Denver Detectives Crack Deadly Arson Case Using Teens' Google Search Histories (wired.com)
- Reference: 0177683841
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/22/0226258/denver-detectives-crack-deadly-arson-case-using-teens-google-search-histories
- Source link: https://www.wired.com/story/find-my-iphone-arson-case/
The August 2020 arson killed a family of five, including a toddler and infant. For months, detectives Neil Baker and Ernest Sandoval had no viable leads despite security footage showing three masked figures. Traditional methods -- cell tower data, geofence warrants, and hundreds of tips -- yielded nothing concrete. The breakthrough came when another detective suggested Google might have records of anyone searching the address beforehand.
Police obtained a reverse keyword search warrant requesting all users who had searched variations of "5312 Truckee Street" in the 15 days before the fire. Google provided 61 matching devices. Cross-referencing with earlier cell tower data revealed the three suspects, who had collectively searched the address dozens of times, including floor plans on Zillow.
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/find-my-iphone-arson-case/
Re: Punishment (Score:3)
He was just trying to land an airbus.
Re: (Score:3)
> He was just trying to land an airbus.
This deserves recognition.
For the non-AVgeeks out there, Airbus passenger jets have an audible "retard" when close to the ground as a reminder to the pilot to set the throttles to idle for landing. The joke goes, the first warning is a verb, the second is a noun.
Re: (Score:1)
I have no problems with immigrants. Do you?
Re: (Score:2)
they are under 21 so getting an death sentence is very hard.
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It wasn't hard for Emmett Till, was it?
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Oops, I confused him with George Stinney, I'm sorry for that.
Re:Realtors keep plans, photos online after sale (Score:4, Funny)
Thus why I only deal with unrealtors and buy/sell unreal estate.
Re: Realtors keep plans, photos online after sale (Score:2)
You know that shits all public record right?
Re: (Score:2)
Well, floor plans are public record and can be retrieved from the municipal clerk's office.
As for photos... I think they'd have gotten the right house if they had doublechecked the pics. And there's no expectation of privacy for the outside of a house.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
> If police would take low level theft seriously, people wouldn't resort to vigilante justice.
Do you have any idea how many low level thefts take place every day in Denver and the surrounding communities?
Besides, when police are [1]trying [lawandcrime.com] to [2]overthrow [lawandcrime.com] the [3]government [newsweek.com], do you really think they care if your phone is stolen?
[1] https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/capitol-rioter-who-tossed-smoke-bombs-at-police-then-became-an-officer-months-later-convicted-for-actions-on-jan-6/
[2] https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/tambourine-wielding-ex-nypd-cop-who-screamed-im-a-f-ing-animal-convicted-in-jan-6-capitol-riot/
[3] https://www.newsweek.com/january-6-capitol-riot-former-police-officer-sentenced-prison-2011962
Re:Do your job (Score:5, Insightful)
> Do you have any idea how many low level thefts take place every day in Denver and the surrounding communities?
A lot more than necessary, because the local governments are too busy welcoming homeless people, sheltering drug gangs, letting Tren de Aragua take over apartment buildings, otherwise supporting criminals rather than prosecuting them, and preening about all of the above.
Have you been around the conference center downtown lately? 16th Street used to be pleasant to walk along. Or in Aurora? My employer had to move our Denver office from Aurora to elsewhere in the metro area because of crime. Nobody there felt safe after some high school kid got shot in the parking lot.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
So, you are one of those people who don't understand that crime is a symptom of a larger issue, and would NEVER understand that the idea of cause and effect applies to human behavior, just like everything else. Yea, blame people who are homeless without paying any attention to WHY they are homeless. Crime more often is a symptom of a larger problem in society, but you would never think to understand the reason for things like gangs to exist in the first place.
Re: (Score:3)
You are really bad at reading. I identified several of the larger problems causing crime. I even named the root cause behind those: local government that is functionally indistinguishable from evil.
Re:Do your job (Score:4)
> Do you have any idea how many low level thefts take place every day in Denver and the surrounding communities?
Crime is pervasive, that's why the police don't do anything about it? That sounds like a recipe for even more crime.
Re:Do your job (Score:5, Interesting)
We were in Houston recently, and the back window of our rental car was smashed and some bags were stolen. Sure, we could've been more careful. But in following up with the police it's obvious that there's zero being done to stop this kind of vandalism and theft. It's just accepted. But people get sick of it. Everyone paying a traffic ticket is going to feel the system is unjust if the police are doing that and ignoring actual crimes. And if you're at that point... if you've really given up on justice, then the result will be more and more political pressure by everyday citizens to elect a tough-on-crime law-and-order party. And that's how you get where we are in politics today. Actions have consequences.
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> Everyone paying a traffic ticket is going to feel the system is unjust if the police are doing that and ignoring actual crimes. And if you're at that point... if you've really given up on justice, then the result will be more and more political pressure by everyday citizens to elect a tough-on-crime law-and-order party. And that's how you get where we are in politics today.
Notice who has agency in this description. The cops focus on activities that generate revenue, because that's where the money is.
I
Re: (Score:1)
> Sure, we could've been more careful. But in following up with the police it's obvious that there's zero being done to stop this kind of vandalism and theft
It sucks that this happened to you and I think it is unfair to blame yourselves or even to blame the police for lack of follow-up. We're never going to "solve" the crime problem through more policing. Never. I'm not opposed to law enforcement. But it's like trying to stop a massive head wound with a small box of band-aids.
