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Murder Suspect Asked Siri Where To Hide a Dead Body

Posted by samzenpus on from the worst-laid-plans dept.

An anonymous reader writes A Florida man currently on trial for murder reportedly attempted to use Siri to garner ideas about where to bury the body of his dead roommate. According to police allegations, a University of Florida student named Pedro Bravo murdered his roommate via strangulation in late September of 2012 over a dispute involving Bravo's ex- girlfriend. According to a detective working the case, Bravo subsequently fired up Siri on his iPhone and asked it "I need to hide my roommate."

40 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Shocker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder why my first thought upon seeing the headline was to assume it happened in Florida.

    1. Re:Shocker by SJHillman · · Score: 3, Funny

      Because Florida Man only lives, works, and commits felonies in Florida. Expecting it to be elsewhere is like expecting to find Batman fighting crime in San Francisco. It's just not going to happen.

    2. Re:Shocker by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · · Score: 2

      That's because Batman isn't gay.

      Au contraire, mon frère.

    3. Re:Shocker by nitehawk214 · · Score: 2

      Yeah the only coast-to-coast superhero we allow is Space Ghost.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  2. Oh shit! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    All those old Clippy jokes are becoming reality

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  3. Gators by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Funny

    Figures it's a UF student. In a state with swamps teeming with alligators he's got to ask his phone what to do with a dead body. This is why a college education costs so much. Trying to teach dumb asses like this anytihing beyond beer chugging has got to cost a fortune. He sounds like a futre CEO.

    1. Re:Gators by rolfwind · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sad thing about requiring college education whether the job needs it or not. You can fill a moron with facts, but not logic.

      The body of Bravo's roomate was later found in a makeshift grave in a forest close to Bravo's apartment.

      That is stupid.

      Also of note is that investigators determined that Bravo, during the same time frame he asked Siri for advice on where to hide the body, also used a flashlight app nine times. Though circumstantial, the inference is that he used the flashlight on the iPhone to help him see as he disposed of the body.

      Scary how shit like that is tracked in the phone. I use my flashlight daily, wonder if that makes me a suspect for something?

    2. Re:Gators by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Scary how shit like that is tracked in the phone. I use my flashlight daily, wonder if that makes me a suspect for something?

      If the app prints out any debug messages, they'll get stored in the system log until the phone reboots or whatever. That's my guess as to what happened, but who knows.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Gators by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I use my flashlight daily, wonder if that makes me a suspect for something?

      Well no, I don't know what that has to do with a phone, it's just masturba...

      Oh wait, you said flashlight....

    4. Re:Gators by pupsocket · · Score: 5, Funny

      correct spelling: damned Sirial murderers

    5. Re:Gators by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I live in Gainesville. This is a big local story. It's a tale of Dumb and Dumber. I wonder how the guy got in college.

      1. I had already known he was using an iPhone on Verizon (look out for those pings!), but not until today did I see that delicious story in the Gainesville Sun that it was a Siri-looking screenshot. True or not, it seems to go great into the annals of Siri lore.

      2. What Bravo did close to his apartment was hide the shovel; the burial was in a neighboring county. He didn't go to nice soft ground either: he had trouble digging through limerock.

      3. He didn't bring a flashlight (though he did have three murder weapons prepared). An issue at trial was now much the battery charge went down during the time between when he turned off his phone's radio and when he turned it back on. They figured the murder and burial happened in that interval. If he had used a real flashlight, there would not be such a good trail to him.

      4. He told the whole story to his jail cellmate. The flashlight may have been bright, but Pedro Bravo wasn't.

      At the rate he's going, he'll soon have an address in Starke. That's in another neighboring county, but the reason he'd go there is not that it's close to Gainesville.

    6. Re:Gators by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      You know, I'm pretty sure any time an app gets launched, a line gets logged to syslog. I don't have a phone with me at the moment, so I can't test to make sure, but I'm pretty sure that happens. Android phones vary in noisiness, depending on the manufacturer and specific version, but they log that stuff to syslog, too

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    7. Re:Gators by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      - Coming from the guy who doesn't bother to use proper punctuation

      Why have you started your reply (which is a sentence fragment, by the way) with superfluous punctuation?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    8. Re:Gators by JWSmythe · · Score: 2

      I hope it doesn't totally depend on the cellmate providing evidence of what he was told. That's fairly common for a cellmate to come up as a witness to get a reduced sentence. If he has a somewhat competent lawyer, that will get tossed.

      But if he really did ask his phone where to hide a body, and he was really trying to do so, that's just plain dumb.

      I was playing with Google auto-complete a few years ago. When searching "Where to hide a ", the top 3 suggestions were "bong", "tattoo" and "body". 115,000,000 results on "body".

