Hi WestCoast Lady:
Welcome to unclaimed! There isn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason to why I pick the cases I work on vs. the ones I wait on to work.
Here's what I did when I started: Pick someone with a not so common name for your first go at it. You'll get less frustrated. And someone that the full birthdate has been posted on.
Join claimus.org. You can read more information about the case if it is available.
I start with the genealogy record first, because that is my comfort level and what got me interested in this particular forum. I have experience working my own family genealogy. I am in no way an expert, I just enjoy it. (I am not one of those TV professional genealogists who take your records and prove all sorts of amazing things! LOL!!!) I see if I can find the basic information about the deceased person in the genealogy record.
One of the first things I look at is: is there a social security death index? It usually tells where the person was living when they got their social security card. Might also be the state they were born in, but not necessarily. It's a place to start. If the social is listed, don't post it to WS.
Can I find previous addresses for the person? Is anyone by that same last name still living at any of the addresses? Are there property records or associated people or any other kind of clue?
Is there a birth record or a census record for the person (Census is available thru 1940). See if I can gain clues about potential family members. 1940 census isn't completely indexed yet, they just released it to the public about two months ago. That means the 1940 census is not yet searchable by names. Ancestry is working on it. The census records 1930 and back are indexed and a great resource on the older folks.
Also, some of these folks may have a criminal record. Often there is a reason they lost touch with their family--prison, addiction, homelessness. I see if I can find info about whether or not the person does or doesn't have a criminal past; and what clues I can get from those records. I look at property records. I look at marriage and divorce records if they are available. I look for MSM newspaper articles, if I can find them. I look at obituaries for other people with the same name. I look for veteran's records.
I just keep digging and digging until hopefully somebody surfaces that may be a relative. Then I PM the info over to Raine1212!!!
I usually let her contact the ME's office, rather than emailing the case manager thru claimus. She has been doing this longer and has relationships with folks at some of the offices. I learned this thru experience!
She has experience contacting families and is a great resource. I am a little more shy about it. But I will.
It took some time and perseverance for me to get the hang of it. It is worth it though. Don't get discouraged. You will have a few false starts at first. But it is very satisfying to know that you have returned someone to their family or even if the family isn't interested in actually claiming the body, at least they know what became of the person.
I know Charleston county ME's office is particulary appreciative of our efforts. I have worked on many of those cases, but fresh eyes always help.
Washington State has recently posted a LOT of cases of unclaimed to claimus and I haven't had time to look into any of them really. Raine1212 has posted them to web sleuths. So, that might be a place to start. If you are connected to the west coast, it may give you some insight.
There are plenty of cases to go around.
Raine and others have their own methods. I am just posting what I do.
Some free resources are: familysearch.org, the white pages, government websites, especially state, county and local. Court records. Findagrave. There is roots web and Cyndy'slist as well.
There are other directories available on the web.
For sites like Ancestry.com you pay a fee. Some less expensive ones are Archives.com, Fold3 (military mostly), genealogy bank (newspaper articles), and others.
Best of luck sleuthing! NM