Instead we have to figure out what puts people in the position of committing crimes in the first place and invest in evidence-based solutions to solve those problems.
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If they thought there was a good chance they'd get caught, they'd be less likely to commit the crime. This is criminology 101. Right now they absolutely know they won't get caught. A lot of that is because police know that prosecutors won't prosecute certain petty crimes, so the police won't arrest them. Criminals aren't very bright, but word gets around quickly that you can do this kind of stuff and get away with it, and then they do it. We know from evidence that if you enforce (and prosecute) laws,
Re:Do your job (Score:4, Interesting)
>> If police would take low level theft seriously, people wouldn't resort to vigilante justice.
> Do you have any idea how many low level thefts take place every day in Denver and the surrounding communities?
> Besides, when police are [1]trying [lawandcrime.com] to [2]overthrow [lawandcrime.com] the [3]government [newsweek.com], do you really think they care if your phone is stolen?
This. To those who think the police need to attend their little crime, how much are you willing to pay for that kind of policing... and how much of a police state are you willing to live in... Citizen?
Police have never really cared about low level theft, especially in poorer neighbourhoods. The idea that the cops ever had the resources to attend every single burglary or cat up tree incident is a fantasy from old cop shows. The reality is much more like Judge Dredd, "there are 1.2 million crimes in this city each day, we can attend 8% of them. Which 8%?". Add to this that police budgets have become squeezed tighter and tighter, as well as crimes becoming more sophisticated. Police are still under strict rules of evidence and procedure, with this case in the article it's likely the police knew who did it but just didn't have the evidence to pin them to it in a court of law and a reminder that a court of law couldn't give a shit what you did, all that matters is what can be proved and the onus for that is on the prosecution.
What people need to do is learn from people who grew up in poor neighbourhoods and just don't make your shit so easy to steal. Don't want your phone stolen, don't walk around with your head buried in it. Crims always go for the softest targets. Prevention is a lot cheaper than cure when it comes to crime.
[1] https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/capitol-rioter-who-tossed-smoke-bombs-at-police-then-became-an-officer-months-later-convicted-for-actions-on-jan-6/
[2] https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/tambourine-wielding-ex-nypd-cop-who-screamed-im-a-f-ing-animal-convicted-in-jan-6-capitol-riot/
[3] https://www.newsweek.com/january-6-capitol-riot-former-police-officer-sentenced-prison-2011962
Re: Do your job (Score:2)
If people took their own victimization seriously, they would get insurance.
These are degenerates more interested in turning their teenage angst into violence than in finding justice.
I hope they find themselves in prison with some guys who don't shine to burning babies alive.
and you want your taxes to go way up to cover the (Score:2)
and you want your taxes to go way up to cover the costs of doing that?
Re: (Score:2)
Well no, that's just silly talk. As so many people have pointed out up and down this thread: All you have to do is "crack down on criminals" and the problem of crime just goes away. You simply need to ignore the facts of what cracking down on criminals actually means, logically and logistically, then the argument makes perfect sense.
That's what it takes... (Score:3, Insightful)
That's what it takes now for police to catch up to 14-16 yo criminals.
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What do you mean now, and how do you propose things were different in the past?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
In the good old days, there would have been none of this and the police work would have been much simpler, faster and more efficient. Unfortunately now we have things like the [1]"innocence project" [innocenceproject.org] which uses silly excuses such as the criminal having nothing to do with the crime and the evidence having been made up and discredits the great work of hardworking detectives. Back in the old days, you drove around the neighborhood until you saw a kid you thought you recognized, arrested them, kept them locked away
[1] https://innocenceproject.org/
Re: That's what it takes... (Score:4, Insightful)
In the "good old days" this would have remained an unsolved crime. Unsolved arsons are the norm.
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All the evidence is typically destroyed. Crazy huh?
Re: That's what it takes... (Score:2)
In the past the police would catch teenagers when they blabbed to friends. Like how my classmate showed a video of a severed head to others at a party. Someone always talks to the cops if you've been bragging about your murders.
Re: That's what it takes... (Score:2)
I really want to ask for more details about the severed head incident. Are saying that your classmate murdered someone?
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Dude, Jim and Mickey made him swear he's never blab, so he's not going to name any names. Oh, crap, forget I said that.
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Kids these days... Back in my day, we'd punch arson locations into into our TomToms and have Homer Simpson's voice give us there.
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> Kids these days... Back in my day, we'd punch arson locations into into our TomToms and have Homer Simpson's voice give us there.
Bah...
Back in my day, we'd just look up the address in the phone book and use our general knowledge of where everything in the city was, or as last resort, find a paper map to look at....
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Back in my day, we were too busy looking up funny names like "Dick, Harry" to commit arson.
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The real problem is that the reputation of the police is so abysmally bad that these three (cretins, no argument there) decided to take matters into their own hands.
Re: That's what it takes... (Score:5, Informative)
From the source Wired story: the arsonists were drug dealers. One of them arranged to meet some other criminals to buy a gun, but instead got mugged and had their iPhone and other stuff stolen. So.... That's why they took matters into their own hands rather than reporting the theft to the police, I think.