Victim: Alexis Murphy, 17, missing from Shipman, VA, 03 August 2013 - #5

[KimC]

http://www.nbc29.com/story/23159189/the-search-for-alexis-day-13

The family says AM had an iPhone4 in this article.

 

[Eclipse33]

Maybe they can get into the "hard drive" of a cell phone?

I don't know as I don't have one.

I do know that whatever your company says about saving text messages is not what happens in murder cases. They are there, via Prosecutor subpoena. Pages and pages of them, going back for longer than what I saw posted last thread I think it was.

It is just like emails. They are there for a verrrryyy, long time. Longer than what the provider may tell the customer. (Actually, it is most likely forever, google and all.)

According to the lawyers involved in the Travis Alexander/Jodi Arias case, text messages are not available for very long. In fact they had a hard time getting the text messages between Travis and Jodi.

 

[Eclipse33]

See the second comment after this article...interesting. The comment was left by user MM.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/23159189/the-search-for-alexis-day-13

 

[carbuff]

See the second comment after this article...interesting. The comment was left by user MM.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/23159189/the-search-for-alexis-day-13

Interesting.

 

[4MYGUYS]

See the second comment after this article...interesting. The comment was left by user MM.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/23159189/the-search-for-alexis-day-13

Rt. 56/ Crabtree Falls Hwy. Very hilly, (east coast mountainous), heavily forested, very very tough to search. Pretty isolated, just a few stores, Crabtree falls cottages, a couple of general stores. I am sickened.

 

[AstroKitty]

I know with my iphone 4 that it came with the "find my phone" already on it as well as iCloud. I had an iPhone 4S so I don't know if that makes a difference from the regular 4. I think though they both had the same retrieval programs.

I know this seems o/t but did she have a macbook? Because if so - it's auto synched.

 

[carbuff]

I know with my iphone 4 that it came with the "find my phone" already on it as well as iCloud. I had an iPhone 4S so I don't know if that makes a difference from the regular 4. I think though they both had the same retrieval programs.

I know this seems o/t but did she have a macbook? Because if so - it's auto synched.

Does that mean things are uploaded at once, or does it happen on a schedule? If it's periodic, then the phone could have pictures etc. that haven't been uploaded yet.

 

[ArianeEmory]

Does that mean things are uploaded at once, or does it happen on a schedule? If it's periodic, then the phone could have pictures etc. that haven't been uploaded yet.

It can be configured to "stream" your photos to iCloud as you take them, but it would have to be set up that way (it's not a default thing), and the phone would have to be connected to a cell network or wifi in order to stream.

I'm not sure about the "auto-sync" thing. You don't need a MacBook to use iCloud, but I'm not sure what other syncing protocol we're talking about. iTunes can do wireless syncing now, but the phone still needs to at least be connected to a data network of some sort.

Edit: the phone needs to be on the same *wifi* network as the computer with iTunes in order to wirelessly back itself up / sync to iTunes.

 

[carbuff]

It can be configured to "stream" your photos to iCloud as you take them, but it would have to be set up that way (it's not a default thing), and the phone would have to be connected to a cell network or wifi in order to stream.

So if she was in one of those areas with no cell reception and took photos of him or the location or something, they might not be on the iCloud?

 

[ArianeEmory]

So if she was in one of those areas with no cell reception and took photos of him or the location or something, they might not be on the iCloud?

Yes. With no cellular connection, the phone becomes a stand-alone device, and it will try to "push" the sync data the next time it connects.

 

[AstroKitty]

Does that mean things are uploaded at once, or does it happen on a schedule? If it's periodic, then the phone could have pictures etc. that haven't been uploaded yet.

I just tested this with my macbook pro. When I take a photo or screen shot something *on my phone* - it goes to my iCloud and I can go right to my macbook and pull it up. Now, I'll have to dig through my settings and see if that's something that was set to be sure. Otherwise, according to my son - he has to manually plug in his phone to itunes and synch. I have an iphone 5 now and he has an Iphone 4S. He has a PC and a macbook pro but I'm having it test this theory on the PC to see how iCloud works with that (because I honestly don't know).