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2yIBjlx3QM.

      If he couldn't find somewhere around Gainesville to hide a body, he's not very bright. The UF mascot and the nickname of the football field should be a couple good hints. Well, it seems murderers aren't always the best and brightest. Otherwise, they would have considered "I would go to jail for the rest of my life" as an unacceptable risk.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    9. Re:Gators by bughunter · · Score: 2

      If they had a fleshlight app for the iPhone, I'd have to disable my "shake to activate/deactivate" flashlight app. Permanently.

      But at least my compass app would never need to ask for recalibration!

      --
      I can see the fnords!
  4. To be fair... by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 3, Informative

    It could have been Germany...

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
    1. Re:To be fair... by davester666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Real reporters and the jury actually noticed that the accused had an iPhone 4 at the time, which DOES NOT support accessing Siri [unless jailbroken, of which there was no evidence supplied to indicate it was], AND that all the prosecution introduced was a screen-shot of the Siri request.

      You know, the ones that were popular when Siri first was released and Siri would respond with something cute/weird/disturbing to cute/weird/disturbing questions....

      So, I guess he drove to the woods, then fired up his web browser and put in 'Siri, I need to hide my roommate.", then saw the screen shot, saved it to his camera roll, then proceed to ignore the advice in the image with a "Fuck this, I'll just dump him here".

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:To be fair... by davester666 · · Score: 2

      At the time, Apple claimed it needed better microphone/audio hardware than the iPhone 4 had, but that was just bullshit [as it worked fine with jailbroken iPhone 4 and with bluetooth headsets]. They just wanted to keep it for the premium model that year, the iPhone 4S.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  5. Oh now Apple joins the team by thieh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    like Google and Microsoft as the moral police and they are trying to tell us what not to do. I suppose if we ask Siri how to avoid taxes now we probably will end up like Wesley Snipes.

    1. Re:Oh now Apple joins the team by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      The idea that companies will respond to search warrants and subpoenas is horrible. Accessory after the fact should be the default position.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    2. Re:Oh now Apple joins the team by NoKaOi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The article does not say that Apple contacted law enforcement because he searched on it. The article is sensationalistic click bait. Pretty much every search engine logs what you search on. Whether it's Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc etc etc. Even if it doesn't your browser is probably logging it in the history. Why would you expect Siri to be any different? It's really just a search engine with voice recognition. And, in a murder investigation, it's going to be standard procedure to investigate all of your browsing history and other activity leading up to and after the time of the murder. Nowhere in the article does it say they did any of this without a warrant. When they have lots of probable cause already and the suspect has already been arrested, it's not hard to get warrants to search their whole life to build a case (and if they find exculpatory evidence they are compelled to hand it over to the defense).

      Now, if Apple sent law enforcement notification that said, "look, here's a list of people that searched for suspicious things" that would be an entirely different story. And, if law enforcement tried to get Apple to give them the information without a proper warrant (like if they sent them an NSL) then that would be a different story too. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of instances of corporations and law enforcement being scumbags and violating the constitution, but this doesn't appear to be one of those instances.

    3. Re:Oh now Apple joins the team by rioki · · Score: 2

      Also, let this be a record that I was asking this to verify if it still worked or not!.

      All the murder suspects say that. Now, where did you hide the bodies?

  6. No, he didn't. by Tanlis · · Score: 5, Informative

    He didn't actually do this. Please do a little research.

    1. Re:No, he didn't. by Rosyna · · Score: 4, Informative

      GAINESVILLE- We're on day 7 of the Pedro Andres Bravo trial. Bravo is being accused of the premeditated murder of his high school friend and UF student, Christian Aguilar. Bravo's phone records were reviewed.

      "I need to hide my roommate," that is a picture found on Pedro Bravo's phone. In the picture you can see Siri responded, "Swamps? Dumps?"

      The image was most likely a screenshot Bravo took from Facebook not an actual search he made. That was actually addressed by the jury who asked how he could do a Siri search when he had an iPhone 4 not 4s.

      It was a screenshot (Shit Siri Says). His iPhone 4 was incapable of asking Siri anything.

      The Gainesville PD also said it never happened.

      https://twitter.com/gainesvill...

      Multiple reports of Bravo asking Siri to hide a roommate are incorrect... GPD Det. Goeckel certainly did not testify to that. #BravoTrial

    2. Re:No, he didn't. by Anubis+IV · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What actually happened is that the police forensically recovered that image from his iPhone 4...which isn't even capable of using Siri, since Siri is exclusive to the 4S and above. The image was apparently from the Facebook cache on his phone. Moreover, contrary to many of the reports, he isn't even the roommate of the victim.

