  We describe a method for interpreting trilepton searches at high energy
colliders in a model-independent fashion and apply it to the recent searches at
the Tevatron. The key step is to recognize that the trilepton signature is
comprised of four experimentally very different channels defined by the number
of tau-leptons in the trilepton state. Contributions from these multiple
channels to the overall experimental sensitivity (cross section times branching
ratio) are model-independent and can be parametrized in terms of relevant new
particle masses. Given the trileptonic branching ratios of a specific model,
these experimentally obtained multichannel sensitivities can be combined to
obtain a cross section measurement that can be used to confront the model with
data. Our model-independent results are more widely applicable than the current
Tevatron trilepton results which are stated exclusively in terms of mSUGRA
parameters of supersymmetry. The technique presented here can be expanded
beyond trilepton searches to the more general "inverse problem" of
experimentally discriminating between competing models that seek to explain new
physics discovered in multiple channels.
