How Technology Caught the Austin Serial Bomber (foxnews.com)

Wednesday police in Austin, Texas finally located the "serial bomber" believed to be responsible for six package bombs which killed two people over the last three weeks. "The operation was aided by different uses of technology, including surveillance cameras and cell phone triangulation." An anonymous reader shares this article: The suspect, who has been identified as 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, was killed near the motel he was traced to thanks to surveillance footage from a Federal Express drop-off store, The Austin American-Stateman reported. The authorities were able to gather information after police noticed the subject shipped an explosive device from a Sunset Valley FedEx store, a suburb approximately 25 minutes away from Austin. The evidence included the security footage from the store, as well as store receipts obtained showing suspicious transactions. The authorities were also able to look at the individual's Google search history, the Statesman noted, which gave them further insight into his dealings...

The authorities were also able to use cell phone triangulation technology, which provides a cell phone's location data via information collected from nearby cell towers... The phone's GPS capabilities can track the phone within 5 to 10 feet and can also provide "historical" or "prospective" location information. It can also "ping" the phone, forcing it to reveal its exact location... As cell phone companies store this type of data, law enforcement authorities must request it via the appropriate court processes.
"Authorities in Austin were able to use this technology to trace the suspect to a hotel in Williamson County."

Comments

He was a terrorist

[Daemonik]

Nice to see the main stream still won't call a white guy a terrorist.

Re: He was a terrorist

[Daemonik]

I think you've proved my point rather succinctly actually.

Re:He was a terrorist

[pots]

I realize that "terrorist" is the new trendy label, but while hate crimes are often related to terrorism they are not the same thing. This despite the fact that hate crimes are often intended to generate terror.

Re:He was a terrorist

[Known Nutter]

I realize that "terrorist" is the new trendy label, but while hate crimes are often related to terrorism they are not the same thing. This despite the fact that hate crimes are often intended to generate terror.

In it's simplest form, "terrorist" can be defined as "a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims."

While we may not have seen the video associated with this case and we do not fully understand this individual's motivations, it is not unreasonable to theorize that those motivations were political on some level, and therefore not unreasonable to refer to this jackass as a domestic terrorist (or simply terrorist) until such time as evidence of his true motives is presented.

Re:There were plenty of red flags

[guruevi]

He wasn't a radicalized terrorist, he was a serial killer. There is a difference. He had no ideological causes, no politicla target, whether or not he was white, home schooled, Christian or anti-LGBT, it had nothing to do with it.

What he did was because he was intelligent, psychopathic and his skills were most likely undervalued by his family and/or community. He probably had recently gone through some psychological trauma (girlfriend breaking up, fight with his dad, fired from his job) culminating into the thoughts that he was going to "show the world" with the hubris that he could get away with the cat-and-mouse game with agents he perceives to be less intelligent. He started low-end with someone disposable like a transient or a prostitute and worked his way up, probably to the perceived "target" but primarily to show that he can get away with it.

Especially towards the end, they virtually all end up in a killing spree where they either commit suicide or get caught (and then commit suicide). Some choose guns, some choose hands, some knives, there are a number of currently active serial killers, they are not terrorists, they aren't profiled as terrorists, they typically work alone instead of in a cell although rarely a team of 2 will happen.

Re:There were plenty of red flags

[PopeRatzo]

He wasn't a radicalized terrorist, he was a serial killer.

They are not mutually exclusive, as the Austin bomber shows. Anyway, serial killers seldom commit suicide, as Mark Anthony Conditt did. However, radicalized terrorists very often commit suicide.