Police Say Google Maps Just Helped Them Solve a Missing Person Case

In the people of its globe-mapping mission, a Google Street View car appears to person documented the precise infinitesimal that transgression suspects deposited what definite looks a full helluva batch similar a wrapped-up corpse successful the backmost of a car.

That expected corpse is believed to beryllium a Cuban antheral whose comparative reported him missing past year. The antheral had traveled to Spain and was surviving successful the distant municipality of Soria astatine the clip of his disappearance, reportedly successful the hopes of uncovering a pistillate that helium believed to beryllium his romanticist partner. The comparative received suspicious texts from the man’s telephone that convinced him thing was wrong. This year, portion of the man’s dismembered assemblage was recovered buried successful a cemetery successful the section hamlet of Tajueco, confirming that helium had been murdered.

In a connection present released by police (that has been translated from Spanish to English via, again, Google), investigators said that 2 radical had present been arrested successful transportation with the man’s disappearance. Curiously, a cardinal spot of grounds that had helped the constabulary fastener onto the suspects were “images successful a determination application” that appeared to person “detected a conveyance that whitethorn person been utilized during the people of the crime,” the connection says. That application, apparently, was Google Maps.

Indeed, a Google Street View car conscionable happened to beryllium passing by a thoroughfare successful Tajueco erstwhile 1 of the suspects successful the lawsuit was packing…something…into the backmost of a reddish car. BBC reports that this was the archetypal clip successful 15 years that Google had traveled to the tiny Spanish town, a assemblage of immoderate 56 people.

Google Street View representation helps constabulary unlock execution lawsuit https://t.co/swr2OSZXfF

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 18, 2024

The 2 radical who were arrested were identified arsenic “a woman, a spouse of the disappeared, and a man, who had been a spouse successful the detainee.” Police described the mates arsenic “alleged perpetrators of a transgression of aggravated amerciable detention for not to springiness a crushed for the whereabouts of the disappeared person.”

It should beryllium noted that portion the picture circulating online definite looks similar idiosyncratic packing a dormant assemblage into the backmost of a vehicle, the accused person not been convicted yet and they are lone alleged to person committed crimes.

This would not beryllium the archetypal clip that Google Maps has played a pivotal relation successful a constabulary investigation. In 2019, a 22-year-old acold lawsuit was solved aft Google Earth images revealed the location of a submerged car successful a pond successful Florida. So, I conjecture the surveillance concern analyzable has its upsides.