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: But I will leave it to you. What do you want to do? You want to go first with the clip? You want to go first with the story? I can do a story dry. Daniel: I think we've switched it up, to be honest, but it's okay. I think we should intro with the clip. Austin The PI: All right, let's do it. I like that better. Daniel: Since you're feeling you're feeling in a mood. Austin The PI: I'm in a mood. I'd like to I'd like to carry that mood the rest of the episode. yeah. Daniel: Same. Let's get into it. Austin The PI: I'm wear I'm wearing my Patagonia socks right now. If that tells you anything. Daniel: I'm wearing my Bombas wool quarter length socks. They're nice. Austin The PI: I feel like that would make me sweat out my pits, dude. Daniel: I like to be warm. Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: All right. Here we go. no. Austin The PI: Wait, you forgot the click track. Daniel: Nice. Austin The PI: There we go. Now I'm ready. Daniel: All right. Segment two or one, whichever one we're on, is for everyone watching, you'll be able to see it. It's an Instagram clip. For everyone listening, we'll just have to wait to see what happens. We're gonna have to figure this out. All right. Comment is DoorDash is the or the caption is DoorDash is the best private investigator. Did you see this yet? Austin The PI: No, no. Daniel: perfect. Ready? Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: He's nodding like he's seen this before. Austin The PI: We'll get to it. Daniel: There it is. Austin The PI: Yes, I this is a remake of the one that I saw or vice versa. Whatever. Daniel: Okay. Austin The PI: I have seen this and basically I think that you know what? If you can't afford a private investigator, whatever. This is fine. There's nothing illegal or or wrong with this. Yeah. I would probably just get a friend to do it. Like a friend that but, you know, then they might Daniel: If you can't afford a private investigator and you don't have any friends, let the DoorDash person do it. And you only have ten dollars. Austin The PI: Yeah, and y and you you're just lonely. Well, but then then you have to think about like, do you want your friends talking about the fact that your spouse might be over at somebody's house? There's a lot that goes into that consideration. And you're not gonna know the DoorDash driver, right? In most scenarios. You might. Daniel: Isn't also I didn't like fully register the clip because it was a very annoying voice, but I Austin The PI: Yes. Daniel: think it said to take a picture of the person in the house. Austin The PI: I don't remember that, but I remember it said like Daniel: Okay, maybe it didn't maybe I made that up. Austin The PI: I just wanna know what cars are in the driveway. Daniel: cars in the driveway. Okay. Cause I was gonna say you posted a video too recently about taking pictures of the inside of people's houses. Austin The PI: That was today. Yeah. Daniel: That was today, right. Austin The PI: I posted that today. well before I Daniel: Which is a gray area nonetheless. Austin The PI: Right. And I will share that. Before I talk talk about that, on the screen for those listening, the reason I was leaning so closely into my computer a second ago is because I had no idea. I was like, did they deliver this hard boiled egg? But the answer is no. They just were cutting that as like a TikTok clip. They were cutting the hard boiled egg with a string so that people Daniel: Right. Austin The PI: would be like, What the heck are they doing? Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: Which is smart, but that paired with the voice is really annoying, to be honest. Daniel: Agreed. I kind of was hoping that it was gonna be cake. Austin The PI: Yeah. And it in fact it was just a square hard boiled egg. Yeah. Daniel: It is a very straight edged and not round egg. Austin The PI: Yeah. I like to imagine that that was just a really boxy chicken. but yeah, so do I think that's a good idea to have someone do this? No. The answer's no. because you can't use it for anything, like it's it's only for your personal gain, right? Like Daniel: What if they get a picture? Like what if the DoorDash driver actually did take the photo of the bag delivered, but like the cars were in the background with the license plate numbers? Austin The PI: Now now that is something that could be argued in court and so it it could be usable. Daniel: Or what if they're they the two people were in the background of the photo? Austin The PI: That I mean, again, could be usable. But then then you would Daniel: But it's still not them a a picture of them like kissing or something. Austin The PI: Yeah, which you don't have to have a picture of them kissing necessarily. That does show like like public display of affection, but you don't necessarily have to have that. If you just have them going in the house for an extended period, Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: then that's that's good. Daniel: Really? Austin The PI: yeah, so it might not be proof for court. 'Cause there's like this whole loop that you have to close typically with with attorneys. That's what they want to see, depending on the state. But but yeah, it it could be helpful for just figuring it out for yourself. There's something to be said for that, right? Like having peace of mind as their spouse. and so I think this is genius for that. But more often than not, it's for court that that I would be doing this type of case. Yeah. Daniel: Somebody was thinking. Someone was being creative. Austin The PI: Yeah. But yeah, I I like the creativity, that's for sure. they should be a private investigator themselves with that creativity. Because Daniel: There you go. Austin The PI: that's something that a lot of private investigators lack is creativity. Get kind of Daniel: Hmm, I could see that. Austin The PI: like s stuck in the rut. But let's talk about the filming through the window, because that has set some people off in the comments today. Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: basically the idea is that. If you follow somebody, so I told a story about how I followed somebody to the house and they got down to business with the windows open. Yeah. Let's get down to business to defeat. Daniel: The Hans. Austin The PI: The Huns. gosh, I'm so proud of you, dude. But yeah, so basically you cannot film in a window. Daniel: That's my first public singing debut. Austin The PI: It was great, dude. You nailed it. Little Daniel: Thanks. That is not your first. You were You were Ryan in high school musical. Austin The PI: Yeah, laugh it up dude. That's so funny. That's hilarious. Daniel: Sorry, sidetracked with the fedora and everything. You used to rock that fedora. Austin The PI: No, it's okay. It was it was funny. I I used to, and that was a mistake. But you know what? My first ever post on Insta Daniel: Bring the fedor back. That's very PI of you. Austin The PI: My first ever post on Instagram was in was in a fedora. Daniel: You're just gonna no ignore that. Once Daniel starts talking? okay. Austin The PI: Brokey chill. Well you don't take it so personally, dude. Daniel: Why don't you run that one back? What did you say? Your very fur this is a fun fact. Your very first Instagram post? Austin The PI: Yeah, and I said it was in a fedora, but I was wrong. It was actually in an Amish hat. And it didn't fit my head. And my parents and I were driving up to to New York and we went through Pennsylvania and went through Amish Country and for some Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: reason we we bought a hat. Yeah. Daniel: Wow. I don't know what you Austin The PI: Yeah, it was awesome. Daniel: mean do you mean like a is it like round? Austin The PI: a straw, yeah it's it's it's round like this, but then has a flat top and then a a flat brim. It's it's like really hard pressed straw. Daniel: We have different ideas of what an Amish hat is. Austin The PI: That's fine. Daniel: But I think yours is more accurate. Austin The PI: It's kinda like a top hat, but made out of straw. And not not quite as tall. Daniel: Yeah, I'm imagining a top hat that's like round, like a forel type hat. Do you know what I'm talking about? Austin The PI: Yeah. Yeah, you're talking about like a like a ten gallon hat. Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: Yeah. Nice, Daniel: That's right. Austin The PI: dude. What if we got you know what? We can't get too far off. So when you're filming in a window, let's get back to that. When you're filming in a window, so some people made some good points. When you're filming from public property, you can technically film whatever you see, right? Daniel: Mm, mm. Austin The PI: You technically can. They're not wrong about that. But Daniel: Makes sense. Austin The PI: If you take it into court, so like it's not legal or illegal, but if you take it into court, the judge has the opportunity to throw it out. I think people think that the law is so black and white, but if it was, we wouldn't have trials. Like to or I should say we wouldn't have sentencings. So sentencing, like you can get Daniel: Hm, Austin The PI: The minimum or you can get the maximum. Yes. So there's like Daniel: like very variance in length of sentencing. Austin The PI: but within that, there's also like a varying degree of judgment that the the judge can pass, right? Daniel: Right. Austin The PI: So in this instance, even though you can film from public property, the judge can be like, Well, I actually think they had a reasonable expectation of privacy. So I'm not gonna allow that. There's not any law that says That he has to do that, Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: but he can do it. And I've seen that happen. Daniel: So the the the person would have the evidence, but it would be like null to some degree because of how it was obtained. Austin The PI: Right. He is he is basically saying in this instance, I'm gonna call that it inadmissible. So you can't use it. Daniel: Inadmissible. Austin The PI: Yeah, so it's not admissible in court. Yeah, no no. Think Daniel: No, no. Austin The PI: egg think again. We won. Daniel: Uh-uh, inadmissible. Wow. Austin The PI: Try again. Daniel: The more you know. Austin The PI: The more yeah Beans Beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot. Daniel: We're going way off topic tonight. Austin The PI: The more you toot, the better you feel. so beans beans for every meal. Daniel: I don't know that part. Austin The PI: You're welcome, dude. Daniel: Wow. I that's like a verse two. Austin The PI: Yeah. If you if you ever need things to I don't know, just like things to add to your life, just let me know. Daniel: That's great stuff. Austin The PI: I mean w what are you gonna do? Daniel: Well, no, that's that's interesting. More to come on that, potentially. Austin The PI: Yeah. I think that I think that Daniel: We'll see what the comments keep saying. Austin The PI: I think that rounds us out nicely to the next portion of the show. Daniel: I agree. You got a story for us? Bedtime story in your in your deep voice. Austin The PI: I can do that. Click track please. Daniel: Next segment. Austin The PI: Now it's now it's time for bedtime Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: stories with Alston. I'm your host Daniel: yeah. Austin The PI: Alston. Daniel: Please do the whole story like that. Austin The PI: I'm your host Austin Feppy. Yeah, baby. Daniel: All right. Austin The PI: Alright. Okay. Well, so can't can't talk too much about the details. