I just wanted to point out that it’s truly amazing the amount of information LE can ascertain about a person's daily habits, normal routines, and the locations a user frequently visits just by looking at data obtained from various resources. Even if LE doesn't have access to the phone. Even if the user has taken steps to erase text messages and/or their search history. Even if the user resets a phone to its factory settings.
I was searching my brain for cases that have heavily relied on cell phone data to secure convictions and remembered the detailed testimonies of a data analyst and an intelligence expert heard during the kidnapping trial of Heather Elvis. IMO, this testimony was the most damning evidence presented to the jury, and I think it played a major role in the state obtaining a successful conviction. (FYI: Tammy Moorer was ultimately found guilty of one count of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to kidnap, in regards to the disappearance of Heather Elvis, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.)
LE has not been able to locate Heather Elvis, has never recovered her phone, and the Moorer family went to great lengths to remove incriminating evidence from their own cell phones (well... they attempted to anyway). Nevertheless, investigators were able to construct a clear timeline of phone movements on the day and night Heather disappeared. They were able to construct this timeline after obtaining a search warrant for her Google location history record, in conjunction with call detail records from her wireless network provider and cell tower location data.
According to the intelligence analyst that testified in that case, Google collects information from its users to offer location specific answers to their internet searches. GPS coordinates are collected every time an activity occurs on the device (for example, when the user unlocks the screen, makes a phone call, opens an app, receives an incoming text, etc.) In Heather's case, on the night she disappeared, Google collected GPS coordinate information approximately 1x every minute.
For example, the information obtained from that warrant allowed them to determine that Heather's phone:
- was at her home address between 1:35 and 2:30 am
- left her home address and traveled a specific route between 2:32 and 2:43 am
- was located at a specific address in the northeast corner of a parking lot (which happened to be the specific location of the restaurant's dumpsters) between 2:43 and 2:57 am
- began to travel back down the route from which it came but turned around at a specific address and traveled back to the previous address between 2:57 and 3:01 am
- was located at the same northeast corner of the parking lot between 3:04 and 3:16 am
- traveled back towards her home between 3:16 and 3:21 am
- was located in the parking lot of her apartment complex between 3:21 and 3:25 am
- left her apartment again and traveled a specific route between 3:25 and 3:35 am
- came to rest at the location where her car was ultimately found abandoned two days later between 3:38 and 3:41 am
- stopped recording activity at 3:41 am
The information they were able to obtain regarding the Moorer's phones include:
- the Powering Event Logs (when their phones were powered on/off) from their wireless network provider
- deleted text messages that were recovered from their computer
- deleted texts, phone calls, and instant messages that were extracted using a Cellebrite device
They were also able to recognize patterns of behavior by analyzing ping data from the Moorer’s wireless provider (for example, pings indicated their phones were located near Heather’s place of employment around the same time Heather’s shift ended -- on multiple occasions -- in the days leading up to her disappearance).
Remember: LE was able to determine those specific details without having access to Heather's phone. With that said, I feel confident LE should be able to track Kelsey's movements up until the moment her phone was disabled and that information should reveal a lot about her activity on Thanksgiving (and, perhaps, the few days that followed.) If, for example, her phone was immediately disabled after her baby was no longer in her custody and remained that way until it was powered on and pinged a tower in Idaho somewhere on the 25th ...that would be a clear indication of very suspicious behavior, IMO.
ETA: They were not able to obtain Google GPS coordinate information for the M's because their Google accounts had been deleted.