Activation Lock: Removing ipad from previous owners acct: HOW to if prev. Is gone?

I've read the instructions on the apple support page entitiled "Find My iPhone Activation Lock: Removing a device from a previous owner’s account" [which applies to ipads and ipods too] My question is what can I do if neither of the two options is available. (the 2 options are 1. the previous owner is present, or, 2., the previous owner is not present but is readily reachable by telephone or something.

Does anyone know what I can do if the previous owner is no longer likely to be reachable, ever? This is not stolen, it was given to someone as collateral on a loan, but the loan was never repaid, and the friend of mine who had the ipad is not tech savvy at all, and basically had no use for it, so they sold it to me. Meanwhile the original owner is gone, possibly deceased, overseas or incarcerated, for all intents and purposes, not reachable. Is there a solution?
Thanks

Nope there is no solution at all you have to have the original owners account in order to unlock the iPad a new account cannot be used until you do and a reset won't work at all as well.

Frankly, I'm not sure there is anything that you can do. As long as that iPad remains locked, there's no way you can re-set it without the original owner's Apple ID and password.

If there is an Apple store nearby and you have a purchase sales receipt for the iPad, you can try asking one of the techs there if it can be unlocked. Tell them what you told us here and as long as the serial number doesn't show up as stolen, they may be able to help you. But there is really nothing we can do here to help.