Posted on 08/21/2007 4:54:30 PM PDT by Coleus
The manhunt's final chapter went by in a flash: no time for meals, no time for a hotel, no time for a shower. And certainly no time for sleep. When it ended early yesterday at an apartment complex in a Washington, D.C., suburb, alleged murderer Rodolfo Godinez turned to the Newark cop who had been tracking him for 60 straight hours and starting asking questions.
"How did you catch me? Someone told on me?" Godinez asked Detective Rasheen Peppers. "You must be very smart." Peppers, 34, smiled wryly yesterday afternoon, recounting the story from his home in Essex County. A half-hour earlier, he'd kissed his wife and kids hello and taken a hot shower. In an hourlong interview, he sat down to explain how he helped find Godinez and Godinez's 16-year-old half brother Alexander Alfaro -- both alleged members of a Latino street gang called MS-13 who were wanted in the Aug. 4 execution-style slaying of three college students in a city schoolyard.
"Those deaths were tragic. That was our motivation to keep going," Peppers said. "To me, those kids died at the hands of the devil." Sitting on Peppers' dining room table was the black IBM ThinkPad laptop where his search for the suspects began Wednesday night.
On MySpace.
After being called into the case by Newark homicide detectives, Peppers typed the suspects' names into the social-networking Web site. Nothing came up under Godinez, but Alfaro's profile was packed with clues: the boy's nickname ("Smokey"), an MS-13 clique (Guanacos Little Cycos Salvatruchos),
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Comes out at trial anyway. Defense has to have the information to know if clients' rights have been "violated." Then the media knows and then the general public knows.
Are the techniques used to track a fugitive disclosed at trial unless warrants were required for searches, or wire taps or private records?
Why do you think that the use of Youtube.com would be disclosed in a trial? And if it were do you believe a reporter, would without a doubt include it in a news story?
Would the use of Youtube.com be part of discovery?
Too bad the same law enforcement establishment kept letting these career criminal illegal aliens go free, time after time.
Well, I wouldn’t be worried about this case too much. First off, I don’t think that too many of these guys read newspapers. Second, the premise of the article isn’t supported by the facts as reported. This case was busted with tips from informants, not with MySpace pages. I certainly think the detective was smart in doing what he did online, but ultimately it was solved the way most cases are—a phone call from someone with eyes on the ground.
I don't know what a reporter would choose to include in a news story.
You should know that is was not stupid of the police to say they use mypsace to catch these guys. The people using the myspace are the stupid ones. I think its pretty logical for law enforcement to turn to the web. Nothing like committing a crime and providing the police evidence via the internet.
My point is , this is not uncommon. Law enforcement checks MANY websites in most investigations, esp. those that seem gang related. And this one- definitely MS13- the machetes are a mark of MS.
It’s stupid for the police to disclose their investigative techiniques. MySpace could have been a continuing gold mind to be harvested but not since the police disclosed its value in fighting crime.
Can’t ANYONE keep a SECRET anymore???? That cop should NOT have told how they caught that creep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.