Joseph Travers, Founder & Private Investigations Manager

JOSEPH ANTHONY TRAVERS, CPI, CCDI, CMECI is a Member of the Human Trafficking Information Exchange Group, Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, Washington DC and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration, and has been advanced to candidate for a Master’s of Science Degree with High Honors (4.0 GPA) from the California State University at Long Beach Graduate School of Criminal Justice Administration. Mr. Travers was also an Honor’s student (4.0 GPA) at Calvary Chapel Bible College. He is the President of the National Association for Missing & Exploited Children.  

Joseph Travers is the author of “Introduction to Private Investigation, Essential Knowledge and Procedures for the Private Investigator”, Charles Thomas Publishing 1995, 2nd Edition 2005, 3rd Edition 2015, “The ORIGINAL Private Investigator’s Handbook & Almanac, CIA Investigation Academy Publishing 2010, 2nd Edition 2014, 3rd Edition 2016, 4th Edition 2022, “Investigation of Missing & Exploited Children: The Gateway to Child Sex Trafficking” 2017, 2nd Edition 2018, 3rd Edition 2019, 4th Edition 2020, the “Criminal Defense Investigator’s Handbook”, 2020, the “Computer Information Technology & Internet InvestigationHandbook”, 2021, and “The Courtroom Testimony & Deposition Professional Investigator Handbook”, 2022.

An Honorably Discharged Veteran of the United States Navy, Mr. Travers is a certified Law Enforcement Professional, possesing professional certificates from the California State Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission; Basic, Intermediate, Advanced Officer Training, Hostage Negotiations, and Field Training Officer Certificates. Mr. Travers has experience in Loss Prevention and Private and Personnel Security, having served as the Manager of Security, Southern California, for McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

Mr. Travers is a California State Licensed Investigator www.PeoplesDetective.com , since 1984, and his investigative work has been chronicled in People magazine twice, and on television stations such as CBS, NBC Nightly News, ABC, Fox News, San Diego 10, HBO VICE, Dove TV, Newsmax, Full Measure News, KUSI, One America News, NewsNation, The Daily Caller, and the TV movie and series Renegade. His work has also been recognized in the front-page headlines of newspapers around the country, including The Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, Riverside Press Enterprise, Los Angeles Daily News, Inland Empire Daily Bulletin, Orange County Register, OCWeekly, Veterans Magazine, San Diego Union Tribune, Risen Magazine, and USA Today.

For ten years, Mr. Travers has taught Investigation, and has served as Director of Education for U.S. Colleges Incorporated. He has testified as an expert witness and conducted investigations regarding Police Practices and Investigative Technique in California State and United States Federal Courts.

Mr. Travers is a former Police/ Fire Commissioner for the City of Oceanside, California from 2008 to 2020. He is the former Chairman and Vice President for the Professional Investigators of California (PICA), a Member of the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Crimes Against Children Investigator’s Association (NCACIA), the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation (CESE), the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), the Council of Association Leaders (COAL), and former President for the California Association of Licensed Investigators (CALI), the Largest Private Investigation Association in the World, receiving the President’s Award in 2014 and the Investigator of the Year Award in 2015. As Founder for Saved In America, Pastor Travers has assisted parents and law enforcement with the recovery of over 270 young girls vulnerable to Child Sex Traffickers since December 2014.

Kirby D. Horrell, Chair & Navy SEAL Master Chief retired, Special Operations Consultant

MASTER CHIEF KIRBY D. HORRELL (SEAL) 1967-2014
Master Chief Horrell (SEAL) graduated from Normandy High School in 1966 and enlisted in the Navy November 15, 1967.

After attending boot camp in San Diego he made his first Westpac deployment on the USS Piedmont and returned to BUDS training in San Diego in November 1968.  He was assigned to BUDS training class 49 and graduated with class 50 in June 1969.  After graduation, he attended Basic Airborne Training, SEAL Basic Instruction (SBI) course and then was sent to SEAL Team ONE as a Point man for a number of Platoons.  He was moved into the training cadre with SEAL Team ONE.

His next duty station in 1975 was Naval Special Warfare Reserve Unit Pac 119 in NAB Coronado, CA.  He was the leading Land Warfare and Weapons Instructor for the training department until get called back to active duty in 1990 for Desert Storm.

His next duty was Unit 2 in Stuttgart, Germany and the lead Maritime LCPO for Naval Special Warfare on the newly form ESAT program. He deployed on three NEO operations as the NSW component to Monrovia Liberia, Sierra Leone and Republic and the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville. 

