CANADA Canada - Mekayla Bali, aka M Niebergall, 16, Yorkton, Saskatchewan, 12 April 2016

[kelsie]

Does a phone need Wifi/data to access Snapchat? Her friend sent a Snapchat the day Mekayla went missing but the message wasn't opened until 3 months later. Her phone was turned off at some point on the day she disappeared but 3 months later, her phone still had power, was turned on and unlocked. Can a phone hold a charge for 3 months if it's not in use? Wouldn't it "ping" if someone turned it on, charged it or opened an app?

Yes, you need data or WiFi to load a snap. Once it's loaded, you can choose to open it at any time, with or without data/WiFi

 

[dotr]

2013
Gone but not forgotten: 'Deleted' Snapchat photos are stored on your phone and can be easily downloaded, claims forensics firm | Daily Mail Online
''Images sent via the Snapchat app are meant to be deleted after 10 seconds.

Yet a forensics firm in Utah has discovered a way to find the so-called deleted pics, and created a way to download them from the 'hidden' location.''

''Orem-based firm Decipher Forensics discovered that Snapchat was saving the images.

And he said the app's code suggests that it isn't a bug; the developers appeared to have coded the app to do this, despite claiming that all images are automatically destroyed.

Richard Hickman, a digital forensics examiner from Decipher Forensics said: 'The actual app is saving the picture.'

'[Snapchat] claim that it's deleted, and it's not even deleted.

It's actually saved on the phone.'''

 

[whiterhino]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

I read that Mekaylas friend tried to send other Snaps since but those have never been opened (unsure when the others were sent). Just seems weird, that one particular Snap was seen but the following messages were never opened. Wonder if they've been purged or "seen" since?

 

[whiterhino]

2013
Gone but not forgotten: 'Deleted' Snapchat photos are stored on your phone and can be easily downloaded, claims forensics firm | Daily Mail Online
''Images sent via the Snapchat app are meant to be deleted after 10 seconds.

Yet a forensics firm in Utah has discovered a way to find the so-called deleted pics, and created a way to download them from the 'hidden' location.''

''Orem-based firm Decipher Forensics discovered that Snapchat was saving the images.

And he said the app's code suggests that it isn't a bug; the developers appeared to have coded the app to do this, despite claiming that all images are automatically destroyed.

Richard Hickman, a digital forensics examiner from Decipher Forensics said: 'The actual app is saving the picture.'

'[Snapchat] claim that it's deleted, and it's not even deleted.

It's actually saved on the phone.'''

This is something I'll never understand when people say there are glitches in apps. The code is created/written by people. Same thing with Cloud storage & history. There has to be a way to access all this stuff despite US privacy laws.

Sorry for all the posts! I'll be quiet now.

 

[saussy]

This is something I'll never understand when people say there are glitches in apps. The code is created/written by people. Same thing with Cloud storage & history. There has to be a way to access all this stuff despite US privacy laws.

Sorry for all the posts! I'll be quiet now.

No need to be sorry!!! I think it is always a good thing when a quiet thread becomes active again.

I saw that article when I was searching, but it seemed like it was more about retrieving already opened snaps. I did come across this article which states that unopened snaps can be turned over to law enforcement:


SNAPCHAT: We've Turned Over A Dozen Unopened Snaps To Law Enforcement

and from there I found this article from Snapchat stating that unopened snaps are deleted from their servers within 30 days:

How Snaps Are Stored And Deleted

So it may just be a glitch that some snaps that are no longer stored in the servers are noted as “opened” and some just “delivered.”

 

[dotr]

This is something I'll never understand when people say there are glitches in apps. The code is created/written by people. Same thing with Cloud storage & history. There has to be a way to access all this stuff despite US privacy laws.

Sorry for all the posts! I'll be quiet now.

Do not be "quiet", when a case gets me thinking, i post frequently too because when the juice is flowing, you might as well keep squeezing it!

 

[whiterhino]

Yes, you need data or WiFi to load a snap. Once it's loaded, you can choose to open it at any time, with or without data/WiFi

Thank you! Forgive me, I don't understand Snapchat at all & am feeling my age lol.

What do you mean by "loading"? Do you mean like you click the notification and sort of "download" a clip and it saves to your phone for later? So Mekayla could have gotten the snap while she was walking around on camera the day she went missing and then kept it unopened on her phone for months afterwards?

Still, even if opening a message doesn't require data you'd think the phone would make some kind of connection to something, somewhere. I'm not so sure it was a glitch.

 

[embufum]

Bumping. Just skimmed the thread so forgive me if this was brought up...

