Hey BP community,

I'm a Chicago-area landlord dealing with a situation I haven't encountered before and could use a referral from someone who's been in a similar spot.

A former tenant vacated our unit early, left an unpaid balance, and caused property damage. We've prepared our documentation and are ready to pursue a civil claim in Cook County Small Claims Court — but we've hit a wall: we cannot locate a valid service address for the former tenant, and the court requires one before they'll open the case.

To make things more complicated, there is reason to believe the name the tenant used on the lease may not be their legal name. The phone number on file has been transferred to a third party, the email address has been abandoned, and multiple skip trace services have returned leads but no confirmed current address.

We have done significant legwork already — skip trace reports, phone number searches, and address history searches through AmberJack — and have a number of active leads to work from. We are now at the point where we need a licensed Illinois PI with experience in:

• Skip tracing and individual locate investigations

• Alias / identity verification

• Producing a documented, court-admissible report

If anyone has worked with a reputable PI in the Chicago area for a landlord-tenant matter and can vouch for them personally, I would really appreciate the referral. DM me or drop a comment below.

Thanks in advance.