Smartwatch cracks homicide
The elderly have lost their daughters
On September 14, 2018, in a neighborhood in San Jose, California, Adella, in her 90s, heard a knock at her home, and it was the police who brought bad news that Adella's 67-year-old daughter, Karen, had been killed in her home.
Murderous murder
Karen's body was found by her friends. Adella didn't go to work for several days, and without any news, her friends visited her house. When her friend arrived at Karen's house, she found that the door was not closed, she did not feel good, and when she entered the house, she was suddenly frightened by the scene in front of her: Karen was slumped in a chair, obviously dead, she was holding a kitchen knife in her right hand, there were large wounds on her head and neck, and pizza was scattered on the floor.
My friend immediately called the police. When the police arrived, they thought it was a murder disguised as a suicide, and although the deceased himself was holding a knife, there were traces of a fight at the scene of the crime.
Suspect in the mouth of elderly parents
The police first find Adele, who lives not far away, and her husband, Tony, who is the same age as her, but Tony is not Karen's biological father.
During questioning, police learned that Tony had brought pizza and biscuits for Karen on the afternoon of the crime, and that he also said that Karen had mentioned going to see friends in the evening and that he had seen Karen driving past his house with a man he didn't know. Adella also recalled that Karen had mentioned that there were strange men watching her, which made Karen very scared.
The watch reveals the time of death
Karen wears a smartwatch on her wrist, which continuously transmits the wearer's heart rate to the servers of the watch manufacturing company. Data from Cullen's watch shows that at 3:20, Cullen's heart rate rose sharply, plummeting to zero at 3:28, meaning her heart stopped beating at this point. That's exactly how long Tony's car was parked in front of Karon House.
The invisible murderer
The strange man immediately became a suspect. The police investigated and found a camera that captured Karen's private driveway. However, in the video, on the day of the crime, there was no suspicious man, but it was shown that from 3:12 to 3:33 p.m., Tony's car was parked in the driveway.
The police were confused, but fortunately they had a clue.
New suspects
This clue directly makes Karen's stepfather, Tony, a suspect. Immediately after, the police found the bloodstained clothes in Tony's home, and dna tests showed that the blood was from Karen. Unfortunately, Tony never gave the motive for the crime, and because of his age and poor health, he died of illness before the trial could be held.
New crime-solving tools
In some countries in the world, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, etc., there have been examples of using smart watches to solve cases. In addition to determining the time of death, smart watches can also record the wearer's action route and steps through the navigation system, reflecting the wearer's behavior to a certain extent. As more and more people wear smartwatches, police may increasingly consider using it for clues.