Security News > 2023 > July > Tracking Down a Suspect through Cell Phone Records
Investigators went through phone records collected from both midtown Manhattan and the Massapequa Park area of Long Island-two areas connected to a "Burner phone" they had tied to the killings.
They then narrowed records collected by cell towers to thousands, then to hundreds, and finally down to a handful of people who could match a suspect in the killings.
From there, authorities focused on people who lived in the area of the cell tower and also matched a physical description given by a witness who had seen the suspected killer.
Investigators eventually landed on Heuermann, who they say matched a witness' physical description, lived close to the Long Island cell site and worked near the New York City cell sites that captured the other calls.
There's nothing groundbreaking here; it's casting a wide net with cell phone geolocation data and then winnowing it down using other evidence and investigative techniques.
Cheaper digital forensics means more digital forensics, and we'll start seeing this kind of thing for even routine crimes.