ID - 4 Univ of Idaho Students Murdered - Bryan Kohberger Arrested - Moscow # 63

[10ofRods]

So you’re saying all of those antennas would provide cell service/pings? Even the antenna at Kentucky fried chicken?
But if we are counting antennas too, my non-urban college town has 277 towers, and 265 antennas for a total of 542. And Moscow only has 126? Seems like they are spread a bit thinner than most.

Well, the antennae at KFC has to hook up to something, right? If I'm using my cellphone at KFC, sure it will hit that antennae and then the relevant nearby cell towers? And if I'm not an authorized user of the KFC antennae, won't my phone still contact it? I mean, that's what usually happens when I drive around and my phone picks up all these random local "hot spots."

What else would a cell antennae before except to somehow hook a person's phone up to the vast cellular network. Of course, I have no clue to what extent various towers send data on to other towers.

If I'm sitting in McDonald's and my phone is connected to cellular through their system, I'm pretty sure that is information that can be traced. In missing person's cases, it has been helpful to know their last known ping location, especially if it's connected to a particular place.

From what I'm reading, all cell phone towers are considered antennae and all cellular antennae interact with the larger (panel) antennae that are contained in the towers.

Moscow is only 7 square miles. It's tiny. I don't know the size of your town, but my town is about 30 square miles and has 146 towers and antennae - so about the same as tiny Moscow. Neither Moscow or my town is heavily urban in the sense of having tons and tons of businesses, we're both mostly residential places (although Moscow has the university which has its own antennae - surely they are in use? so pings hit them?)

I do know that one's phone assesses which nearby location is 1) available to it and 2) is strong. So my own phone defaults to my carrier and for that carrier, there are only about 30 towers in town. It's plenty. And it's way enough for "triangulation."

GPS is more specific and pretty much impossible to turn off on most phones (unless the whole phone is off).

 

[Pretty Go Pale]

Well, the antennae at KFC has to hook up to something, right? If I'm using my cellphone at KFC, sure it will hit that antennae and then the relevant nearby cell towers? And if I'm not an authorized user of the KFC antennae, won't my phone still contact it? I mean, that's what usually happens when I drive around and my phone picks up all these random local "hot spots."

What else would a cell antennae before except to somehow hook a person's phone up to the vast cellular network. Of course, I have no clue to what extent various towers send data on to other towers.

If I'm sitting in McDonald's and my phone is connected to cellular through their system, I'm pretty sure that is information that can be traced. In missing person's cases, it has been helpful to know their last known ping location, especially if it's connected to a particular place.

From what I'm reading, all cell phone towers are considered antennae and all cellular antennae interact with the larger (panel) antennae that are contained in the towers.

Moscow is only 7 square miles. It's tiny. I don't know the size of your town, but my town is about 30 square miles and has 146 towers and antennae - so about the same as tiny Moscow. Neither Moscow or my town is heavily urban in the sense of having tons and tons of businesses, we're both mostly residential places (although Moscow has the university which has its own antennae - surely they are in use? so pings hit them?)

I do know that one's phone assesses which nearby location is 1) available to it and 2) is strong. So my own phone defaults to my carrier and for that carrier, there are only about 30 towers in town. It's plenty. And it's way enough for "triangulation."

GPS is more specific and pretty much impossible to turn off on most phones (unless the whole phone is off).

Mmmm, KFC . . . growble.

 

[Cindizzi]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed due to direct quotes which are not allow from paywall articles>

Here’s one with no paywall:

Idaho Murders Suspect Felt ‘No Emotion’ and ‘Little Remorse’ as a Teen (Published 2023)

Messages and online posts from the Ph.D. student now charged with four murders show that he was once detached and suicidal before he became fascinated with criminals’ minds.

www.nytimes.com

 

[AggieMeg]

Well, the antennae at KFC has to hook up to something, right? If I'm using my cellphone at KFC, sure it will hit that antennae and then the relevant nearby cell towers? And if I'm not an authorized user of the KFC antennae, won't my phone still contact it? I mean, that's what usually happens when I drive around and my phone picks up all these random local "hot spots."

What else would a cell antennae before except to somehow hook a person's phone up to the vast cellular network. Of course, I have no clue to what extent various towers send data on to other towers.

If I'm sitting in McDonald's and my phone is connected to cellular through their system, I'm pretty sure that is information that can be traced. In missing person's cases, it has been helpful to know their last known ping location, especially if it's connected to a particular place.

From what I'm reading, all cell phone towers are considered antennae and all cellular antennae interact with the larger (panel) antennae that are contained in the towers.

Moscow is only 7 square miles. It's tiny. I don't know the size of your town, but my town is about 30 square miles and has 146 towers and antennae - so about the same as tiny Moscow. Neither Moscow or my town is heavily urban in the sense of having tons and tons of businesses, we're both mostly residential places (although Moscow has the university which has its own antennae - surely they are in use? so pings hit them?)

