Ash Ghaemi remembers his mother as, simply put, amazing. Throughout his childhood, she was well respected, self-sacrificing and widely loved. A young mom and Iranian immigrant, she prioritized her family above all else.
When Ghaemi was 22, his mother disappeared from Wheat Ridge, Colo. A divorce had flipped her mental health on its head, and she had started hanging around "dangerous men," Ghaemi recalls. Her belongings were found in a motel, but state and federal investigations proved fruitless at finding their owner. Her case grew cold.
Now, 18 years later, Ghaemi is taking matters into his own hands with his technological brainchild, CrimeOwl AI.
The AI-enabled platform sifts through thousands of case files — including documents, audio, video and text messages — to create a custom investigative dashboard. That includes a timeline of events before and after a crime. A relationship web connecting potential suspects to victims. Maps of notable locations. Even an AI chatbot. Most importantly, the app is a closed ecosystem: Its AI engine pulls only from submitted files, not online commentary.
"I was hoping that CrimeOwl could connect the dots with investigations," says Ghaemi, a Miami-based startup veteran who designed the product himself.
"A lot of these cold cases could get solved if you just blow the dust off of them," he continues. "People just don't have time to pay attention to them. They don't have the resources. They don't have the money. And I'm offering it to them very cheaply and quickly." He estimates CrimeOwl eliminates up to 80% of investigative grunt work.
Every year, as many as 600,000 people go missing in the U.S., and there are at least 250,000 unsolved murders nationwide. Yet only 7% of police departments have dedicated cold case units, and some rely on retired officers and detectives working cases on a part-time basis.
CrimeOwl launched in August and currently focuses on violent crimes, homicides and unsolved cases. At press time, 11 investigators were using the app, and about 100 had signed up for it. Users range from private investigators to victim advocates to criminal justice professors to citizen detectives. CrimeOwl offers tiered subscriptions, ranging from $19 per month for "citizen detectives and students" to $500 per month for law enforcement agencies and newsrooms.
All the while, Ghaemi never lost sight of his original mission: finding his mom. According to Ghaemi, the Wheat Ridge Police Department in Colorado originally refused to share files with him, citing its policy not to share files associated with active cases, regardless of activity level. After media coverage of CrimeOwl, he says officers changed their tune. Two more investigators have since been added to the case, and the department is researching CrimeOwl as a potential aid.
Ghaemi has also pitched the product to other police departments, along with private investigators. Ellis Maxwell, the lead detective trying to find Susan Powell — a 28-year-old woman who went missing in an infamous 2009 case — is using CrimeOwl to guide another search for her body in the Utah wilderness. Ghaemi says a private investigator working with the Dallas Police Department also is a customer.
"If I could get attention and solve my mom's case and help other people, and then CrimeOwl went broke tomorrow, my mission is complete," he says. "I don't care if somebody else builds a tool and takes its place. If I open the door for that, and it solves my mom's case and helps clear the backlog, I'm happy. I think that mission is getting very, very close to being completed."