Police in Phoenix, Arizona have arrested 19 year old man whose suspected of beating and fatally stabbing another Phoenix that he met on a social networking application on his iPhone.
Mark G. Woodland, who was 54, was found stabbed to death at his apartment in Phoenix. Police in the city say Woodland's roommate returned home to the apartment the men shared at around 11 pm on Saturday night to find the place ransacked. The roommate then made a call to the local police, who, after searching the apartment, found Woodland's body beaten and stabbed in a downstairs bathroom.
It's being reported by the local newspaper, The Phoenix New Times, that Woodland's roommate told police he'd gotten a text from Woodland, asking to be left alone for a while as he was going to pick up a male date he has met on the iPhone App.
After finding his body police managed to track down a friend of Woodland's in California, who told them Woodland had met the man by using a social networking application on the iPhone.
The media reports that witnesses say they saw the victim walking home with a male teen the night of his murder.
The app uses a GPS positioning system to show how far or indeed how close you are to other users, you can also exchange messages, photos and numbers on the app. It's location positioning system is usually accurate to a few dozen meters.
On Tuesday, the Phoenix police tracked down a suspect whose iPhone arranged the date with Woodland and he matched the description of the man given by witnesses. Tommy Reed, 19, was arrested and taken to police headquarters for questioning. James Holmes of the Phoenix police told the New Times paper that Reed made certain admissions, which when combined with other evidence, indicated he'd commited the murder. The investigation is ongoing according to local police.
Gay social networking apps such as Grindr, have rapidly risen in popularity in recent months for their ease of use, GPS abilities and it's availability. "It's just a meat rack" one user told me yesterday. "You're not going to find the love of your life on there, but it's a great from hooking up with other local guys for a bit of fun" said another.
I recieved an email from Joel at Grindr, pointing out that Grindr was not the app the killer used to meet up with Woodland, and am happy to set the record straight. Further more the Phoenix Police departments media relations said this.
I recieved an email from Joel at Grindr, pointing out that Grindr was not the app the killer used to meet up with Woodland, and am happy to set the record straight. Further more the Phoenix Police departments media relations said this.
"Hello all. Our detectives have learned through this continuing investigation that it was not the "Grinder" IPHONE application that was used by the victim to make contact with the suspect, it was in fact a different social network. Because this investigation is continuing, I do not have the information regarding the actual site that was used. I would ask that, as you continue to report this grizzly crime to your viewers readers and listeners, you use "unknown social network" in regards to how the victim and suspect were connected.
I will continue to update you on this investigation as information is received. Thanks as always,
Detective James R Holmes, Phoenix Police Dept.
As always I am happy to set the record straight, however I think we should be told what the unknown social network app used was.
I am glad it's been released that it wasn't Grindr that was used in this case, you can read my own experiences of Grindr, one such social networking app, which is somewhat mixed, on my blog, The Seafront Diaries.
I am glad it's been released that it wasn't Grindr that was used in this case, you can read my own experiences of Grindr, one such social networking app, which is somewhat mixed, on my blog, The Seafront Diaries.
Jason Shaw
© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw
No comments:
Post a Comment