Detectives Geane Godoi and Roberto Clamer, both from the Precinct for Repression of Organized Criminal Actions, of the Civil Police of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, used Oxygen Forensic® Detective in 2020 when putting together a car robbery case.
By using Oxygen Forensics’ digital forensic solution, Oxygen Forensic® Detective, Detective Godoi, and Clamer were able to extract data from multiple mobile devices that provided information to indict criminals and get them off the streets of Lajeado.
The Case
In August 2020 there was an increase in car robbery cases in the city of Lajeado. These car robberies were physically aggressive and one resulted in an elderly lady being assaulted. A task force was assigned to figure out the motive of the offenders.
“. . . the team of agents of this Precinct was assigned in a task force to find the criminals responsible for this robbery. It would be necessary and important to use all the technological means available, as well as advanced investigation techniques, to analyze the modus-operandi of the offenders, and find the individuals truly responsible for the crime, to bring them to justice and judge them with the strength of the law.”
The challenge that the detectives faced was identifying the motive as well as the suspects. Through surveillance footage, identification by assaulted victims, and prior police reports, the investigators were able to identify potential suspects and receive a warrant to obtain more evidence.
“With these evidentiary elements, a search warrant was requested to the judge – which was granted – in order to collect more important evidence to corroborate the crimes and link it to its perpetrators.”
Finding a Digital Forensic Solution
After successfully obtaining a search warrant the detectives were able to gain access to cellphones and clothes that were said to have been worn during the crime.
Although the detectives were granted access to the personal items of the suspects, the cellphones that were confiscated were password protected.
“Despite the successful apprehension, all the cell phones were password protected, except for a brand new recently activated Apple iPhone 6, which appeared to have not been used very much, thereby, few information was extracted from this device. There was no evidence of the investigated crime in this cell phone.”
Finding Passwords with Oxygen Forensic® Detective
With one of the phones not being password protected the detectives were able to extract data which allowed them to recover passwords that were being used on the locked cellphones.
“Using Oxygen Forensics Detective, it was possible to do a complete logical extraction of the mentioned iPhone 6, through the iOS Advanced Extraction technique, in which some passwords used by the suspect were recovered. Amongst these passwords was the password to unlock the other apprehended cell phone. . .”
After unlocking the locked cellphones the detectives then extracted the data using Oxygen Forensic® Detective, which uncovered images of the stolen vehicles, metadata of secret locations used by the suspects, as well as WhatsApp conversations that entailed the selling of stolen vehicles and their parts.
Using the “Key Evidence” tool in Oxygen Forensic® Detective, it allowed the investigators to easily classify the images.
“‘By using the tool “key evidence”[. . .] it was possible to find the pictures of the stolen vehicles in the cell phone, vehicles which were hidden in a secret place known only by the offenders. Those pictures were taken in order to offer them in the black market, or to sell their part, also illegally.’”
Making the World a Safer Place
Through the extracted evidence that the detectives investigating the crime found on the offenders’ cellphones, they were able to indict the offenders and get them off the street.
“At the end of the investigation, the Chief of this Precinct, Dinarte Marshall Jr., indicted the suspects and represented for their imprisonment, what was granted by the judge, bringing comfort to the society and reestablishing the feeling of security to the local population. . .”
With the partnership of Oxygen Forensics and the Precinct for Repression of Organized Criminal Actions, of the Civil Police of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, we were able to decrease the amount of car robberies and to help make the city of Lajeado a safer place.
“After this investigation was closed, the numbers of car robbery crimes decreased considerably.”
At Oxygen Forensics we make sure that our software is able to extract and analyze digital evidence from all data sources that could potentially be used to commit crimes.