People often assume that SC is an evidence erasing machine, making it much safer than FB or other social media platforms. There are ways in which LE can gain access to snaps depending on user settings and types of material, though:
- If Libby had her settings on chat set to "delete after 24 hours", then a private chat could still have been accessible/available depending on when it was sent.
- if she had an unopened chat then it could've still been on here since most settings only delete unopened chats after 30 days
- Libby could have saved a chat. I save my important ones.
- If she created a "custom story" then she could've saved it to her memories
- If she was corresponding to BG then there's always a chance that she sent him a Snappable, or added to one sent to her, and that it was later shared with a 3rd party.
- if she saved the Snappable to "memories" then it would've hung around even after 24 hours
- she could have saved a "memory" to SC
- SC DOES save some info, including meta-data, so even if the message itself was gone, there may be residual info available to prove that something WAS there.
- she could've had an unopened snap from BG
There IS precedent for Snapchat working with LE and providing info about snaps as long as 3o days after the crime.