The Man Who Disappears (GQ Magazine unedited version)

The first person Frank Ahearn ever disappeared wasagain.
Ken. He spotted him at a Borders in north JerseyAccording to the FBI, nearly 60,000 to 80,000
about three years ago - a pale, geeky-looking guy in aAmericans disappear every month. Only a fraction of
golf shirt and khakis, thumbing through a pile of booksthese are involuntary disappearances, like children who
about Central America andoffshore banking. It tookare abducted. Many people disappear because they
Frank about a half second to figure him out: Ken waswant to. A lot of times these disappearances go
skipping town.unreported, because the individual doesn't have strong
"I betcha you're going to buy a condo in Costa Rica,"ties tohis or her community, like a family, or a prominent
Frank said to the man, hisvoice low, so no one elsejob, and doesn't have someonelooking out for them.
could hear. "And bank in Belize."To be harsh: nobody cares.
Ken's slackened mouth curled into a big dumb O thatBut one needn't be on the run or anonymous to harbor
almost made Frank laugh. He looked at Frank - a tall,a fantasy of disappearing.
longhaired guy dressed in black with a cartoonishWho hasn't once dreamed of fleeing his life - no
goatee, thick tattooed arms and a twisted andmatter how contented it is - just forthe chance to start
discolored front tooth - and fumbled for a response.anew? Several years ago, Money magazine published
But now Frank was talking again, running his mouth ina studythat found that one in five Americans had
his thick New York accent.considered leaving the United States. The same
"The problem is, if you're running from someone," hesurvey stated that three million Americans would leave
rattled on, "they're going to find you."immediately if theyknew how.
Ken looked like he might faint right there in the"Lots of people have the feeling," Frank tells me. "You
café part of Borders. So Frankdecided to explainwant to shoot yourself or run. It's called freedom. I'm
himself. He was a "skip tracer," he told Ken - a slipperyteaching people how to be free." That word freedom
sort of business that specialized in finding people.gets
Mobsters, drug lords, wife beaters, rock stars - FrankFrank jumping. In fact, he has the word tattooed in
found guys for a living. He'd hunted as far as Bali toscript across his back.
bring them back.Of course, it's harder than ever to disappear. People
He knew all the tricks, and he couldn't help but noticehave never been more closely monitored. It may not
that Ken was already fuckingup.yet have reached Orwellian proportions, but chances
"You bought your books with a credit card andare someone is almost always watching you - from
discount card," Frank told Ken. Itwas a rookie mistake -subway stations to airports to football games to
both were easily traceable. A couple of well-placedInternet spyware checking in on the whereabouts of
phone calls, and any respectable private eye could findyour computerized mouse. Credit cards, bank
Ken in the time it took to microwave popcorn.accounts and utility bills all leave a trail. Cell phones are
Ken shifted uncomfortably in his sandals, still noteven worse. If the average American tried to leave
believing this guy, wondering if he was for real - or iftown tomorrow, they'd likely be found in 24 hours.
Frank, in fact, had been sent to hunt him down. But"When you're looking for someone, the world is like a
then Frank offered him a business card - depicting agigantic database," says Frank. "Data is like a bad
De Chirico-esque mannequin standingalone on a whitedisease, it will never go away."
beach, staring out at a big blue ocean and a headlineAfter he disappeared Ken, Frank thought about how
that asked simply "Are you looking for someone?" -he could make it part of his business. It seemed so
and walked away, just like that.outlandish, so improbable - working the other side of
Two weeks later, Ken emailed. Frank was right: Kenthe grid. He'd think about it on his ride to Starbucks in
was trying to run away. He was in trouble. Not longthe morning, all through the afternoonas he tracked
ago the government had paid him big money to testifydown crazies and deadbeats, and late at night in bed,
in a fraud case against his former employer, aas he watched the 11 PM news. He developed plans,
mid-sized supplies company with governmentobsessed - and obsessed some more.
contracts. Ken had been one of the company'sTalking about it today, he can sound like the blind
accountants. Somehow his namehad leaked, and heoracle from the Matrix movies, speaking rhapsodically
was targeted as a rat. He got mysterious phone calls.with his thick arms cutting the air and his goatee
Threats were made. A man approached him on thedancing off his face about giving people new lives, with
street and announced, cryptically, yournew names, in new dimensions. "Disappearing," says
"life will be made uncomfortable." An ex-colleagueFrank, "is like peeling off all of those old layers that
warned "I'm gonna get you."define you and putting up new ones."