BUT - I did go to ATT (who is our service provider and may be Alexis's) and all my text details (aside from what I wrote) is there. So, without a doubt the LE has her phone records. I'm going to call ATT and see about social media stuff, more because I'm sure if it shows when someone utilizes an app (like twitter and FB) to make statuses. I'd think it would because it's DATA.

 

[Lady Alex]

I think this has been mentioned, but if it's an iPhone it'll have the IMEI # inscribed on the back. No need for the phone to be functional to at least link it to an account.

The IMEI is stored on the phone's memory. They'll be able to get it if they can turn on the phone and crack AM's password.

The back of the iPhone will have the serial #. If she has an iTunes/iCloud account linked to her phone, Apple may be able to give this information to LE.

 

[ArianeEmory]

AstroKitty, there are two things in play here:

1) iCloud Photo Stream--if enabled and configured to do so, it'll upload your photos whenever it has any kind of connection (even cellular data). Some people may not enable this due to it using your data plan.

2) iTunes wifi sync--if enabled and your phone is on the same wifi network as your computer (Mac or PC) with your iTunes library, it can sync wirelessly to your iTunes library, including backing up your phone's photos (and presumably tossing them into iCloud).

I don't do either due to paranoia, but either one could be what you're seeing.

I've seen so many conflicting reports about whether cellular providers store the content of your text messages, I don't even want to speculate. Seems to me they would keep it a while.

 

[ArianeEmory]

The IMEI is stored on the phone's memory. They'll be able to get it if they can turn on the phone and crack AM's password.

The back of the iPhone will have the serial #. If she has an iTunes/iCloud account linked to her phone, Apple may be able to give this information to LE.

It's the IMEI on the back of all the iPhone 5s in my house. If you have one, take a look in your About info.

 

[PlainJaneDoe]

I do too, but I just can't see someone throwing all of their phones into a gully each time they get a new one.

Just jumping off your post, Ashley (not directed at you personally)...

If you have unused phones laying around, please consider donating them to local shelters (eg., the ones I can't trade in go to a women's shelter). That way you can help those in need and declutter at the same time! :seeya:

 

[Hnyb48]

I think her social media will tell a lot of who she had been talking to. A lot of teens use Kik to message each other. There is logs of all these conversations that I'm sure investigators are going to be looking at. Easily anyone would of been able to had find out her user name and message her. I say that because a lot of her social media profiles are not set to private. It would unfortunately made it easy for some to pose as a teen and message her. I would like to know if any of these phones that were recovered could of been RAT. Maybe pay as you go phones? These are questions I have as well as my own opinions. I have faith the investigators will connect the dots.

 

[carbuff]

Another thing that could be going on with the phones -- if he's been stealing and re-selling, he would be breaking into them and wiping the old data. The old information is there, but it's a lot harder to get to.

 

[fitmix]

Even with weave, her hair could have been found,from the scalp. All of the hair is NOT braided, based on the last picture of her. Just because she wears weave doesn't mean she has short hair. Most women use weave to change their hairstyle, color, length, or texture. It's a means of self expression. Want super curly short, jet black hair? Weave makes it possible without having to cut, dye, or process your natural hair.

I wonder if her phone was found with a case on...assuming they found her phone. And, iirc, I saw a case on her phone in a few of her selfies.

 

[AstroKitty]

Just jumping off your post, Ashley (not directed at you personally)...

If you have unused phones laying around, please consider donating them to local shelters (eg., the ones I can't trade in go to a women's shelter). That way you can help those in need and declutter at the same time! :seeya:

totally agree!!! There are many places in the malls here (never used it before so.. take this as just based on sight) that you scan your phone and it pays you for it and the phone is taken by the machine and refurbished for parts or to low-income families. Although now with welfare recipients there is a 1 cell phone free with free minutes and data distributed to each family. It's called safelink. most major carriers participate in this.

 

[Just K]

http://www.nbc29.com/story/23159189/the-search-for-alexis-day-13

The family says AM had an iPhone4 in this article.

on this model one has to actually go to settings and choose the iCloud option. Otherwise it isn't linked or synced to other accounts. But I suspect she would have made that choice if she knew about it.