Social networking is most definitely a very powerful tool in terms of bring people together. Childhood friends can reunite, businesses can deliver event notices to their target market at zero cost and people can zone in on the most happening sports around town. Mobile app versions of these social networking services make it all the more easier to keep track of all the latest updates and happenings.
Since social networking sites are able to encompass so many facets in people’s lives, it also has the potential to lead to dangerous situations if used the wrong way.
That is exactly what happened to 54 year old Mark Woodland who used a social networking site to meet a gay companion. The gay man was found murdered in his apartment at the East Greenway Road. His roommate had come home to the apartment only to find it ransacked. He then phoned in the police and their search produced Woodland’s beaten body with stab wounds found in the bathroom downstairs.
The social networking app used by the two reportedly utilized the phone’s GPS in order to track down potential dates that are within a certain area radius. This same technology was used by the police in order to track down the suspect upon being given the username of the date. It turns out that the 19 year old, Tommy Reed, had other things planned when he used the social networking “date” service.
It seems that someone somewhere is screening the information leaked. Even the Phoenix Police Department released a statement advising people to “use ‘unknown social network’ in regards to how the victim and suspect were connected.” It may be because it is an ongoing investigation or it may be because the iPhone app developer does not want to be named associated to the crime.
Tags: AppleiPhone, Mark-Woodland, Murder, Social-networking, Tommy-Reed