Has anyone else suggested that Mekayla was pretending to be on her phone at certain times? I read that she could have been using apps to hide her call history but she could have been acting too.

So I just saw the surveillance footage and when I saw her talking on her phone it looked to me like she was faking being on the phone. Weird you noticed that too.

 

[LadyL]

So I just saw the surveillance footage and when I saw her talking on her phone it looked to me like she was faking being on the phone. Weird you noticed that too.

can you ink the surveillance footage please? I've been looking through this thread and can't find it

 

[embufum]

can you ink the surveillance footage please? I've been looking through this thread and can't find it

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https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1436968003961

 

[LadyL]

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https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1436968003961

thank you much appreciated
at what point was she thought to be faking being on the phone?
I didn't notice it anywhere in these clips

 

[embufum]

thank you much appreciated
at what point was she thought to be faking being on the phone?
I didn't notice it anywhere in these clips

I'd have to go back and watch but I think once when she was standing it looked like she just picked up her phone and started talking right away. I think she might have felt a little uncomfortable going back to Tim Hortons so many times she may have just wanted it to look like she was waiting for someone.

 

[jinenji]

happy to see this thread is still active. Mekayla and Alicia Navarro are the two missing cases that haunt me.. someone had to see something. I’d like to imagine that she is still out there and that eventually we will have answers.

 

[ocsalumni]

Bumping this as I just watched a video about her case.. crazy that it's been 4 years.

 

[Killerhunter89]

I really do hope she is okay but I'm afraid I fear the latter. Firstly, she was very niave, asking an elderly woman in a busy restaurant for a hotel room. Secondly, the hotel room, which leads me to believe that she may have been the target of human trafficking. Maybe the man / woman she was on the phone with wanted to make her comfortable before taking her to some place far from home. Lastly , canada has a high chance ( statistically speaking) of under reported serial killer activity in the area or surrounding area, and I do believe even though the Police won't say it, the police treated it like a runaway since the beginning . I honestly just came across this case today and spent some time digging but there isn't much going on in the case. I will add her to my missing persons list from the surrounding areas. There's quite a few.....

 

[dotr]

I really do hope she is okay but I'm afraid I fear the latter. Firstly, she was very niave, asking an elderly woman in a busy restaurant for a hotel room. Secondly, the hotel room, which leads me to believe that she may have been the target of human trafficking. Maybe the man / woman she was on the phone with wanted to make her comfortable before taking her to some place far from home. Lastly , canada has a high chance ( statistically speaking) of under reported serial killer activity in the area or surrounding area, and I do believe even though the Police won't say it, the police treated it like a runaway since the beginning . I honestly just came across this case today and spent some time digging but there isn't much going on in the case. I will add her to my missing persons list from the surrounding areas. There's quite a few.....

Welcome to Ws Killerhunter89, thanks for chiming in!

 

[Killerhunter89]

Welcome to Ws Killerhunter89, thanks for chiming in!

Thank you . And I hope this community grows bigger and I hope we can start developing systems to help find people before it's too late.

 

[Jaanniss]

Huh. I wonder how common it is for Canadian missing persons, especially that far afield, to get added to a specific state's list of MPs? It would be really great if they have suspicion that she's actually in the States. That says maybe she's still alive.

a note about Mekayla Bali came my way this morning... her disappearance and her Mother's concern that she may have been trafficked and was last seen in Bellingham WA. Glad to have found this thread.

Family looking for missing daughter in Pacific Northwest gets boost from U.S. centre

Polly Klass

 

[dotr]

a note about Mekayla Bali came my way this morning... her disappearance and her Mother's concern that she may have been trafficked and was last seen in Bellingham WA. Glad to have found this thread.

Family looking for missing daughter in Pacific Northwest gets boost from U.S. centre

Polly Klass

Glad you found this thread too!

 

[otto]

Bumping this as I just watched a video about her case.. crazy that it's been 4 years.

Thanks for posting the video. My impression is that she planned to meet someone that she connected with online. She expected to receive money from this person and therefore checked the bank several times. Although she very likely planned to meet the person in a public place where she would be safer, it seems like the person she was going to meet changed plans a few times. At the bus station she asked about a bus departure time, which leads me to believe the person she was going to meet said he was leaving on that bus. I think that as she waited for the person, she became more eager to meet and started to drop her guard, leaving her to walk straight into that person's control while out of sight of cameras.

I wonder whether police have spoken with everyone who was in the restaurants she was in while she was waiting. It would not surprise me that the person she was meeting was watching her for a few hours waiting for the right moment.