Another interesting case recently investigated was centered in a child custody battle. A police officer and his wife in Iowa were divorcing and both wanted custody of their two children.
The wife accused the officer of harassing her by sending threatening text messages. He was on the verge of losing any custodial rights as well as his job when his attorney contacted us.
Proving no harassing activity on his phone was moot in this situation because it could be alleged that he was using prepaid phones, not his, for the messages.
Our team went to work. First, through cell phone forensics we were able to identify the source of the calls then we requested the records data for those phones from the service providers. At that point, we mapped the cellular location evidence and, using cell tower location and cell tower triangulation determined the officer could not have made the calls in question.
Because the location of his patrol car is recorded, it was determined that he was not at the same location where the threatening messages originated. That excluded the officer as the initiator of the calls. But the calls continued.
One of the phones was found in the bushes in front of the officer’s home. He had no explanation.
The person originating the calls was uncovered when the wife called in to the police station to report a threat ON ONE OF THE PHONES USED TO ORIGINATE THE THREATS! In the end, it was discovered she had nine or 10 different prepaid and throw-away phones and was using them to send herself the threats.
She got confused and tripped up her own plan – much to the officer’s benefit.
Mobile phone forensics comes into play in many different instances – to prove innocence or guilt. Cell phone forensics tools are used in cell phone spyware detection or cell phone hack detection as well as for cell phone tracking. Whatever the reason, is ready to uncover the truth.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations