Independent Detective Site Update
New Research Workspaces, Optional AI Assistance, and More Case Files
Independent Detective has grown considerably since our last major update. We have been building tools that make it easier to research cases, organize work, return to saved information later, and hopefully uncover details that may help bring answers to cases that have remained unresolved for far too long.
Approximately 100 Additional Cases Have Been Added
Since our previous update, roughly 100 additional case files have been added to Independent Detective, with more continuing to be released regularly.
This is not a number we treat as a celebration. Every entry represents a real person, a family, and questions that may have remained unanswered for years or even decades.
Many of the newly added cases are older investigations that receive far less public attention today than they once did. Our goal is to keep those cases visible and make their information easier to research, compare, and revisit.
Older does not mean hopeless. Records become available. DNA technology improves. Documents are digitized. People remember details differently with time. Sometimes a new researcher simply notices something that was previously overlooked.
Private Research Workspaces Are Now Available
Researchers with a free Independent Detective account can now follow cases and open a private research workspace directly from individual case pages.
The idea is simple: if you notice something while reading a case, you should not have to leave the page and open another program just to keep track of it.
Your private workspace is not visible to other community members. Researchers can follow multiple cases and return to their work through My Investigations.
If a case is later marked resolved or found safe, previously saved research does not disappear from the researcher’s records.
Research Now Stays Connected to the Case
One of the biggest goals of this update was to stop research from becoming scattered across browser tabs, notebooks, files, and separate programs.
Researchers can now save case-specific notes, save research sessions, revisit previous AI questions and answers, continue from earlier research, and deliberately save useful AI responses into a separate AI Research Notes area.
Regular Investigation Notes and AI Research Notes remain separate so one does not replace the other.
The AI Assistant Is Completely Optional
You do not need AI to read cases, search the database, create an account, follow cases, save notes, submit information, or use the other research features on the site.
The AI Assistant is simply another research tool for people who want to use it.
For example, a researcher might ask:
- What important questions are still unanswered in this case?
- Are there gaps or conflicts in the known timeline?
- How does my research note compare with the confirmed case information?
- Can the known facts be organized by people, places, dates, and sources?
- Which parts of a theory are supported by evidence, and which parts still need more information?
The assistant can use information associated with the case being researched, along with approved source material and information the researcher chooses to include.
AI can still make mistakes. AI output should be treated as research assistance, not as a finding of fact. Important claims should always be checked against original records and reliable sources.
Every Verified Researcher Receives Free AI Use
We do not expect anyone to pay for a tool they have never had an opportunity to try.
Every researcher who verifies their email address receives $0.25 in complimentary Hosted AI use.
There is no purchase required to receive this amount.
You can use it to ask questions, see how the assistant works with case information, and decide for yourself whether the tool is useful to your research.
The system shows your remaining hosted AI balance and provides an estimated cost before a request is allowed to run.
Why Is Hosted AI a Paid Feature?
We want this part to be as transparent as possible.
Researchers who choose to add money for Hosted AI are primarily covering the cost of the AI requests they choose to make.
The purpose is not to place case information behind a paywall. The case database and the normal research tools remain available without paying for AI.
Our priority is helping people research these cases and providing as many useful tools as we reasonably can toward that goal. AI is simply one of those tools.
You Stay in Control of AI Spending
Before a Hosted AI request is run, Independent Detective estimates what the request is expected to cost.
Researchers can see:
- Their current Hosted AI balance
- The estimated cost before a request runs
- The actual cost after the request is completed
- The updated remaining balance
Researchers who want to continue using Hosted AI may add funds later if they choose.
People who prefer to use their own supported AI provider can also connect their own provider account rather than using their Independent Detective Hosted AI balance.
Email Verification and Account Security
Research accounts now include email verification.
Verification helps confirm that accounts belong to real, reachable users and allows us to provide features such as the complimentary AI trial more responsibly.
Important account changes involving passwords and email addresses also use confirmation steps intended to reduce the risk of unauthorized changes.
Follow Cases and Return to Your Research
Researchers can follow cases they are actively working on and return to them through My Investigations.
Following a case does not make your research public.
If you later unfollow a case, your saved research remains available. Unfollowing simply removes the case from your active followed-case list.
The goal is to make long-term research practical, particularly for cases where answers may take time.
What We Hope These Tools Accomplish
Independent Detective cannot promise that a database, research workspace, AI assistant, or community researcher will solve a case.
What we can do is make information easier to access, make research easier to organize, preserve work that might otherwise be lost, and give people better tools for asking useful questions.
A researcher may notice a missing period in a timeline. A source may contradict something that has been repeated for years. A document may identify another record that should be requested. Someone may simply ask the question nobody else thought to ask.
The technology is not the mission. Finding answers is.
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