Ken told Frank he feared for his life. He'd thoughtIn time Frank developed a disappearance strategy that
about calling the police - butworried the police wouldhe broke into three stages. The first stage was
never be able to fully protect him. He didn't have anymisinformation - the total obliteration of personal
big attachments - no wife, no children. He felt thereinformation files, from phone bills to apartment leases
was only one option. But Ken had no idea how to do it.to health club memberships. The second stage was
Finally Ken summoned the nerve to ask Frank adisinformation - the creation of a Byzantine web of
question that changed both of their lives.false data to lead someone's pursuers astray while
"Can you help me disappear?"exhausting their personnel and financial resources. The
Frank Ahearn never thought he'd wind up helpingfinal stage was reformation - the creation of dummy
people disappear. From the beginning, he'd alwayscorporations to hold and spendmoney and then getting
worked the other side. It was thrilling, sometimesto where you want to go and making sure you don't
dangerous work, finding people. Challenging, too. Usually,gettraced there.
all Frank got was an old phonenumber or anFinally, Frank felt ready to go public with his
abandoned address. Sometimes it was just a namedisappearing plan. He penned an article about his idea
and a city, an exceptionally tough request, but one thaton the web site - a site for living, banking and buying
he could almost do with his eyes closed.property offshore - spoke at some mystery writer's
To find someone, you had to fool people. Frank had anconferences, and launched a website offering his
instinctive talent forservices. The emails came in almost immediately.
"gagging" - devising elaborate, phony stories designedMany were from window-shopping customers that
to elicit information out of individuals or companies thatFrank calls "Dear Abbys." "They're fantasizing about
weren't supposed to give it to him. "Professional lying,"disappearing," he explains. "They want to feel it out and
he dubbed it. For instance, he'd call a utilities company,see if it's possible. A lot go through all their problems
like Con Edison, and, posing as a collection agency, he'dand how life sucks. Then I won't hear from them ever
ask for his victim's forwarding address. Or he'd call aagain."
relative, tell them he was FedEx trying to deliver aSome potential customers, naturally, turned out to be
package and extract the victim's address that way.criminals. One admitted that he was facing a charge of
Sometimes the work was mind-numbingly rote - toilingviolating the federal Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt
through miles of data, scouring records, flipping throughOrganizations Act, or RICO, and needed an exit.
the White Pages. If the person who disappeared knewDozens requested fake passports, how to change an
what he was doing, it made Frank's work even harder.identity or appropriate a dead cousin's Social Security
But Frank was first-rate. "Frank has helped me tracknumber. Asked if he takes on criminal cases, he says
down hundreds of individuals,all of whom did not wantcategorically no, adding, "I don't like showering with
to be located," says Robert Jerlow, a privatemen." He got adulterers, too: a woman who wanted to
investigatorfrom Orange, California, who specializes inknow how to rent an apartment without her husband
fraud and organized crime. "He finds my guys and galsknowing. Once a sixteen-year-old boy wrote: "I hate
hiding under rocks all over the world."my life, I have 27 bucks, can you help me get away?"
He was so damned good that clients occasionallyFrank politely declined. "Your life will get better, I
wondered if he'd been a New York City detective - orpromise," he wrote back. "It's only the beginning."
an FBI agent. Which made him chuckle a bit. YearsRoughly one in 100 of the initial inquirers were truly
ago, he was accepted to the NYC police academy,serious. Frank called the serious ones "The
but, at the last minute, he decided not to go.Disappearers." He had three of them in his first year,
"I guess I didn't like the uniformity of that sort of thing,"and six the second, and charged them as much as
he says. "And the money wasn't very good."$30,000 apiece, plus expenses, depending upon their
In the early 1990s, Frank was hired by a privatesituation.
investigator (who was working foran insuranceJennifer came along not long after Ken. She was a
company) to hunt down Robert Scarletta and his wife40-something criminal defense attorney from New
who owned the national armored truck companyEngland ("the lesbian," Frank calls her). For twenty
Revere Armored. As Frank remembers it, Scarlettayears, she'd been arguing and winning cases. But then
and his wife went on the run after authorities startedshe lost a major one with her client getting hit with a
asking questions about missing millions. Before leaving,hefty sentence. The client, whom she called "the
they'd stuffed their private plane with cash, accordingasshole who couldn't take what was coming his way,"
to Frank. By gagging small airports, Frank tracked thatblamed her for losing, and threatened her. When
plane all over the country. He then lied to casinos toJennifer contacted Frank, she was distraught. "I should
get win loss statements, which showed that Scarlettahave stuck to [real estate] closings," she said to him.