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You you throw Daniel: Right, hold on. Let me set this up since we're getting into it. Austin The PI: this way o yeah, you throw this up. Daniel: Yeah. Alright. Alright. I can't even get that low. Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: Yeah. Alright, so all I know about this story have I heard this story before? Austin The PI: I can't imagine that I did not share this with you. So you might put it together when we're talking about it, but maybe not. I don't know. Daniel: Right. And maybe it was a while ago, so I'm I Austin The PI: it it would have been like a long time ago. Daniel: I probably have forgotten. So this is my first time hearing this story. So just like everyone else out there, all I know about the story is it's different, it's a little more sensitive. Austin can't go as in depth on this story as he has in some of the previous episodes, but It's not that he doesn't give w he doesn't want to give y'all the tea, it's that he can't, he shouldn't, he's legally obligated to not. Austin The PI: Yeah, yeah, a little bit of all of that. It's not expressly said that I can't, but it would be it would be unethical. Yeah. Daniel: Unbecoming. Austin The PI: It wouldn't be it would be unethical. Unbecoming is I mean, a good word. Daniel: As a private investigator. Austin The PI: Yeah, yeah. As as the type of investigator that I was that I was during this case. Daniel: Okay, so you need to be careful, but what tell us what you can Share. Give us the give us the temperature in the air. Austin The PI: Mm. The c Daniel: On this day that this happened. Austin The PI: the the climate, as it were. Daniel: The climate. Yeah. How is the climate? Austin The PI: Do you do you mean literally? Daniel: Yeah. It's a nice day today. I'm curious about what it was like back then. Austin The PI: it was it was cold. Daniel: Cold. Cold hard cases. Austin The PI: It was cold, cold outside. It was Daniel: All right. And were you in the van? Were you doing surveillance? Austin The PI: no, no, no. This is a criminal case. Daniel: okay. Austin The PI: Yeah, so I was I was new boot goofing, as they say. Somebody Daniel: All right. That's right. Austin The PI: said that to me the other day when I posted about my new boots. I hope he's listening. He knows who he is. Yeah, so this is a criminal case. I can give you the bones. This was a this is Daniel: Give me the bones. Give me the cold bones. Austin The PI: literally, this is a murder case. And and it like I said, it was cold when it happened. This was for an undisclosed government agency. You can think CIA, you can think FBI, you can think whatever Daniel: Triple letter. Austin The PI: you can think what you can think whatever you want to think, right? I can't tell that. Daniel: CNN. Austin The PI: I can't tell yeah, you yeah, you can think NBC Daniel: NFL. Austin The PI: Yeah, you can think of VBS. Yeah, so this was this is for an undisclosed government agency and basically this this murder case got so widespread, so so publicized that they were moving to have it moved from the local area that it was being held at to be moved somewhere else in the country because they were saying that essentially there there cannot be a jury in this state that will view this like without having a bias. And so we need to move it somewhere Daniel: Okay, this is interesting. Austin The PI: else. Daniel: Cause this is kind this happens. Like this happened with the Lindsey Clancy case recently. Austin The PI: Lindsay Clancy I imagine it did. Daniel: I I believe it did. Or like there was discussion about that aspect of it. Austin The PI: Yeah. So same level of notoriety and that essentially my job became okay, I was working for the prosecution in this case, right? Which is unusual for a private investigator, but I was working for the prosecution and they were they were like, Okay, to prove that this is the case, that they want to move it, so the defense wanted to move it, to prove that's the case, we wanna do This really fun, fun to me pro project that is like do a full review of every news article that has ever been released about this case and then categorize it as in like level of importance, how widespread it was, how many views it got, all that kind of stuff. Put that together, do a full media analysis, and then present it to the court. Daniel: They had you do that. Austin The PI: That had me do that. I didn't present it. It Daniel: That must have taken forever. Austin The PI: took forever. And there were two of us working on it. Daniel: Geez. Austin The PI: yeah. And if the guy working on it with me is listening, that was awesome. Cause he might be listening. but yeah, it it was a super fun project because like you're seeing what all the news articles said, how they compared to another Daniel: Mm-hmm. Austin The PI: one, how widespread they were. you know, what what state and local news publications covered it and then which which like national ones covered it and how they differed, all that kind of stuff. And it was also cool to see like the difference in resources. Like obviously like CNN and NBC have different resources than like state and local publications. And Daniel: Right. Austin The PI: you can see that, but you never like think about it necessarily until you're doing an analysis of the news. Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: It was cool. Yeah. Daniel: Crazy. So are you looking at different narratives that each one kind of spun up and put out there? Austin The PI: Yeah. Yeah, they all had different narratives. They all had different details. And that's the thing. Like the news is is it's regulated, but not exactly in the level of detail they have to go in or they want to go in. They can go in as shallow or as deep a narrative as they want. And so it was cool to see like just what different publications knew about what we were doing. Cause I knew basically all the details of the case that the that the authorities did. And then the extra ones that I had uncovered and our team had uncovered. Daniel: So you had more detail than the than the news outlets. And you could see Austin The PI: yeah, yeah, a ton more. Daniel: where there were gaps. Austin The PI: Yeah, or they were just completely wrong. Which that part's fun because it's like I just realized there's probably a glare on these. that part's fun because it's like they they're looking at X, Y, and Z and they think this is important. And it's like the we covered that months ago and it doesn't matter anymore. And they're still stuck on that, which happens Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: a lot in the news. happens a lot in cases in general. That you think a detail is important until you realize it's not important at all. Daniel: Yeah. Wow, that's fascinating. Austin The PI: So that was fun. Yeah. It was cool. It was a big project. We had like basically like two six foot whiteboards and we just Daniel: Mm-hmm. Austin The PI: wrote every single thing on there. And then we would take pictures, erase it, and write all the rest. Take pictures, erase Daniel: Cheese. Austin The PI: it, write all the rest. Yeah. Daniel: How did you go about sourcing all of that? Like obviously internet searches, but for non digital publications, like how did you Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: find newspaper or magazine or whatever it was? Austin The PI: So you look through you know, essentially you you can't like they didn't pay for me to fly out and and get the actual physical copies. So and those are less important because the digital ones were the ones that were, yeah, majorly consumed. Daniel: Most widespread. Yeah, that makes sense. Austin The PI: So we cataloged all of those. And then you look in like newspaper databases, because like all the big newspapers Daniel: Mm, okay. Austin The PI: have that. And then a lot of times you can find local and state newspapers online too. And so Daniel: Gotcha. Austin The PI: just pretty much whatever we could find online through whatever resources we wanted to use. Yeah. That is one of my favorite projects ever. Daniel: Yeah, I've never heard you tell that story before. Austin The PI: Have you not? Daniel: I don't know. It sounds vaguely Austin The PI: Well, cause th Daniel: familiar. Austin The PI: yeah, that's that's when I was in the office in Fayetteville. and you've been to that office. And that was it it was my dungeon for all the listeners, and Daniel: That's right. Austin The PI: I it was an interior office with no windows and I made it as cozy as possible. I always had a candle, or as my daughter says, the chinkle. Daniel: Chang. Austin The PI: Yeah. Can I smell that chinkle? Daniel: Ugh, I love a good changle. Austin The PI: Yeah. Yeah, careful with that one. Daniel: Whoops. Austin The PI: It's okay, she's two. Daniel: cool. Well anything else on that case that you can share? Or is that is that all we can touch? That's all we can know. Austin The PI: Can share the dynamic. So, as a any any PIs that have worked prosecution will totally understand this dynamic. When you walk in the courtroom and you're the investigator, and you see the other the prosecution investigators there that are from the agency, they hate you. Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: Because it's basically like the the attorneys wanted more help. And so They feel like they didn't do their job well enough. When in reality, it's not the case. sometimes it can be the case, but in this case, it wasn't the case. It was just that it's a massive monster of a case. And so you just need people with a lot of experience. And and thankfully, I was working with my dad, who had a lot of experience in this particular area, which he was the he was the lead on this case. Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic. but yeah, it's fun. Daniel: That would be fun. I would enjoy that. If I could be a private investigator and do that kind of stuff on the regular, I would. Sign me up. Austin The PI: Well, as you know, I don't do that on the regular and that it's hard to come by. You have to it's having the right experience and knowing the right people. So at this point in my career, I have a little bit of both. I have some of the right experience and I know some of the people, but even still, I I very rarely do that. Daniel: Did your dad do more of that kind of stuff? Austin The PI: So I mean, even then he was, like I said in previous episodes, FBI for eight years and then got into doing homicide cases. And it was probably I don't even know, like ten years before he ever got a prosecution case on the private side. Yeah, Daniel: wow. Yeah. Austin The PI: so it's e even for like someone as it it it all comes down to who you know. Daniel: Makes sense. Austin The PI: Yeah. On to on to section three. Daniel: I was ready for that one. Austin The PI: Coming in hot. Yeah, you got it. Daniel: Coming in hot. All right. For our final segment of the evening, we've got some questions. And Austin has the answers. Austin The PI: Bum bum bum. Daniel: All right. And as always, these questions are sourced wait. We forgot we forgot something. Austin The PI: yes. Daniel, read us out, big dog. Daniel: Today's sponsor is Integrity Investigations. Reach