Bishop's Homicide: Why You Should Research Someone BEFORE They Work In Your Home

Bishop shot down by handyman screamed the headlines following the death of a Bishop in Los Angeles.. 

The shooter, the 65-year-old handyman and husband of the Bishop’s housekeeper, claimed the Bishop owed him money for work he did on the Bishop’s house.

Many people hire someone, whether a handyman, a contractor, a housekeeper, a babysitter, or a caregiver to work in their homes. But few people ever take the time to check out the person BEFORE hiring.

Not doing some basic research can expose you and your loved ones to harm, and can put your money, and even your home at risk. 

So how do you do basic background research on someone to protect yourself, your family, your money, and your home from someone violent or a scammer?

During the 30+ plus years as an investigator I conducted 1000s of background investigations. 

Whether related to litigation work for attorneys, the staff at my son’s pre-school, or pre-employment research for employers. The research process I used was the same.

In this piece I’ll run you through the basics of conducting background research. If your interested in learning more about how to research someone before hiring them to work in your house download my free background research checklist here or checkout my eBook The Everyday Detective.

Why Background Research Matters

People are creatures of habit. They don’t change unless they’re willing to put in the hard work that it takes to do so. Most people don’t want to do that.

So using someone’s prior behavior can be predictive of future behavior. Put it this way, would hiring someone to work in your home with your family who had been charged previously with sexual assault potentially put your loved ones at risk? I think it just might.

What about hiring a caregiver, who was previously accused of embezzlement, to care for your elderly parent with dementia? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

There are times when people deserve a second chance. But I’d argue not when your family’s safety and well being ate at risk.

The Most Helpful Background Research Sources

Court Records

The best place to start researching an individual or business is by indexing local court records for civil, criminal, and domestic relations cases. And if the person will be driving perhaps to pick up groceries, or take your elderly parent to the doctor, you may want to review traffic cases too.

Many jurisdictions allow for online case lookups where you can search for cases by name. For a common name you may need some additional information such as a middle initial or date of birth.

Most online look up searches will allow you to review the case docket, which is a listing of the documents that were filed in the case. Sometimes reviewing the docket will be enough. 

But for other times you’ll want to review the actual case file. Sometimes you can request copies by mail for a file based upon what is contained in the docket sheet. Other times you can go to the courthouse and request to see the file in person.

You can also search Federal Court for civil, criminal, and bankruptcy cases too.

You may also wish to conduct a search of the county clerk recorder’s website too. This is especially important if you’ll be hiring someone to do remodeling work on your house as you can find mechanic’s and materialmen’s liens over unpaid bills for material and labor. You can also find department of labor filings for unpaid wages.

Interviews

Sometimes you’ll identify through these court filings people to interview about their experiences with the subject of your research. The files will usually have a telephone number either for that person, or for their attorney. You can use that number to begin the process of reaching out.

You may also wish to interview references. Be mindful of the fact that most references are offered because they will say good things about a person so you may have to probe a bit more deeply to get a fuller picture.

Be mindful of any references or previous employers whose phone numbers are disconnected or no longer in service. An old trick is for the subject of your research to list references or prior employers who can’t be contacted to avoid your learning unflattering information.

General Internet Searches

You should also conduct a basic Google search of your subject. This works best with someone who has an unusual name.

Conduct the search in quotes like this “First Name Last Name” to narrow down the results. You can also search using a + sign for city location of the person, or for a profession such as contractor.

This type of search is fairly basic and not time consuming. I go into much more detail about the different types of searches you can do in my free background research checklist, and more in depth on the types of information you can learn by  conducting even more detailed specific research in my eBook which you can learn more about here.