was a heavy gambler, spending millions of dollars heFrank took her on. First he gave Jennifer the tools to
didn't have. And after four months orso of hunting,wage informational warfare, deviating and canceling
after compiling miles of incriminating data, theher accounts. Then, using an old friend's name and a
Scarlettas must havefelt the pressure of the situationghost address on the West Coast (a Mail Box Etc
because, as Frank says, they finally negotiated theiraccount), Jennifer set up a shelf corporation in a
surrender to authorities.midwestern state to spend her money and hold
Sometimes Frank's assignments were glitzy. When theassets. Known as corporate cloaking, she would use
Oscars statues were stolenin 2000, Frank huntedthe corporation to pay for everything - from renting an
down one of the key players. He says he foundapartment to opening a bank account, signing up for
Monica Lewinsky before anyone else. ("I got her phonecable and buying new shoes. As a consumer, Jennifer
record framed on my wall," he boasts.) Earlier thiswould be just as good as dead.
year, he was hired to locate the hotel clerk whomBut unlike Ken, Jennifer did not want to flee the
Russell Crowe cracked over the head with a phone.country. She wanted to stay on the East Coast. Frank
That one was child's play says Frank. Heturned therecommended she move to a medium-sized city, one
guy up in fifteen minutes flat.that wouldbe big enough to get lost in. Jennifer did, and
Were all of Frank's techniques lawful? "A gray area,"stopped working as an attorney. But there was a
he tells me, which is his coyway of confessing to thewrinkle. She didn't have Ken's financial resources, and
slipperiness of the job. He then cites the "Gram Leachneeded to work again, which presented Frank with a
Biley Act," a federal law, which forbids people fromnew hurdle. When Jennifer got a job, she would be
lying about anything regarding afinancial institution. Inrequired to pay taxes in the new state. That would
other words, Frank can't call up someone and pretendsend her name and address to the IRS and make her
he's a bank. "I follow this strictly," he declares.vulnerable to dirty investigators. To keep off the radar,
Over the years Frank has worked for everyone -she could - illegally - pay taxes in the state where her
insurance companies, government agencies, privateghost address is located. Frank says he simply
eyes, attorneys, tabloids. He did thousands of cases.explained this to Jennifer, and doesn't know what she
Which, when he thought of it, meant that he also haddecided to do.
thousands of enemies. He began to losesleep, worriedAda was next. A pretty grey-blond in her late twenties,
about hang-up phone calls he got and jumped whenshe had a psychopath ex-husband with an epic history
he heard noisesin the night. "Did the crazy biker whoof drug and assault charges. Even though they were
got his MC repo'd figure out it was me?" he'daskdivorced, the man still came around - and beat her.
himself. "Did the husband that got caught cheatingShe feared that one night her husband would kill her
know I was the one thatpulled his phone records? Didand her 5-year old son. She wanted to go, but she
we leave a trail?"also trembled at the thought of completely leaving her
He became fanatical about his privacy - still is today.life behind.
Phone directories have nolisting for him. He has a P.O."She found the idea [of disappearing] extremely scary,"
box, but no official home address. Almost everything isremembers Frank. "The idea of going someplace and
paid for in cash. His sleek black Cadillac? Registered tonot knowing people and also the isolation from her
an old address. When he travels, he switches hotelsfamily and missing holidays. She talked about scenarios
nightly - which is also a symptom of his interminablelike missing weddings, and what if there is a death."
