Explosion at the Boston Marathon.

blue sock monkey said:
AFAIK, the suspects were not ID'd until Tamerlan's fingerprints were obtained following the shoot-out in Watertown. The authorities did not know who the suspects were until that point, and thus could not track their movements using cell phones.
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Also, if they had any sense, they would have turned off or not carried their cells.

Of course, they didn't show a lot of sense that night.
 
phiwum said:
Also, if they had any sense, they would have turned off or not carried their cells.

Of course, they didn't show a lot of sense that night.
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These two were the Keystone Cops of terrorism. It's really hard to imagine they were anything more than just really big jerks. (for lack of a better term)
 
Dan O. said:
As soon as a name is released, the web sleuths will be all over the social media sites to pull up the guys history.


I really wonder if they just ignored the very obvious possible implications when they were doing their "sleuthing", seems like their talking dog did not prevent them like in the cartoons.
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About the cell phones, the police had from the surveillance footage the timing of the start and end of a call made by one of the suspects. This should be sufficient to identify the specific phone from the cell tower data. If it's a prepaid phone they wouldn't get a name from the records but they would have what they need to track it.

I'm not saying that the police would have been smart enough to figure this out. Just that the information was there.
 
Dan O. said:
About the cell phones, the police had from the surveillance footage the timing of the start and end of a call made by one of the suspects. This should be sufficient to identify the specific phone from the cell tower data. If it's a prepaid phone they wouldn't get a name from the records but they would have what they need to track it.

I'm not saying that the police would have been smart enough to figure this out. Just that the information was there.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Police are smarter than you think.

If the shootout didn't happen and these idiots were allowed to go through the next day or so, I'm sure the connection would have been made. I have no idea how long something like that would take but my guess is longer than it would take if you knew for a fact someone's cell phone (the carjack victim) is with them.

What would you do? Continue to try to find the perp's number, narrowing it down from "X" amount of phones to 1, or just start at the specific phone you know is there?
 
The police know their stuff or these two would be still at large.

One thing I would have done were I the bombers. I would have;

1. Driven to a very high crime area.
2. Left the keys in the ignition.
3. Walked away.

Then the police could have tried to pull the car, there would have been the expected high speed chase because the driver would believe it was because the car was stolen, and if they were lucky a fiery ending that would result in an identification of the driver only days later.
 
Dan O. said:
About the cell phones, the police had from the surveillance footage the timing of the start and end of a call made by one of the suspects. This should be sufficient to identify the specific phone from the cell tower data. If it's a prepaid phone they wouldn't get a name from the records but they would have what they need to track it.

I'm not saying that the police would have been smart enough to figure this out. Just that the information was there.
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The cell phone information from the day of the bombing might be useful in tracking the suspects--assuming they didn't use prepaid phones that day which were ditched shortly after the detonations. In the days immediately following the bombings, I read that the authorities were indeed analyzing cell phone tower data. But you also need to take into account how many cell phones were pinging off that tower shortly before the blasts--I'm betting it was lots. I'm not convinced that the data would help in swiftly zeroing in on anyone in particular.

As the prosecution prepares for trial, on the other hand, it will certainly be useful if they are able to prove that a) cell phones were used to detonate, and b) the suspects were using cell phones at the right moments.
 
Dan O. said:
About the cell phones, the police had from the surveillance footage the timing of the start and end of a call made by one of the suspects. This should be sufficient to identify the specific phone from the cell tower data. If it's a prepaid phone they wouldn't get a name from the records but they would have what they need to track it.

I'm not saying that the police would have been smart enough to figure this out. Just that the information was there.
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Right. They're only cops. Nowhere near as clever as you or the other online Sherlocks.

Edited by jhunter1163: 
Edited for civility.
 
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phiwum said:
Right. They're only cops. Nowhere near as clever as you or the other online Sherlocks.
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We should be criticizing the post, not the person who put it up. Otherwise, it can get personal.
 
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GWCarver said:
We should be criticizing the post, not the person who put it up. Otherwise, it can get personal.
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Quite right. My apology to Dan.

I'm afraid I just let the dismissive tone get to me. I didn't like the insinuation that the poster was much cleverer than the professional investigators. Despite some issues here and there in the thick of the moment, I thought that the police did a commendable job in identifying the suspects and preventing further harm
 
BenBurch said:
The police know their stuff or these two would be still at large.

One thing I would have done were I the bombers. I would have;

1. Driven to a very high crime area.
2. Left the keys in the ignition.
3. Walked away.

Then the police could have tried to pull the car, there would have been the expected high speed chase because the driver would believe it was because the car was stolen, and if they were lucky a fiery ending that would result in an identification of the driver only days later.
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They put a lot of planning into the crime, but seemingly none into the getaway. I'm wondering if they originally planned to be suicide bombers but chickened out?
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
They put a lot of planning into the crime, but seemingly none into the getaway. I'm wondering if they originally planned to be suicide bombers but chickened out?
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I doubt it. They probably thought they'd disappear into the crowd and there'd be no way to track them down.

Steve S
 
aleph said:
I really wonder if they just ignored the very obvious possible implications when they were doing their "sleuthing", seems like their talking dog did not prevent them like in the cartoons.
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I don't think you even looked at the link.
According to a friend of Tsarnaev's and other evidence examined by ABC News' social desk, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Twitter account appears to be @J_tsar.​

This was most probably approved by their talking dogs.
 
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blue sock monkey said:
The cell phone information from the day of the bombing might be useful in tracking the suspects--assuming they didn't use prepaid phones that day which were ditched shortly after the detonations. In the days immediately following the bombings, I read that the authorities were indeed analyzing cell phone tower data. But you also need to take into account how many cell phones were pinging off that tower shortly before the blasts--I'm betting it was lots. I'm not convinced that the data would help in swiftly zeroing in on anyone in particular.

As the prosecution prepares for trial, on the other hand, it will certainly be useful if they are able to prove that a) cell phones were used to detonate, and b) the suspects were using cell phones at the right moments.
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The early theory was that the bombs might have been triggered by cell phones. This theory was so prevalent that the cops were driving around blind because they we're instructed to turn off their phones out of fear of triggering more bombs. Suspect #2 was seen using a cell phone moments befor the detonations but not exactly at the time. this call was most likely coordinating their plan. It might also have been a telemarketer.

At least one of the bombers was on a common billing plan with 12 other phones. This is not a prepaid plan one would get for a throwaway phone. We haven't heard if this was the same phone they used on marathon day.


Just how many phones would be in the set that connected to the towers in that area? We don't have to settle for "I thinks" or "I beleves". We can actually apply science to come up with a reasonable approximation.

We can find estimates for the size of the crowd that attended the marathon. We can sample the crowd through photos to see what percentage are on their phones at any given moment prior to the blast. We might be able to reduce the estimate by finding statistics for the average length of a call; though for this to be accurate we would need the statistics for calls made at similar events. Our range would be widened by the resolution that the call and hang up can be determined and the accuracy of the timestamp on the video.
 
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