I do know that one's phone assesses which nearby location is 1) available to it and 2) is strong. So my own phone defaults to my carrier and for that carrier, there are only about 30 towers in town. It's plenty. And it's way enough for "triangulation."

GPS is more specific and pretty much impossible to turn off on most phones (unless the whole phone is off).

So if they can use GPS (when the phone was on obviously), then why even bother with the pings? Just curious.

 

[rsd1200]

Your excellent post made me wonder whether BK would even have been eligible to purchase a firearm. He is reporting seeking medical/neurological care (including taking Topomax). He has a visual disorder (VSS). I do wonder if "rehab" was an involuntary commitment, at least initially.

If, at a young age, he knew that he was in the database of involuntarily committed individuals, that may have influenced his interest in other methods of self-defense (boxing, kickboxing, knives).

Berrill's explanation works for me, because his main (complained of) symptoms of his disorder were lack of feeling (repeatedly complained about over a period of years) and depersonalization. So, in order to feel anything, events need to have a big impact for him. Ordinary daily life may provide few satisfactions for him and he's been dealing with these states since he was 9 (according to himself).

In the state of Washington, that is likely true regarding firearm purchases. It just wouldn't be worth him even attempting to try it there (I did a quick scan of the laws). Here in Ky., I could probably trade a decent used cellphone for one, on the courthouse steps. We're not called Guntucky for nothing!

The depersonalisation, with VSS, seemed more to me, like an out-of-body experience, that one would know is not real, but it would still be frightening. One would feel disconnected from themself. So far, I've not read of a correlation with violence. Though I feel that he depersonalizes others, in another use of the word, and lacks empathy, in order to have committed these murders. If he has VSS, w/depersonalization, I don't see how he functioned. I'm very wary that he truly had VSS, due to his ability to move around freely, grade papers, see at night, drive a car, easily get in and out of the victims' homes, and progress so far in pursuing his education. (Just based on my very limited research, and having only just learned of it. I may not be fully understanding the condition. )



JIC anyone wants to look;
Washington State's Guidelines

https://www.atf.gov/file/117401/download

 

[maskedwoman]

So if they can use GPS (when the phone was on obviously), then why even bother with the pings? Just curious.

If you turn location services off, doesn't that keep them from tracking the phone in that way?

 

[Mad Hettie]

If I'm sitting in McDonald's and my phone is connected to cellular through their system, I'm pretty sure that is information that can be traced. In missing person's cases, it has been helpful to know their last known ping location, especially if it's connected to a particular place.

What you're talking about here is wifi, which would show up if you kept your phone on to connect to networks. I don't because I want to control how and when I make connections.

 

[Mad Hettie]

If you turn location services off, doesn't that keep them from tracking the phone in that way?

No. GPS is by satellite and you can still be tracked.

 

[cottonweaver]

fwiw by the NY Times in an article from earlier today.

Idaho Murders Suspect Felt ‘No Emotion’ and ‘Little Remorse’ as a Teen (Published 2023)

Messages and online posts from the Ph.D. student now charged with four murders show that he was once detached and suicidal before he became fascinated with criminals’ minds.

www.nytimes.com

Interesting that the msm are now starting to report the Tapatalk posts.

Is there anything new in that NYT link Countrarian? ( I know that we can't paste quotes on paywalled articles)

 

[Ceska]

This is interesting.

MSN

 

[10ofRods]

So if they can use GPS (when the phone was on obviously), then why even bother with the pings? Just curious.

Well, we really could use an expert in this area. But after reading up on a few cases where cellular and GPS were used, it turned out that Google maps is a huge source of GPS data, all organized by Google. That blue dot that travels down the road while a person like BK is using his maps (which I believe he had to do to make his loop-drive back to Pullman via those roads and towns south of Moscow). The dot is GPS based, is my understanding. So is "find my iPHone" or similar maps. So even in areas where there's no cellular (like the middle of nowhere), a person's phone is still using/reaching out directly to the GPS satellite system.

I hope someone more knowledgeable can correct this. At any rate, in several cases I've studied or been involved in, the cellular data from the phone carrier came in much faster than the GPS data from Google. I have no clue if the local phone also records some of the GPS data (probably?) My phone whines at me when I turn off location services, but it turns out that even with location services off, GPS is still active.

Can My Phone Be Tracked If Location Services Are Off? | McAfee

Your smartphone comes with built-in location services, which are useful if you lose it or if you use an app that needs to know your location.

www.mcafee.com

From that article:

//Whether you have an iOS or Android phone, there are ways it can be tracked even if location services are turned off.//

Apparently Android phones communicate directly with Google and the location data is stored in the cloud. Since I use Google maps (Apple maps sucks, IMO), my data is also going into the Google cloud.

This data was the main way that a major crime was solved in California (it's the subject of a podcast, To Live and Die in L.A. which is riveting and helps explain how GPS and phone tracking works). Both cellular and GPS data were used in that case as well. Not in real time, but to find the killer and bring him to justice.

