person of interest

plural persons of interest · plural people of interest

1. CanadaUSgovernmentSomeone who police have reason to believe may have a connection to a crime, or to possess important information relating to that crime, but who has not been accused or charged by authorities nor been officially deemed to be a suspect.

   Tice denies involvement in any conspiracy. . . . Still, Morgan says Tice and "three or four other people" remain "persons of interest" in the investigation.

   2009 August 22, Tim Padgett, “The Pensacola Adoptive Couple's Murder: A Hit?”, in Time, retrieved 19 Nov 2015

   3 more examples

   Abdellatif has been interviewed five times by Australian security services since the dropping of the charges and remains a "person of interest" to the federal police.

   2013 September 26, “Sayed Abdellatif inquiry will report to Tony Abbott, who called him a 'jihadist'”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 19 Nov 2015

   The 19-year-old man from a Phoenix suburb who was detained on Friday at a convenience store near Interstate 10 is a person of interest, but Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, declined to say what had led the police to question the man.

   2015 September 12, “Police Rule Out Detained Man, 19, as Prime Suspect in Phoenix Freeway Shootings”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 Nov 2015

   The grainy images of what the F.B.I. described as a “person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk” show a man wearing a baseball cap, dark sunglasses and a black long-sleeve shirt with an image on it that appears to include, in part, a picture of the American flag.

   2025 September 11, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Devlin Barrett, “FBI Releases Photos of Person of Interest in Charlie Kirk Shooting”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC