I noticed this the first day that the case broke and described it in the first threads on the case here at WS. This video clip says that the images taken for Google Earth's street view were filmed in 2007 and that this was his van. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/09/03/oppmann.google.suspect.cnn
I saw that clip on cnn and had to laugh, wonder if they lurk the forums for story ideas? Great legwork Cypros! They should've given you credit for this though.
Well, anybody else could have noticed it as well. It is just kind of ironic that of all people to get "caught on tape" it was a notorious kidnapper!
One of the creepiest things I ever seen, its a street view of phillip garrido caught stalking the google street view car. Gave me the chills http://www.lawfirms.com/google-street-view-maps-360-fun.html
I've always wondered who pg thought it was when the van went by taking pictures. Are the vans marked. Edited to add a thanks for the cnn video which showed me what the vehicle looked like.
No the Google Earth vehicles are not marked they are just loaded up with cameras. Tall cameras easy to see for the purpose of taking pictures. PG was probably nervous thinking he was caught. When one is a bad dude with something (or someones) to hide, they do not like cameras. I read on one site that CM was told by PG NOT to take pictures of his girls when they were at her party. But then she routinely changes her stories so who knows.