restlessness. Call one of the five world numbers listedBetween Ada and her mother, she had $3,000. But
on his website and you go straight to a voice mail.after showing Frank police records, hospital pictures,
When I talked to him the first time, he said he had anand divorce and custody papers, he took on the case
office in Manhattan. Later, I learned he didn't. Somepro bono. Ada's bills were altered. But because of the
private dick's joke that Frank might not even exist. "Ismall budget, she couldn't fly anywhere to fake an
talk to guys a lot of guys on the phone, other PIs, andapartment search. Instead, for the misinformation
they're likestage, Frank had her mother make a phone call every
'you've met this guy Frank, you know him?'" says JerryThursday night at around 6 to a random home in a
Palace, a former NYPD detective and now running hisnorthern Plains state. For 10 minutes, the mother talked
own investigative outfit in Westchester. "Frankie Boy iswith the same stranger about how weird it was that
a legend. And it's funny, I'm probably one of the onlyshe got the wrong number again and how sorry she
freakin' guys who've met him."was about it. Later she joked with the stranger about
One sweaty morning in late June I meet him on athe repeat misdial, maybe mentioned the weather. This
grimy highway overpass innowhere, New Jersey, notact would help distract anyone looking for Ada. Finally,
far from the George Washington Bridge. We meetFrank set up a shelf corporation for the girl and linked it
there because it's an anonymous place, and Frankto a fake Mail Box Etc address. Frank told Ada to
appreciates anonymous places. Frank, 41, with hismove and take a job that mostly paid cash. He told
brown heavy metal hair and sizeable frame, isherthat when her son enrolled in school to use a
sometimes mistaken forthe professional wrestlerdifferent last name.
Kevin Nash, who also played "The Russian" in theLike many of Frank's clients, Ada was conflicted, even
movie "The Punisher." Today, he sports faded jeanmelancholy when the process was finally over. She
shorts, leather boat shoes and an oversized whitewas free, but "she would never see her family again,"
wife beater with a picture of Bob Marley. "I'm a hugeFrank says. "And when her mother dies, she is going
Bob Marley fan," he hollers over ninety-mile per hourto have to make a very hard decision of whether or
traffic, as we walk towards his just-washedblacknot to go back. If she goes back, it could be very bad."
Cadillac. "He was always singing about freedom."Not all of Frank's clients are as sympathetic as Ada.
When Frank talks - and he's always talking - his headFrom time to time, he hashelped people who probably
and arms move rapidly as ifto punctuate his points.didn't deserve it. He once disappeared a man who
"You can't keep me still," he says as he points the carwas amid a divorce case, and wanted to hide money
south on the highway, his thumbs drumming thethat could be taken in a settlement. Frank claims he
steering wheel to the radio. "I have to be constantlychecked to see if the man had a criminal record of
going."any kind,including incidents of spousal abuse, but found
By the late 90's, Frank was making it big in the skipnothing. These are not the cases that make Frank the
tracing business. He says hewas raking in $40,000,proudest. But that doesn't mean he sweats the ethics
$50,000 a month, employed eight people, and owned atoo much. "Nothing in life is black and white," he says.
speedboat, a zippy crotch rocket, and a 924 Porsche."Starting over is having the ability to recognize that life
He ate at expensive restaurants and drank expensiveis filled with grey."
wine. "A gluttonous time," he calls it.Recently, an evangelical Christian woman contacted
But trouble followed. In 2000, the IRS told Frank heFrank and told him that what he did "was horrible that
owed over $100,000 in back taxes, money he didn'teverybody should face their problems and not hide," he
have. He claimed bankruptcy. He got divorced. In 2002,recalls. "She ran her whole Jesus Christ rant on me."
he shuttered the office and let his staff go. "ThereFrank was nonplussed. "I told her
was a lot gained and a lot was lost,"he recalls. At thatPeter himself ran and denied who he was in the
time, he started missing life in New York City, aftergarden."
having moved away to a distant shady suburb ofFrank says he's ready to pull off a disappearing act
New Jersey to be with his now ex-wife. He wrotehimself. "We're leaving this place, just as soon as it
some poetry about his troubles. One night he ended upsells," he tells me as we drive to a pale yellow prefab
at a poetry slam inthat Frank shares the house with his fiancée and
Greenwich Village, where he took the microphone.skip tracing partner, Eileen. Inside, it is sparkling, the
Everything concerning these tumultuous times pouredwall-to-wall carpets just washed, but full of boxes with
out in one flowing, if not unusual, poetic song ("I do a lotvery little on any of the white walls. The only room not
of weird stuff like that," he says about slamming thatboxed up is the one-window office, where they
night. "It occupies me.").sometimes work.
