yllek
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- Jan 10, 2011
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Thanks, I'm impressed with your knowledge. I am a crime show addict, specifically Investigation Discovery, and I've never heard anything about how they catch criminals based on cell phone usage and location.
So that I can make sure I understand the basics as it pertains to this particular case, am I correct to assume the following italicized facts:
The 3 cell phones continued pinging until a little after 3am and the location of them from Midnight to 3am was 1/5 to 1/3 mile from DB's home. After 3:15am, the pinging stopped, indicating the batteries died or were removed (and there was no internal circuitry that kept them pinging) or they were submerged in water.
I think your understanding is correct Detective Klimpt.
It truly is fascinating what LE can do with cell pings. After some initial frustration with getting the records, LE was able to locate the body of Kelsey Smith by cell phone pings (IIRC, her cell phone was on her person). Recently, it is my understanding, LE found the body of Michelle Le by using the cell ping records of their female suspect and those of Michelle - ping records showed their phones traveling the same route after Michelle was abducted from her work site - the pings helped determine a search area where Michelle was later found. One that really breaks my heart is Kristi Cornwell. She was abducted while walking near home and was missing for quite some time. When LE learned a man tried to abduct another woman in a similar manner, they had a suspect. He killed himself. Kristi's brother never ever stopped searching for her, long after others did. He found his badly decomposed sister not far from the abduction site within hours of an LEO giving him a tip; the cell ping records of the dead suspect for the day Kristi went missing.
Sorry to go O/T. It just fascinates me; a relatively new tool that can help LE find the missing and bring closure to the family (and help put the bad guys away).