us at eight three seven five eight three eight six eight or find us online at integrity investigations sc dot com. That's integrity investigations SC dot com. If you or someone you know is suffering from Infidelity. Austin The PI: Getting cheated on, child custody, you got a criminal case, you want a background done, you want Daniel: Child custody criminality background checks. True. Austin The PI: you want like some kind of open source intelligence stuff done. Daniel: Ocent, learned that this past week. Austin The PI: Yeah, you want somebody located? Let me know. Daniel: Locations. Austin The PI: If you have if you run a children's home and you want me to find your alumni. Daniel: True. Austin The PI: I'll do it. Daniel: Nice plug. Reach us at Austin at integrity investigations SC dot com or DM him on Instagram. Back to this show. Austin The PI: Yeah, DM me. I'd I check all. Daniel: Back to the show. Austin The PI: Yes. Daniel: How how was that? Austin The PI: that was great, son. Daniel: Think that was a big step up from last week. Austin The PI: Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I was just free balling that. Daniel: That's right. All right, back to the show. So for our final segment, we have questions. Austin has the answers. Our first question. and as always, these questions are sourced from our listeners, Austin's followers, our followers on Instagram. If you haven't followed us yet, make sure you check out unscripted investigator pod on Instagram, on YouTube. We're on Spotify and Apple Podcast as well. So every week we ask you guys for questions. Austin's gonna answer them. I may answer them from time to time if I can. But let's kick it off. This week's question number one What's the biggest misconception people have about your job? Great question. Austin The PI: Yeah, that's a great question. I actually DM'd this person back today and said that's a really good question. I will be answering that tonight. So I'm glad you asked it. Because Daniel: There you go. Austin The PI: if you didn't, I wouldn't have answered it. Uh-huh. Yeah. So what's the biggest misconception? Well, let me I mean, I feel like we should do this for every question. Daniel, what do you think? Daniel: Hmm. I think that if I had to guess, this is good. This is good. You can tell how much I'm actually listening and paying attention. Austin The PI: Yeah. That was what I was trying to do. Daniel: Well, we talked about something a couple of weeks ago where my one of my misconceptions was private investigator insinuated some sort of like secrecy to which your the nature of your work is secretive, but that's not what the private and private investigator it actually means. It's more about your clientele that are private as opposed to public clientele. Austin The PI: Correct. Correct. So yeah. Daniel: Ding ding ding. How'd I do? Austin The PI: Yeah, you did great. So private investigator does not mean I keep my identity private or I keep myself private. Private investigator means private individuals, private citizens have the ability to hire me. Daniel: Right. Wow. That's good. So I would say I would guess that that would be a common misconception. Austin The PI: It it definitely is. You're one hundred percent correct on that. I would say another misconception. go for it. Yeah. Daniel: I was gonna I was gonna do another one. I'm ready. All right. Number two. Second misconception is that I think people Think that you People don't realize how much time you spend doing like kind of like admin or like paperwork or like clerical sort of work, writing reports, sort of computer work, maybe is one way to say it. That sort of stuff. Austin The PI: Totally. I think people think that I'm in a I'm in a van eight hours a day. Every day. Daniel: Right. And you're actually in a van eighteen hours a day. Austin The PI: every day. What you guys Daniel: With your laptop. Austin The PI: what you guys don't realize is I've outfitted my van to look like a podcast studio. And I've done a very poor job because this doesn't look like a podcast studio. Daniel: Yeah, looks great by the way. That would be sick though. Austin The PI: We're actually just in a corner of my office. yeah. So yeah, I think you're right. They don't realize how much clerical work I do. And I think a lot of people don't realize that I actually do a lot of criminal work. and that's partially my fault because I post a lot of surveillance content. I do a lot of surveillance, but also do a lot of criminal work. The one that I was gonna say is, and this is always hilarious to me. I got a message today. This is great. I got a message today that was like, I want you to do, I want to hire you for your services. And I was like, gang, gang, let's get it. Scooty with it. Tell me what's scooty with that. Daniel: Yep. Right. That's right. Austin The PI: And this person was like, I want you to do a social media scrub on my significant other. And I want you to find their what they said, I want you to find out if they're gay. And then they said, I want you to get their search history, DMs, and all of their usernames. I said, usernames I can do that. Daniel: I can't do that. Austin The PI: Search history, like DMs, you I I literally responded, you're you're confusing me with a hacker. Like I I can't do that. And they just said, Okay, thanks. Like Daniel: Then they're searching like Austin the hacker. Looking for another Instagram page. Austin The PI: Yeah, yeah, they're they're like, hmm, okay, how do I get a hacker up in here? Like, does anybody have Russia on speed dial? Like Daniel: That's so funny. Austin The PI: so many people on Instagram and just in general confuse me with a hacker. And I know that there's Daniel: Why do