Here’s one more thought on all that. Suppose you went to a Private Investigator. You said, ‘There is a family that lived in Africa in the mid sixties, the seventies & eighties; some of them still live there. They claim to have had two sons, around two years apart. I believe the first son is real and the second son is a hoax. In fact, I’d like to prove he is/was a hoax.
‘Now, there are two options. One, I can study a series of online photos, and draw my own conclusions.
‘Two, I could go, or pay someone to go for me, to the hometown of this family. I could check, or have checked, the vital records, the newspapers, the libraries, the police [for an accident report], friends and acquaintances of the family, school records and cemetery records.
‘Which do you advise?’
You just won’t find a reputable PI who will tell you the best way, or even a viable way, is to study online photos. To find out the truth, you, or someone else, is going to have to visit that hometown. That is the only way to know for sure.
In David’s case people have already done this. If, however, you don’t trust their findings, you still can’t relay on photos. Too easy to mistake live men for dead women. No, the only way is to track the records and acquaintances down firsthand. That is, if you really want the truth.
Brilliant suggestion! I’m sure that eventually, someone from your country will do just that.