It took him two years to get his life back on track and"We've been living like this, in boxes, for a little while
his business above water.now," Eileen says to me. She is pretty in a biker chick
Not long after, Frank met Ken.kind of way - tough, thin as a chopstick, white blond,
A few days after Ken's phone call, Frank met himwith a bunch of tattoos, including a butterfly on her
again at Borders and laid out what needed to be done.chest, a large wizard on her back and a thorny vine
For starters, they would never meet again in person inthat winds up one arm. "I'm not used to it. But it doesn't
the States. They'd speak only by telephone, and onlybother Frank. That's the way he is. Always in motion." I
using prepaid phone cards bought with cash. Frankask Frank where he's headed. Before he answers, he
ordered Ken to cancel all his credit cards and get ridtakes a swig of black coffee, his fifth cup of the day.
of his cell phone, too. He instructed him to change the"Let's just say it's gonna be a nice place on the ocean
spelling of his name - not a total name change, justand not a trailer park."
add a few wrong letters here and there - on all hisFrank never sees the people he disappears once their
utility bills and have everything forwarded to angone. That's his policy. The less he knows the better.
address Frank had set up in Salt Lake City. A monthHave any of them ever been caught? He doesn't
later, Kenmoved his mail from Salt Lake to Boise. Aknow.
month after that, he moved it to Los Angeles. He keptThe fact is, he can help erase the things that identified
all his balances current and paid in full.a person, hide their tracks,and get them moved away
Next Frank sent Ken to middling town in Colorado,safely -- once they're gone it's another story. They're
where he had him apply for an apartment rental andon their own.
run a credit check. That would be one of the first ofStaying disappeared isn't easy. Loneliness hits hard,
what Frank called Ken's "false leads." The credit checkmakes you start thinking about what you left behind -
would enter Ken's name in a national database, so ifthe old friends, the family, a meal at a particular
someone started looking for him, they'd see therestaurant, the friendly wave of a neighbor. As a
Colorado inquiry and head there. But they'd find nothingdisappeared person, you are stripped of your history,
since Ken hadn't rented an apartment in that state, ofeven your personality. "Disappearing is a lifestyle," says
course. Frank also told Ken to deposit $300 in an ATMFrank. "Mr. Miami can't be Mr. Miami anymore. He's
account. Then Frank took Ken's ATM card andgotta be Mr. Des Moines." Sometimes there are
moved it around the globe - asking trusted colleaguesfailures. Frank cites the case of Sammy "The Bull"
to use it and take out money in places like Florida,Gravano, the Mafia turncoat who moved to Arizona
California and England.under the Federal Witness Relocation program, only to
Finally, Frank migrated Ken's money offshore (fromchafe at the quiet life. He wrote an autobiography,
Canada) and created three International Businessjetting around the world and signing autographs like a
Corporations, which could not be traced - not even bysuperstar, and eventually returned to crime. In 2000, he
policeor foreign governments. That's because Frankwas arrested for distributing ecstasy pills and
smartly placed the money in countries that didn'tsentenced to 15 years.
recognize the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty -"What I tell people in the end is 'this is it,'" Frank says.
meaning that the banks in these countries were the"Don't slack. The guy looking for you can make a
equivalent of Fort Knox. From then on, Ken would onlymillion mistakes. If you make one mistake, it's over.'"
use the corporations to buy things. Frank hadOf course, one of the difficulties with Frank's business
successfully ended Ken's life as a private individual; heis that it's impossible to get client testimonials. You don't
was now a phantom corporation.see Ada's face on a brochure saying, "Frank changed
A little more than three months after their firstmy life," and when I ask Frank if there's any way at all I
encounter in the bookstore, Ken was ready to becould reach out to any of his disappeared clients, he
disappeared. As his destination he'd picked a tropicaljust laughs. But I persist, and finally he tells me he'll try
island country, dreaming of lazy living and frozento geta message out to one of them: Ken.
margaritas. But at Frank's instruction, he would travel aA few weeks later, Frank and I receive an email from
circuitous route. He took a plane to one country, beforean anonymous overseas e-mail account.
buying a ticket there with cash and heading to aSirs,
second country, where he met Frank and purchased aFrank has shown me freedom. Life is good at the
ticket to his final destination. To this day, Frankbeach.
remembers Ken - still geeked out ina golf shirt andSignedunder the sun
khakis - beaming like the Cheshire cat as he entered aI do not, of course, have any way of knowing if the
cab for the airport and to his new home. A fewemail is phony or for real. But I like happy endings, so I
seconds later, he was gone. And Frank neversaw himhope it is from Ken.