you think that is? Austin The PI: like I think it's because there's like this mysterious aspect to private investigation and Because like you watch shows like like MacGyver or Magnum PI and they're doing like shadier things, which Daniel: Mm-hmm. Right. Austin The PI: real, real good private investigators don't do. But but I think people just automatically think like, Yeah, yeah, private investigator. You can like break into somebody's house and you can hack their computer and Daniel: Pull up their DMs. Austin The PI: And get me the yeah, you can just like speak into the ether and hear their DMs in your mind. Like I'm not telepathic people. Daniel: That's a wild. Austin The PI: I know. Daniel: That's good, that makes sense. Good question. Good question. Austin The PI: Yeah, it's it's funny. That's that's one of my favorite questions. Daniel: speaking of hacker, I love when these flow. since you're a hacker, w what are the best tools you use? I that the question was best tools you use. And if I had to Austin The PI: Yes. Daniel: guess, if I'm taking a stab at these first. Austin The PI: Yeah, I I think every question that I do, you should take a stab at it first. Daniel: I like that. Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: I like that. Austin The PI: I like that. Daniel: That's right. I'm not gonna go with the ones that you've been sharing on your Instagram recently. I'm just gonna next those 'cause obviously you you well, I don't even know if you use those. What I will say is there is one. Am I allowed to share this? I don't know. I don't know what I can share and what I can't. Now I feel like you. there is one that I have been made aware of that leverages facial recognition. And it is only accessible. Can I not share this? Austin The PI: just letting you do I'm just letting you you squirm a little bit. You're gonna laugh when I tell you. Daniel: it is only accessible to certain people with certain qualifications, certifications, something to that nature. Austin The PI: You you got two things wrong or or you got two things mixed up. So Daniel: dang it Austin The PI: there's a there's facial recognition softwares out there, but they are they're public. Like you could use them, I can use them, anybody can use them. You just have to pay for it. Daniel: Is it paywall? Okay. Yeah. Austin The PI: And I I use them for certain cases to find it's when I say facial recognition, it's not to find someone real time, it's to find someone's online presence. So I use it to identify people that ex exactly. Yep. But Daniel: Yeah. Or like their identity based off of a photo or something like that. Yeah. Austin The PI: that it's not like It's not limited to private investigators or anyone else like Joe Schmoe. Daniel: You sure about that? Austin The PI: positive. Because I've never had Daniel: All right. The one that we were when we were in the U Haul store? Austin The PI: Yeah, yeah. That's that's public. You just pay fifteen bucks and search whoever you want. Daniel: Crazy. Austin The PI: Yeah, I'm not gonna shout it out because maybe there'll be a sponsor. But yeah, we could DM them. But yeah, I I used it recently for a case. So like that's the thing. That's what I love about PI work is you can be you can do this for yourself and you can also teach other people how to do it and they can actually do real stuff. Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: And you don't even have to be a PI. You can just be better in your own life online, like more capable in your own life to protect yourself and to to figure out someone's background that your kids are hanging out with at church. Like if if your church doesn't Daniel: Yeah, yeah. Austin The PI: do a good background check or something, you know? I love that about PI work. Or you want to find somebody, figure out somebody that you're dating. I did that for one of our friends the other day. Daniel: Did you? Austin The PI: I'll tell you about it later. But yeah Check them out real quick. Make sure they don't have a criminal history. Anyone can do it, and I can teach you how. Daniel: Yeah. Sketchy neighbors. Austin The PI: Follow me on Instagram at Austin AustinTepi. Daniel: There you go. Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: All right, nice. Okay, next question. I I can't answer this because I don't know what it means. Who kidnapped the Lindberg baby? Or Austin The PI: we'll skip we'll skip that one. Daniel: All right. Austin The PI: The the reason is I I don't know and they asked that to mess with me. He's he's a troll. I I love the guy, but he's a troll. He's trolling me. Daniel: They troll in. Was it who who kidnapped the Lindbergh baby? Like, was he calling you baby? Austin The PI: He might have been, but no, he's talking about a baby. Daniel: Okay. speaking of babies, what do your kids think their daddy does for work? Austin The PI: Well, my child is two. So she di we asked her yesterday, what does what does daddy do? And she said, fire Daniel: Did you? Austin The PI: she said, fireman. And I said, no, Dad does a private investigator. And she was like, I was like, Daniel: I need to ask her that sometime. Austin The PI: Yeah, she'd say fireman. Or or she might just be like, Look at that bird. Daniel: That's hilarious. Or she'll just go, Yeah. And then run away. Austin The PI: Yeah. Yeah, or or we should say. Daniel: That's right. That's funny. yeah, so not old enough yet. All right, next question. Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: I actually I'm gonna ask this one because well no no I'm not all right. Does being a PI pay well? Do you ever hire drone pilots? two different questions, obviously. My guess Austin The PI: And I I have an answer for both. Daniel: does being a PI pay well? I would say it can. I wouldn't say that it pays extremely particularly well. It also I think if you're a solid PI, you're not like hurting necessarily if you have a strong enough caseload. But that's kind of what it comes down to is like maybe just like a lot of other businesses, it kind of depends on how much work you can take on. And I do know that it is it can be lucrative if like jobs take particularly long, or I think you explained it last week, if people have the funds to allow certain jobs to go on and on and on. So that's my that's my Austin The PI: You understand this. Daniel: f first stab. Austin The PI: You understand this better than most private investigation business owners. Daniel: Ooh Ooh Let's clap it up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Nice. Austin The PI: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean you hit the nail on head. So basically it can be really lucrative. So for example, I'm just about to put all my info out there. I charge eighty-five dollars an hour. And that I mean, that is the the most I've ever been paid to do anything. It's also i essentially it is a high a high leverage skill or a a Daniel: Mm-hmm. Austin The PI: relatively high leverage skill. Like it's not I'm not a lawyer. Not a doctor, but you can you can certainly make a solid living as a solo PI. Yeah, they add up. And then Daniel: Those hours can add up. Simply put. Austin The PI: you can also like you're limited by your business acumen. if you can if you can learn to stack things, and you know, we talk about this all the time. yeah, it's it's definitely it's all about the base that you start with. I used to be I used to own an auto detailing company and the problem was it was a low leverage skill and you have to p book so many jobs, but you can't book more jobs than you can do, you know? And then you also need a high volume to to make any money. In this business, you work on one job for multiple days and you make a really good hourly wage. So you don't have to worry about booking so many jobs. The problem there is people have to be able to afford it. And so you have to find the right clients and be able to consistently find the right clients. so yeah, it makes good money. Daniel: Yeah. Well, and another problem, if you are thinking like a business owner, since it's a harder skill to acquire, it's also hard to hire people under you with that skill. Austin The PI: Hundred percent. Daniel: So if you were looking at having a business where you had multiple private investigators under you, that is difficult to scale because of the nature of the work is is harder to train and Austin The PI: Yeah. Well, n not only Daniel: Et cetera. Austin The PI: is it hard to find people, but when you find someone, you have to pay them a higher wage because they have a higher value scale and because Daniel: Sure, yeah. Austin The PI: it's it's a riskier business. And so you you run into this problem of, yeah, I've got a lot my dad ran into this problem. Yeah, I've got a lot of money coming in the door, but then I have to pay it all out to pay my employees. And now that I have all these employees, I'm spending my time managing them. And so he realized he ended up making about the same money as working by himself, but he was more stressed. Daniel: Yeah. Right. Good question. Good question. I'm do you ever hire drone pilots? Austin The PI: Well so I don't, but PIs that I work with do. and so that is like a a valid thing, but I would probably just become a drone pilot myself rather than hire one, which is probably not Daniel: Hmm. You could hire me out. I'll become a drone pilot. Austin The PI: Gang, dude. Daniel: Okay. Austin The PI: Gang gang. It's a Daniel: Something to think about. Austin The PI: that's a thought. Daniel: That's a thought. You had thought. All right. Next question. Austin The PI: Yeah, I was waiting for that. Daniel: I like this one. Cheaters who work in Fed buildings cheating with coworkers, how will they get caught? Austin The PI: Yeah. So that that type of scenario. Daniel: I don't have an answer. Austin The PI: yeah. No, I wanna I wanna hear what you like even if you don't have one, let me hear what you would think. What would you if you had a client, let me put it this way. If you had a client and they called you and they said, Hey, my my spouse works in a secure facility. They're I know they're cheating with a coworker. I wanna I wanna figure out how to catch them. And my attorney says that I need to hire a private investigator. Can you help me? Daniel: Yes, I can. My first thought would be my first thought actually was okay, just because they work in a secure building and they're suspected of cheating doesn't mean they're cheating in the building. Like I guess they could be, but they could also not be and probably are not, if they're doing it enough. Like if it's going on long enough, they're gonna slip up, which is something I feel like I've learned from you. Like people be slipping. Austin The PI: They do be slipping. Daniel: so I think I would just follow either w whichever one you have the info on. If it's both, follow both of them, whatever. outside of work. Maybe that sounds like a easy Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: answer, but Austin The PI: Yeah, and like that that kind of is the answer that I would give. And that's what I've learned from working those kind of cases and then watching my dad work those kind of cases is you work with what you got. So this is this is kind of a raw deal that this client would be in. But the fact is that's the deal you got to work with. So if you want to get results, then you have to work around that that deal. The the chances of