1. A woman’s Fitbit helped police arrest her husband for her murder.
Detectives investigating a woman’s murder used her FitBit device to eventually charge her husband for her death https://t.co/5EJOV5tNrv pic.twitter.com/coS7EmVTYf
— CNN (@CNN) April 25, 2017
A man has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife after her fitness tracker helped poke holes in his story, CNN reports.
Richard Dabate told police a masked intruder broke into the Connecticut home he shared with his wife, Connie, on December 23, 2015. He said he was tied up and tortured, and when his wife came home, she was shot and killed.
He said he had left for work in the morning, before he returned home between 8:45am and 9am when he realised he’d forgotten his laptop.
Richard then said he heard a noise upstairs, where he spotted a 6’2″ man with a “camouflaged suit with a mask” in his home. At 10:11am, after the alleged intruder fled the scene, Richard called 911.
By then, he told police, his wife Connie was already dead.
Investigators found no evidence of any forced entry into the couple’s home, and found that nothing in the house had been stolen. Police then seized the couple’s cell phones, computers and house alarm logs, as well as Connie’s Fitbit, to help with their investigations.
Police found Connie logged a total walking distance of 370m between 9:18am and 10:05am on the device, a time period in which Richard had told police his wife had already been killed.
Police say her Fitbit logged more than 300m of movement than she would have walked if Richard’s story was to be believed.
Richard later admitted to having an affair with a woman he had impregnated. He also attempted to make a claim on his wife’s life insurance just five days after the incident.
Police have now charged him with murder, tampering with evidence and providing a false statement.
He is due to enter a plea during his next court appearance, which is scheduled for April 27.