How to purge message from 2 weeks ago that is not in user mailbox now?

[HenGroup]

I have a request to purge a single email that was sent to a user from an external mail account on 3 July that contained sensitive company trade secrets. I ran message tracker to see if I could find the message but it did not show up in the search. I can only assume that the user (recipient) has either deleted or moved the message from his account. How can I purge this message from my 10 exchange servers and make sure (verify) the message has been purged from the 10 exchange servers? I really need to do this as soon as possible. Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[58sniper]

exmerge is your friend

Pat Richard MVP

 

[HenGroup]

What is the procedure? Do I exmerge the live database or create a Recovery Storage Group?

 

[58sniper]

if you want to remove messages in the current mailboxes, you'd exmerge them from the live databases.

Pat Richard MVP

 

[HenGroup]

When I use message tracker, I can not find the message on the server when basing the search on the recipient's name. I did not put the senders name in the search because he is an external user and his mailbox is not in my exchange systems. So if this is the search criteria for message tracker does that mean the message is no longer on the live database? Because if that is the case I will need to restore to an Recovery Storage Group from the backups 2 weeks ago (3July) right? Still not 100% understanding on wheter the message is on the servers now or do I have to use the Recovery Storage Group. Thanks.