them being Like you gotta think about just the the reality of that situation. If they're cheating Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: at work, how many places are there in your office to Daniel: At work. Yeah. Austin The PI: cheat at work? So they're either going to their car or they're going to their house. And so, like exactly somewhere else Daniel: Right. Or a hotel or something like that. Right. Yeah. Austin The PI: that's more accessible. And so that that is my answer as well. Like Hey, it might take a couple of budgets 'cause we gotta figure this thing out, but if you're willing to work it out with me, we'll figure it out. Proud of dude. Daniel: Alright, I think we got one more question. And I like this one too. You got some good questions today. Austin The PI: I know. Daniel: All right. What is something that bothers you most about your work? Austin The PI: Ooh. What's something that bothers me most? I think Well I was about to say, yeah, Daniel: wait, I have to answer it. Austin The PI: let me hear you answer. Daniel: Mmm something that bothers you most? Austin The PI: Well, you could answer it in two different ways. You could answer it as what bothers me most or what bothers you most. Daniel: About my work or about your work? Austin The PI: Both and Yes please. Daniel: What bothers me most about your work is that you have chunks of time. I don't know that I've ever told you this. You have chunks of time where you seem very available. And then you have chunks of time where you're like just completely unavailable. And I don't know when is which. Well, I do because you call me when you're available, but and I guess I can assume if you're not calling me, you're not available. But it's just kind of random, it seems. Austin The PI: Yeah, do you want me to explain those to you? Daniel: I mean I I assume you're in important meetings or something like that. Austin The PI: It's it's ti yeah, either I'm actively interviewing a witness in the case or a defendant, Daniel: Right. Yeah. Austin The PI: or a victim, you never know. Or I am in pursuit of someone. Daniel: There you go. Austin The PI: Yeah. What and that might be I'm in a restaurant watching them or it might be I'm like following them in a car and I'll hit somebody if I talk to you. Yeah. Daniel: Yeah. All right, now what bothers you most about your work? Austin The PI: W well wait, why does that bother you? Daniel: 'Cause I don't know I don't always know when a good time to like talk is. I suppose. I don't Austin The PI: And you just Daniel: know. Austin The PI: And you just wanna know what I'm doing? Daniel: I mean it's yeah, I'm just saying it's an unpredictable schedule sometimes. Like I I feel like you don't Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: have like a clean nine to five or something like that. Austin The PI: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I think what I've created Daniel: Yeah. And that bothers me. Austin The PI: Yeah. Well you're just gonna have to get over it, dude. I'm just kidding. Sort of. yeah. What bothers me it's gonna be very different than that. What bothers me about my work is I guess there's a lot of times, whether it's a criminal case or somebody cheating on their spouse, it might be funny in the moment or it might be really sad in Daniel: Mm. Austin The PI: the moment, but there's there's a ton of things. It's like, what was this person thinking? Like Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: either they killed someone or they're cheating on their spouse. And it's just so much of it is it's displaced by your mind because you're like, That seems so foreign. Like I could never see myself in that situation. And it it bothers me. But then I also have to realize that person is just a person like a person just like me. And that situation can all also happen to me if I allow myself. And so it's like this this weird dichotomy of it's really foreign, but I have to bring myself right back down to reality and realize that person's a human and they have. probably similar thought processes as me, and I have to make sure that I'm buttoned up and I don't get to that spot. You know what I mean? Daniel: Yeah. Well said. Austin The PI: Thanks, Doug. Daniel: No, that was good. I yeah, you took that a different a much more s serious direction than I did. Austin The PI: Well yeah, and and I mean I I deal with this stuff every day in in that sense and then but I can see how like that that could bother you, like not knowing when Daniel: No, you give much more thoughtful answer. give you give the people what they wanted. Really. All right. Austin The PI: I don't know. I really sorry. I really enjoy hearing your side of things, which 'cause it's fun, right? Like I do this Daniel: That was fun. Austin The PI: and I've got my ideas of my work, but hearing your ideas, just like I hear I like to hear about your work, it's it's just an interesting take on like it's like the opposite take, you know. Daniel: Hmm. No, that was fun. I we gotta keep doing that because I feel like I had a goody a goody a pretty good score. Maybe like fifty fifty. Messed a couple things up Austin The PI: it was but Daniel: here and there. Austin The PI: it was better than fifty fifty, yeah. Daniel: Passing. Austin The PI: I would say some of those questions were weighted more heavily than others. Daniel: Yeah. Austin The PI: Yeah. Daniel: All right. Well for everyone listening, make sure you hit that subscribe button, make sure you follow along, and if you want to hear me attempt to answer questions about Austin's life, tune in next week for episode five. Peace. Austin The PI: Peace. Daniel: That was a two for er that was a that was a piece. Not a two.