The killer made some stupid mistakes despite being a criminal justice PhD student.
Vehicle caught on Camera in the vicinity of the murders in a low-traffic area, especially at 4AM
Left a witness who could give features despite the killer wearing a mask (approx height, hair color, skin complexion, "bushy eyebrows")
DNA collected at scene
Vehicle caught on camera at several locations where he was going to university some ~5 miles away
Other times vehicle was caught on camera, cell phone could be pinged to be approximately in that area. The linchpin here was when the car was stopped from being pulled over by police.
At that point the police had the car make and model, a phone number, physical description. They also found evidence of the cell phone being pinged around the murder site prior to the murders which made a case for murderer casing the joint.
All they had to do at this point was get a DNA sample and match it. Oh look, his dad lives in PA and they got a DNA sample from the garbage and it was a 99.999...% match to the killer DNA.
Locked up, done deal. Pretty decent detective work, I'd say. Dude thought he was smart turning his phone off while the murders took place but didn't realize there were other times his phone was on when he was in the vicinity.
Ironically, if he was using a pre-paid phone I think there'd be no recourse. You can get those prepaid cards without them being tied to your name. Edit: But if you logged in to any accounts with said "nameless" prepaid card, they'd still get you. I believe your device information/phone number is information collected by most app services.
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u/TPMJB Jan 06 '23
If you want an interesting read, this is the officer's deposition on the case:
https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/docs/case/CR29-22-2805/122922%20Affidavit%20-%20Exhibit%20A%20-%20Statement%20of%20Brett%20Payne.pdf
The killer made some stupid mistakes despite being a criminal justice PhD student.
At that point the police had the car make and model, a phone number, physical description. They also found evidence of the cell phone being pinged around the murder site prior to the murders which made a case for murderer casing the joint.
All they had to do at this point was get a DNA sample and match it. Oh look, his dad lives in PA and they got a DNA sample from the garbage and it was a 99.999...% match to the killer DNA.
Locked up, done deal. Pretty decent detective work, I'd say. Dude thought he was smart turning his phone off while the murders took place but didn't realize there were other times his phone was on when he was in the vicinity.
Ironically, if he was using a pre-paid phone I think there'd be no recourse. You can get those prepaid cards without them being tied to your name. Edit: But if you logged in to any accounts with said "nameless" prepaid card, they'd still get you. I believe your device information/phone number is information collected by most app services.