 

[insearchoflight]

But wouldn't any college town, including Pullman, have hundreds, perhaps thousands of "girls" that could fit that bill?

Yes but I’m thinking he encountered them (or one or a few of them) at some point. Maybe didn’t even interact. Just saw them in a bar for example. Similar to how Jamie closs perp saw her exiting a school bus and just decided, she’s the one I’ll target. Became fixated on her. I think it could be something like that.

 

[cottonweaver]

No. GPS is by satellite and you can still be tracked.

Foil bag? (ad hoc Faraday cage)

Last infamous example of this, ( one that made big news) was Ghislaine Maxwell, according to that LE team, when she was being surveilled at her hideout pre arrest

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

fwiw by the NY Times in an article from earlier today.

Idaho Murders Suspect Felt ‘No Emotion’ and ‘Little Remorse’ as a Teen (Published 2023)

Messages and online posts from the Ph.D. student now charged with four murders show that he was once detached and suicidal before he became fascinated with criminals’ minds.

www.nytimes.com

Thanks, they say this.

Mr. Kohberger did not use his name on the website, but the posts included a reference to his birthday. In addition, the username on the account, “Exarr,” matches an email address for Bryan Kohberger that appeared in a 2009 leak of accounts from an online payment company; that account listed his location as Effort, Pa., the place where Mr. Kohberger grew up. Some of the posts also contained details that friends said matched their recollections of his behavior and struggles at the time.

I think that's good enough. The posts already did seem to fit very well with his known history.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

It looks like blood to me.

…

University of Idaho murders: blood seen oozing from house amid reports of previous threat

Months before four University of Idaho students were murdered, a man allegedly menaced a group of students on campus with a knife as new photos emerged of the crime scene.

www.foxnews.com

University of Idaho murders: blood seen oozing from house amid reports of previous threat

Months before four University of Idaho students were murdered, a man allegedly menaced a group of students on campus with a knife as new photos emerged of the crime scene.

www.foxnews.com

University of Idaho murders update: What we know so far

The gruesome stabbing murders of four friends from the University of Idaho while they slept has sent shockwaves through the small town of Moscow — and the rest of the country.

nypost.com

To me, it for sure looked like blood had dripped down the exterior of their house from the interior of the house when photos were first published (within a few days of the murders) when LE was there collecting evidence.

At that time I did see photos of a LEO (a blond woman with a ponytail in a dark blue jacket with some sort of LE lettering/insignia on the back of her jacket along with other photos taken in the same setting of another male LEO who had the same type of jacket) taking photos of the red streams running down the exterior with what looked like a professional camera with a 'wide-angle lens'.

Although I definitely saw the photos then online (eidetic memory, no screenshots), I have not seen them since (using a basic browser search), around the same time (and since) that they seemed to be poo-pooed and written off as maybe something else (like heating oil/fuel that is dyed red, but that was also poo-pooed afterwards because the house supposedly isn't heated with fuel).

I've always assumed LE just felt it was a gory detail of the murders that didn't need to be discussed or analyzed by the public and/or would be too upsetting to the victims' families and/or was a key piece of evidence in terms of what happened in the murders of Xana & Ethan who were found on the floor above, and it was "deep sixed" for good reasons pertinent to the case.

JMOO

 

[SMK777]

How was it confirmed?

I guess by coverage from the New York Times.

 

[maskedwoman]

No. GPS is by satellite and you can still be tracked.

thank you!

 

[gliving]

Easy peasy solution for not allowing your phone be tracked. Sounds like this is what BK may have done.

How to Limit Location Tracking on Your Phone - Consumer Reports

Marketers and others use phone location tracking to monitor your travels. Consumer Reports explains how to modify your phone's settings to limit access to that location data.

www.consumerreports.org

If you’re particularly worried about revealing your location, the best thing to do is leave your device at home, says Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security. “If you must bring it, turn off your phone before you travel to the place in question, and do not turn it on again until you are nowhere near the sensitive location.”

 

[Gardenista]

fwiw by the NY Times in an article from earlier today.

Idaho Murders Suspect Felt ‘No Emotion’ and ‘Little Remorse’ as a Teen (Published 2023)

Messages and online posts from the Ph.D. student now charged with four murders show that he was once detached and suicidal before he became fascinated with criminals’ minds.

www.nytimes.com

They just use the same justification that the rest of the media did when they reported the story this past week. I'm still not convinced this isn't a big 4Chan troll situation.

 

[NeverPersonal]

Police May Have Missed Crucial Detail in Idaho Murder Case: Attorney (msn.com)
While speaking about the specific wording, Geragos said "that tells me that there's something there that they don't want out yet or something that they missed and they're afraid if it got out, there would be public, what I call, blowback."
"I will tell you, I've seen I can't tell you how many thousands of warrants that have been sealed, rarely have I seen one where the reason centered on the threat to law enforcement," Geragos added.