Classify the disappearance before you decide where to search
IDEF Forensic Institute trains investigators, forensic and legal professionals, police, rescue teams and families to work missing-person cases with a documented method.
Our English-language program is the Professional Certificate in Missing Persons Investigation and Search, built on the MP-Tracker™ method that Chile's Public Prosecutor's Office cites as a source.
- Program
- Missing Persons Investigation and SearchProfessional Certificate
- Format
- Online and self-paced150 hours, usually 3 to 6 months
- Tuition
- $540Or 3 payments of $180
- Enrollment
- Open year-roundAccess within one business day
Five manners of disappearance. One classification before the search.
Each manner calls for different evidence, priorities and lines of investigation. MP-Tracker™ classifies the report first, so that people and resources follow the evidence instead of intuition.
- NNatural
- A natural or medical cause.
- AAccident
- An accidental event.
- SSuicide
- Suicidal behavior.
- HThird-party involvement
- Abduction, kidnapping, homicide or enforced disappearance.
- E/SEvasion or simulation
- A voluntary absence, or a staged disappearance.
Cited as a source by Chile's Public Prosecutor's Office
The Protocol of Action on Presumed Misfortune of Chile's Public Prosecutor's Office includes the classification and names its source in the note to its annex.
“Adaptado de MP – Tracker (Rastreador de personas desaparecidas). IDEF. Instituto Delitológico de Ciencias Forenses y Periciales”
“Adapted from MP-Tracker (Missing Persons Tracker). IDEF. Instituto Delitológico de Ciencias Forenses y Periciales.” (Our translation.)
- 2015Presented in Bogotá at the First International Meeting on Criminal Profiling, before the Colombian National Police and UNODC.
- 2017Presented at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.
- 2020The method's author was invited by the Citizen Security Committee of Chile's Chamber of Deputies during the passage of the bill that became Law 21,500.
Professional Certificate in Missing Persons Investigation and Search
Four modules and 150 hours, online and at your own pace, with personal mentoring in English. You learn to classify the report, rank hypotheses, plan the field search from the missing person's mental map and write a report that can withstand review in court.
For forensic experts, lawyers and investigators; police, search and rescue and public officials; and families, volunteer search groups and NGOs. No previous investigative experience is required.
- Tuition
- $540, or 3 payments of $180
- Length
- 150 hours, usually 3 to 6 months
- Language
- English course materials and mentoring; video lessons in Spanish with English subtitles
- Certificate
- Issued by IDEF LLC (USA); can be apostilled
- Start
- Any time; access within one business day
About IDEF
Since 2008, IDEF has trained forensic specialists. It has taught relatives of missing persons, rescuers, firefighters, investigators, members of NGOs and police officers from Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Spain. IDEF LLC is registered in Wyoming, United States, and operates in Chile.
The institute is directed by forensic psychologist Cristián Araos Díaz, author of the MP-Tracker™ method and a court expert approved by Chilean Courts of Appeal for 2026–2027.
If someone is missing right now
Contact your local police or emergency number immediately (911 in the United States). IDEF provides professional training; it is not an emergency or search service.