      The reporting on this issue has been rather appalling, and many of us have seen the same or similar screenshots and may have even had them cached on our phones as well, since they were circulating around the Internet back when Siri first came out. I even recall seeing a few YouTube videos making the same joke.

      Whether or not he's guilty, I have no clue, but it's fairly safe to say that he likely didn't use his iPhone 4 to ask Siri anything at all, let alone where to hide his roommate, given that his phone couldn't even use Siri and he wasn't roommate with the guy that needed to be hidden.

    3. Re:No, he didn't. by exomondo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Alright, why don't you tell us what actually happened?

      Alrighty then:

      Under cross examination, however, Detective Matt Goeckel conceded that Bravo had an iPhone 4 which did not have Siri capability and there was no proof that Bravo had asked Siri for suggestions on disposing of a body. The detective said the image on Bravo's phone was a "cached photo."

      The defense also pointed out that Bravo and Aguilar were not roommates.

      http://abcnews.go.com/US/defense-denies-accused-killer-asked-siri/story?id=24958781

    4. Re:No, he didn't. by Rosyna · · Score: 2

      Also, Pedro Bravo was not the roommate of Christian Aguilar.

      But this is /., who needs facts?!

    5. Re:No, he didn't. by BitZtream · · Score: 2

      Yes, he had a screenshot from software that doesn't run on the hardware he owned and held such screenshot.

      I have screenshots of Siri on my Windows virtual machines, does that mean I have siri running on Windows?

      No.

      So tell me, in all your wisdom, why the fuck are you so self righteous when you yourself know pretty much NONE of the facts of a story that was debunked long ago?

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  7. It was a saved screenshot by Bodero · · Score: 5, Informative

    This story has already been debunked. It was a saved screenshot (different cell carrier and all).

    No, Pedro Bravo Didn't Ask Siri Where to Stash His Roommate's Body

    1. Re:It was a saved screenshot by sg_oneill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah "Where do I hide a body" is an old Siri joke from launch. You used to be able to ask her that and she'd give you locations of nearest mineshafts, dumpsters and so on. It was just a bad taste demonstration of the backend search powers.

      I call bunkum on this, and if it IS true, I'd personally want to send a "friend of the court" submission that its a pretty famous joke search and doesnt necessarily prove anything.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  8. Really? by PRMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    EVERYONE has asked Siri this question. It went viral in the first days of Siri. Even my 14 year old daughter has done it and the image is passed around to everyone.

    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  9. Well... by djupedal · · Score: 4, Informative

    Asking Siri where to hide a dead body was one of the first favorite phrases when that service came out. She would recommend bogs, swamps and landfills depending on what was nearest. These days she's not quite that helpful, tho...

  10. Re:Slashdot Beta replacing Classic tomorrow? by gargleblast · · Score: 2

    Slashdot will undergo planned maintenance from Thursday August 14, 5-6pm (Eastern Time).

    Does anyone know what that really means?

    I don't know, sorry. But remember, there is always Soylent News.

  11. how the F does this make it to slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.wuft.org/news/2014/08/13/no-pedro-bravo-didnt-ask-siri-where-to-stash-his-roomates-body
    there. end. now somebody fire the submitter.

  12. Re:No matter where it is ... by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apparently you can't tell the difference between these two things?

  13. Re:No matter where it is ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    stupidity is still stupidity
    What is next ?

    Cupidity?

    In fact, the police have repeatedly stated that the story simply isn't true. The defendant's iPhone 4 does not have Siri, and the screenshots were fabricated.

    In fact it's looking very like the Apple connection is solely intended as a viral marketing stunt. Apple vendors are piggybacking a mundane murder trial with their astroturf in order to sell more iPhones.

    http://www.latimes.com/nation/...

  14. Re:The Truth by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2, Funny

    "I see you're in Florida, hide the body in plain sight and say you stood your ground."

  15. beta.slashdot.org may be limited in functionality by Overzeetop · · Score: 2

    That's the first honest assessment of beta by the /. editors so far. I'm calling this progress.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  16. Re:No matter where it is ... by crymeph0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wow. According to that story, the prosecutor did show a screengrab of an iPhone Siri query for this, but it was actually taken from the Facebook cache on the defendant's phone, meaning it was just a funny picture making the rounds on Facebook. I can't imagine why the judge let him show that, since it proves absolutely nothing, but it is a hell of a way to prejudice the jury against the defendant.

    --
    It should be illegal to say that freedom of speech should be limited.
  17. Re:No matter where it is ... by CheshireDragon · · Score: 2

    And then have the Jury find him not guilty?

    FTFY

    --
    "That's right...I said it."