He started the RST/ISP U.S. Embassy survey teams working out of SOCEUR and surveyed over (12) Embassy compounds from Africa to Russia. Deployed to Bosnia four (4) times in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After 4 years he was brought back to San Diego and Group 1 with the responsible of supervising and integrating all ordnance and weapons programs for SEAL Teams 1, 3, 5. After this job was completed he received orders in 2000 to Unit-10 to Rota, Spain as the LCPO of training and Spanish liaison for the Spanish Military.  He deployed to Kosovo as Task Unit LCPO several times and conducted Joint Operations with Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek and Italian Special Operations military units.

He was selected to the rank of Master Chief and became the oldest SEAL to go through SDV School in Panama City.  After completion of school, he was assigned as Combat System Officer of SDV Team One in Hawaii in charge of the AIR, WEAPONS and DIVING Department for 3 years and then took over the ASDS program in Hawaii as AOIC of the ATC School House and taught LIO lockout tactics from the ASDS until the end of the program.

He received orders to WARCOM in 2009 as the Naval Special Warfare Force SEAL Delivery Vehicle Program Manager to run the operation and maintenance of the SDV Fleet.  He was responsible for the SDV Fleet reliability and supervised the integrity of a 10 million dollar budget to ensure the fleet's operational readiness for the theater Commanders.

He received orders to Naval Special Warfare Group 1 as Master Chief of the Range Department in 2012 and supervised all NSW ranges for the West Coast.

Master Chief Horrell is a graduate of the Air Force Senior Enlisted Academy. 

His personal decorations include the Bronze Star with valor (two), Purple Heart, Joint Commendation, Navy Commendation Medal (four), Joint Achievement Medal, Navy Achievement Medal (two), Combat Action Ribbon (two), Expert Rifleman Medal, Expert Pistol Medal and numerous unit and campaign awards.

Master Chief Horrell is married to the love of his life, Terri.  They have been together over 40 years.  They have a son, John and three granddaughters. They reside in Alpine, California.

Joshua Travers, Law Enforcement Liaison & Case Manager

Joshua M. Travers LPI, CMECI served in the United States Marine Corps from 2007-2015 serving in Iraq in 2009. He has been a licensed Private Investigator since 2004 in California, and 2022 in Virginia, and is currently the Case Manager for Saved In America as well as serving on the board for the National Association for Missing and Exploited Children. Joshua has spoken throughout the country on the matter of Child Exploitation and Sex Trafficking and was appointed, along with his father Joseph Travers, to the Human Trafficking Information Exchange Committee organized by the Office of Human Trafficking and Smuggling in Washington, DC.

Joshua is an All-American Wrestler for Liberty University, and currently serves as Assistant Wrestling Coach with The Covenant School in Charlottesville, VA.

He, along with his father Joseph, is the author of Introduction to Private Investigation, 3rd Edition, The Original Private Investigator’s Handbook and Almanac, 4TH EDITION and “Investigation of Missing & Exploited Children, THE GATEWAY TO CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING” 4th Edition.

Joshua is a Law Enforcement Officer in Virginia,  and currently resides in Central Virginia with his wife, Kallie.

Mark Gillespie, MFS, TBCI, A.L.I.V.E., CCDI

Investigations Coordinator
Gillespie Forensics and Investigations

Mark Gillespie is a Texas board-certified private investigator, board certified criminal defense investigator, forensic scientist, and certified A.L.I.V.E. Active Shooter Survival Program trainer. He has been president/CEO of Gillespie Forensics and Investigations since 2004. Mark specializes in criminal defense investigations, cold cases, forensic science consultations, and personal safety, handgun training and security awareness. He has a master’s degree in forensic science from George Washington University and spent a career as an Air Force officer and special agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). As a special agent he commanded investigative units in the US and overseas conducting and managing felony investigations that undermine the mission of the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense. After retiring from the Air Force, he served as the Forensic Science Director for the Austin Police Department. He also introduced a forensic science course curriculum to St. Edwards University which led to the creation of their forensic science undergraduate degree program where he also taught courses in forensic science, criminal investigation and crime scene processing.

Mark is a past president and board member of the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators (TALI) and is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences as well as a number of other state and national private investigation and professional associations. In 2017, he and Joseph Travers co-founded the National Association for Missing and Exploited Children (NAMEC). He is a frequent lecturer throughout the US and has been featured on many cable and local news networks discussing forensic science, private investigation, cold cases, missing persons/human trafficking and active shooter survival.

Mark is married to Cheryl and they have five children and seven grandchildren.