Fortune, negligence of the torturer, or both. In the United States, a 15-year-old girl kidnapped in Arizona was found more than 3,000 kilometers from her home in Virginia, thanks to an unusual object, a Nintendo Switch. The portable console helped locate the place where the teenager was held captive, 11 days after her abduction.
Missing from her home on August 3, 2022, the girl had been stalked by a then 28-year-old man, Ethan Roberts, who befriended her on the internet and then traveled with her to Virginia to keep her in captivity and sexually abuse her. During her ordeal, the teenager was authorized by her captor to connect to her Nintendo Switch to play video games or watch videos on YouTube. Which revived the case.
“Your friend is online”
Like most modern consoles, the Switch has a feature that alerts your fellow gamers on their devices every time you log in. Seeing the name of the victim appear with recent activity, one of her friends had the reflex to alert the authorities. Then, with Nintendo’s help, the FBI obtained the console’s IP address, which led them to the kidnapper’s apartment.
“Everything is connected to wifi or LTEsaid one of the investigators. A cell phone, an iPad, a watch, whatever — you can use these things to locate people. The bad guys need to know the police are watching and you leave a digital footprint everywhere you go”. A feature largely underestimated by the kidnapper.
The girl was able to return home to Arizona, about 11 days after being abducted. Ethan Roberts was sentenced to 30 years in prison.