Drug Use in Child Custody Cases? | Case Study by Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt

Through a personal acquaintance with the chief detective of Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt am Main, Gabriele Ulott, Mr. Eppstein decided to seek assistance in a child custody dispute. He had been separated from his wife for several months, and both parents shared custody of their daughter Elsa. According to Mr. Eppstein, the main reason for the separation was his wife’s “gradual descent” into the drug scene. She had suffered a psychological breakdown two years prior, which was primarily treated with medication, and since then, she had not been able to refrain from mind-altering stimulants. Naturally, this is a disqualifying factor for exercising custody. Mr. Eppstein’s problem: he could not legally prove his ex-wife’s drug use.

 

Additionally, he had heard that Mrs. Eppstein was now living with a drug dealer. Such an association would obviously be detrimental to Elsa’s development. Therefore, the father contacted the managing director of Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt/Main, requesting both the verification of the drug dealer suspicion and legally admissible evidence of illegal substance use by the child’s mother.

No Supervision of the Child During the Day?

Elsa was of kindergarten age, but contrary to Mr. Eppstein’s wishes she was not taken to kindergarten and stayed at home when the mother exercised custody. As a result, she had to be exposed there to all possible harmful influences almost around the clock. Our private detectives in Frankfurt am Main began observing Mrs. Eppstein on a Tuesday morning. Shortly after eight, the unemployed target person got into the car without Elsa and drove for a good half hour to a café, where she stayed chatting and drinking coffee until the afternoon. Who looked after the little girl during this time, or whether she was supervised by anyone at all, could not be determined, because both detectives from Frankfurt a.M. deployed had, as instructed, followed the target person. In order to clarify this point in further observations on the following days, the management of Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt/Main decided to leave one investigator at the residence if the target person were to move about again without daughter Elsa.

Elsa Alone at Home | Inquiry by Detective

Wednesday: As on the previous day, the target person left her apartment in the morning and got into her vehicle — again without Elsa, but this time with a young gentleman (approx. late 20s), who had apparently spent the night at Mrs. Eppstein’s place. As agreed, one of our Frankfurt private detectives remained at the residence to determine whether Elsa would be cared for there. Mrs. Eppstein dropped her companion off in the northern station district and then drove back to yesterday’s café. We had no personnel left that day to follow the young man as well and check whether there were connections to the drug scene, because according to the client’s instructions it was first to be determined what Mrs. Eppstein was doing while she was actually supposed to be caring for Elsa. As on the previous day, the mother spent hour after hour chatting in the café.

 

Based on these findings, our detective who remained at the apartment was instructed to ring the doorbell in a pretextual manner to determine who was taking care of Elsa. At the signal, a child’s voice answered over the intercom, the investigator presented his cover story and asked whether the child could get the mother. She was not there. “Can you get another adult for me then?” the detective asked.

“No one else is here. I’m not supposed to talk to strangers either,” the girl answered shyly.

“Why are you doing it anyway?”

“Don’t tell my dad, please!”

“I won’t, I promise! Why are you doing it then?”

“Because it’s boring ... I thought you were Mom ...”

“Where is Mom, then?”

“Don’t know, she’ll be back later.”

 

Later was around eight o’clock; shortly before that, the young companion from the morning had also returned to the house.

While the child waits at home, the mother uses drugs.

The plan for Thursday was to focus more on the young man, because Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt a.M. had already established, in two out of two attempts up to that point, that Mrs. Eppstein was not taking care of her daughter during the day. Our plan seemed to be thwarted, because the target person did not drop off her companion today, but instead took him along to the aforementioned café. The management sacrificed one observer by sending him to the neighboring table: he was to determine what Mrs. Eppstein was doing there all day — in the end, not much at all.

 

Through displays of affection and also through the content of their conversations, the private detective from Frankfurt am Main seated at the neighboring table was able to verify that the two were a couple and lived together. Their conversations revolved around friends, appointments, Mr. Eppstein and trivialities; the mother apparently wasted no thought on daughter Elsa. The entire stay in the café lasted more than eight hours, and the investigator at the table had to be replaced in between so as not to attract attention. During this time, the couple disappeared together into the restroom twice. Their condition upon returning left no doubt that they had administered consciousness-altering substances to themselves in the restroom. After their lingering in the café, the target persons visited a bar for lunch/dinner and played billiards and other games there with friends while consuming alcohol. Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt/Main documented their return to the apartment and to Elsa only after ten o’clock at night, meaning the child had been alone at home for more than fourteen hours.

A Street Dealer of a Different Kind

The observations from the previous day had at least revealed a connection between the careless new “stepfather” and the drug scene, insofar as he was obviously a consumer of illegal narcotics. Whether he also dealt drugs was still open for Aaden Commercial Detective Agency on the Main at that point and therefore remained the investigative objective for further case handling. Fortunately, the target persons did us the favor on Friday of splitting up in the station district as they had already done on Wednesday. The Aaden detectives from Frankfurt a. M. did not follow Mrs. Eppstein and focused entirely on the young man, who, incidentally, before leaving had emptied the mailbox at Mrs. Eppstein’s residence with what was apparently his own key, further reinforcing the impression of a marriage-like partnership.

 

In the northern station district, which is still known today as a center of drug dealing in Frankfurt, the young man positioned himself on a street corner and repeatedly interacted with passersby: brief conversations, then a joint walk around the corner, where one disappeared into a house, only to come out again shortly afterward and separate. To our experienced Frankfurt private detectives, this behavior very clearly suggested drug dealing. After observing these events several times, another investigator was sacrificed, as he was to play a kind of decoy: he walked down the street toward the young man, looking at him meaningfully, and as he passed by, the suspected drug dealer asked the detective what he needed. “Coke” (street term for cocaine), was the answer. The young man nodded to the private investigator and indicated for him to follow. He led our decoy into the aforementioned house, told him in the hallway to wait a moment, went up to an upper floor and then returned with a bag:

“How much do you want?”

“1 gram is enough — how much?”

The dealer sized up the investigator of Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt am Main:

“90.”

“Nah, nah, no tourist price! 40.” This amount was set so low that the dealer would certainly refuse. No deal was reached and the young man started to curse, while the investigator left without a word.

Results of Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt am Main

After one more operation on Saturday to strengthen the findings obtained so far, Aaden Commercial Detective Agency Frankfurt a.M. summarized all findings for Mr. Eppstein:

 

• His estranged wife did not care for the shared child during the day and also did not commission any other person to do so. She therefore grossly neglected her maternal duties.
• Mrs. Eppstein maintained a new stable relationship, which she had concealed in the previous negotiations regarding maintenance and custody.
• Mrs. Eppstein was still using illegal narcotics — even during the time when she exercised custody.
• The new partner also used illegal narcotics.
• The new partner was dealing in illegal narcotics, apparently on a commercial scale.

Our detectives from Frankfurt/Main had therefore provided their client with a whole list of very strong arguments for a reorganization of custody in his favor.

Notice

Note: For reasons of discretion and data protection, the locations and certain personal details have been altered without changing the substance of the actual events.