PA PA - Richard Petrone, 35, & Danielle Imbo, 34, Philadelphia, 19 Feb 2005 - #3

[Sweetluv]

I think if this was a random murder/robbery they would have left the bodies and truck wherever it took place. A " hit" could have been carried out with the instructions to leave nothing behind, which would make more sense .
Many people commit suicide by jumping off bridges and their bodies have not been recovered...shipwrecks too...so I think the truck plunging into a body of water would be the same. Its a wide water area that is murky. I have heard that the rivers are also a dumping ground for vehicles that are plunged, then reported stolen for insurance $. Lately, quite a few vehicles have been recovered throughout the US in bodies of water that were linked to a missing person.
Im on the fence between them going into the water and a hit. South Streer Philly on a busy Sat night and no one seen or heard anything!?

 

[rob525]

Would not be surprised if their was a tracking device on a Richard and Danielle’s cars

My question would be; How available were "tracking devices" in 2005. In todays world one may track a cell phone through GPS etc. or an Air Tag (?). But I wonder if, in 2005, would that have been possible? One may see movies or hear stories about tracking devices place on vehicles, but could you just go out and buy one? Where?

 

[rob525]

I still am on board with the "in the water" theory. Just looking into the subject shows that many vehicles end up there one way or another. I also know from experience how difficult it is to find objects underwater, how quickly an object may become lost and completely silted over.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

My question would be; How available were "tracking devices" in 2005. In todays world one may track a cell phone through GPS etc. or an Air Tag (?). But I wonder if, in 2005, would that have been possible? One may see movies or hear stories about tracking devices place on vehicles, but could you just go out and buy one? Where?

I think that some types were commercially available and cell phones could be tracked at that point.

 

[Shamrock1]

My question would be; How available were "tracking devices" in 2005. In todays world one may track a cell phone through GPS etc. or an Air Tag (?). But I wonder if, in 2005, would that have been possible? One may see movies or hear stories about tracking devices place on vehicles, but could you just go out and buy one? Where?

Car tracking devices were available to the general public but expensive. GPS navigation devices (Garmin, TomTom) and satellite tracking (Lo Jack) were 1990s and Google Maps was 2004 IIRC. Putting aside the obvious legality issues, someone with a police background would know which consumer devices had the longest battery life, etc. JMO.

 

[kemo]

In the late 1990’s, I knew someone who owned a “ high end” vehicle and had a GPS tracking device. Their car was stolen and they were able to track it to someone’s garage. I believe Law Enforcement did it through the security company that they had a subscription with rather than tracking it on their own device as it would be done today. Either way, some random “hit man” would have had to be extremely well connected to have access to that signal. (And Law Enforcement would have been able to use it to track the location of the truck).

 

[rob525]

I know about the Low-Jack and I guess in 2005 tracking cell phones was possible for Law Enforcement. I seems that all of the individual components may have been in place but it does not seem that the average joe would be able to track someone like they could today. I agree that someone would need to be in LE or very close to be able to track someone. And even then, could they do it in real time? Probably only Low Jack etc. would have that capability. And then that begs the question. If the car could have been tracked by LE, why haven't they done it? If the car had low jack or similar, or one of their cell phones been tracked etc. LE should know where the last place that the car was pinged.
I thought about this case on the way in to work today. The more that I think about the hitman angle, the more unlikely I feel that it is. How many times is there a news story of someone attempting to solicit a hitman and the solicitee, either before or after receiving some money, going straight to the police? I imagine there are many times where money is paid and the deed is never done as there is no real way force the act or recover the money. Additionally, even when one finds a "hitman" it is often some bumbling drug addict that is caught in short order. To find someone that could pull this off, at this place and time, with two victims involved, and at a moments notice, and without a trace of victim or vehicle even twenty years later seems like something that would be a rarity.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

There was commercially available GPS tracking in 2005: History of GPS satellites and commercial GPS tracking | Geotab

There were other types of racking before that.