But--Delphi only has (had, not sure now) 2 cell phone towers and IVES said in one Youtube interview, at beginning when there was talk of Libby's phone moving around town
Both towers can be pinged"
so he could travel anywhere around the area, and his phone would still ping there. IMO
I don’t think the warrant is referring to cell tower pings, if the warrant literally means what it says. Point 23 in the warrant above states that RL’s “cell phone data” implies that he was outside of his house and in the general vicinity of the crime scene when he sent a text at some time. Distinguishing “cell phone data” from ‘carrier data’ (tower pings and triangulation) is important. People often dont say what they mean, for sure, but his own “cell phone data” could conceivably be quite finely detailed wrt his location, depending on his settings. His “phone” would know which WiFi signals were nearby, and at how many dBm. You can get a little peek at this data yourself with a WiFi analyzer app, if you have the right phone. I use the one by farproc on Android. This is one way Google approximates location when you dont allow constant GPS location, and one reason certain people use location-agnostic phones. If he did allow constant GPS location, his “phone data,” and his google or apple location history, could tell his location down to feet, if asked. You can download your google location data and see your location, even for times your phone was off. It would know nearby devices as well. Just to add another layer of nerd fluff, Indiana State Police do use stingray cellular surveillance towers, but don’t say where or why
Stingray Tracking Devices: Who's Got Them? . Stingray towers are fake cell towers, operated by state and local LE since at least the early 2000s (and longer by the feds), that your phone connects to when in range, without you knowing, but you can’t make calls on them. They exist only to know who is where when, and where who has been since last checking in on a stingray. They are very creepy, and Scientifc American did a great piece on them in 2015
What Is the Big Secret Surrounding Stingray Surveillance? . Likely not material to this case, though if it was, we’d never know, since LE has dropped cases rather than divulge their existence, but it could at least provide LE a 3rd tower if they could fill out a simple form. I don’t really see any reason for RL to be a player in this case, since he was probably busy enough with the multilayered mess of his own life, and since he was most likely in the recovery stages of his 50+ year battle with testosterone poisoning, when pillage and plunder become less important. It’s just something to think about when considering phone location.