Police say Google Maps helped them solve a missing person’s case

In the course of its globe-mapping mission, the Google Street View car appears to have documented the moment when crime suspects deposited what certainly looks quite as remarkable as a body wrapped in the back of the car.

It is believed that this supposed body is that of a Cuban man related to him Reported him missing last year. The man had traveled to Spain and was living in a remote Syrian municipality at the time of his disappearance, hoping to find a woman he believed to be his romantic partner. The relative received suspicious text messages from the man’s phone that convinced him something was wrong. This year, part of the man’s dismembered body was found buried in a cemetery in the local village of Taguico, confirming that he had been murdered.

In a statement now The police released him (which again was translated from Spanish to English via Google) Investigators said two people have now been arrested in connection with the man’s disappearance. Intriguingly, one of the key pieces of evidence that helped police arrest the suspects were “photos on a website app” that appeared to “detect a vehicle that may have been used during the course of the crime,” the statement says. Apparently this application was Google Maps.

In fact, the Google Street View car happened to be passing through a street in Taguico when one of the suspects in the case was packing something into the back of a red car. The BBC reports that It was the first time in 15 years that Google had traveled to this small Spanish town, a community of about 56 people.

Google Street View image helps police crack murder case https://t.co/swr2OSZXfF

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

The two people who were arrested were identified as “a woman, the partner of the disappeared person, and a man, who was the partner of the detainee.” The police described the couple as “perpetrators of the crime of aggravated illegal detention for not giving a reason for the whereabouts of the missing person.”

It should be noted that while Image circulated online It certainly looks like someone is packing a body into the back of a car, and the defendants have not yet been convicted and are only alleged to have committed crimes.

This wouldn’t be the first time Google Maps has played a pivotal role in police investigations. In 2019, a 22-year-old cold case was solved following Google Earth images Location detection A car submerged in a pond in Florida. So, I think the surveillance industrial complex has its advantages.