From emails to social media posts, every click, message and location marker leaves a trail that can provide crucial insights into criminal activities. This digital footprint has become a cornerstone of modern investigations, offering investigators invaluable clues and evidence to piece together complex cases.

Law enforcement agencies like the Orlando Police Department (OPD) have recognized that very early on and have leveraged digital forensics to achieve great results.

From the Trenches of Economic Crime

The Orlando Police Department (OPD) digital forensics lab traces its origins back to 2002. Corporal Rob Woodyard recalls, “The guys in our economic crime unit needed to extract evidence from computers to tackle fraud and similar crimes. They established the lab in 2002.” Today, the lab, led by four skilled experts—one supervisor and three full-time examiners—utilizes a comprehensive array of digital forensics solutions, including Cellebrite UFED, Premium and Physical Analyzer (now known as Cellebrite Inseyets).

In 2022 alone, the lab handled 317 cases involving 931 devices, completing investigations on 709 of them. By 2023, these figures surged to 1,228 devices, with 788 completed investigations, highlighting the lab’s expanding capabilities and the increasing importance of digital evidence.

In discussions with Cpl. Woodyard, he emphasized the critical role digital evidence plays in modern investigations and its advantage over traditional counterparts in many aspects.

Digital Evidence is Relatable.

According to Cpl. Woodyard, “We are getting to the point where we can present this information [digital evidence] in a way that everybody understands, not just technical users. Everybody has a cell phone, so when you show them data on a device, they immediately understand what that means, understand what that would look like on their own devices.”

Digital Evidence is Irrefutable

Furthermore, Cpl. Woodyard notes “Plea deals happen a lot for us. Digital evidence is hard to fight at the end of the day. If I can show pictures, text messages, location data and social media, they basically affirm that this person did what we think they did—and they rarely want to have that conversation in the courtroom.”

Digital Evidence Paints Full Pictures

Digital evidence goes beyond mere data, forming complete narratives that answer not only who and how but also why, when, and where. Cpl. Woodyard adds, “Analyzing DNA, they [the public] have heard of that on TV and might be able to start painting a picture of a case. But I don’t feel like anything really hits home as hard as the digital fingerprints people leave behind.”

Two high-profile cases underscore the efficacy of digital evidence, as outlined by Cpl. Woodyard.

Zombie House

A dream of reality TV fame turned deadly. The case involves David Tronnes who, desperate to be on the A&E show ‘Zombie House Flipping’, allegedly pressured his wife Shanti Cooper-Tronnes to participate. As the scale of the project grew out of control, she grew uneasy and refused to participate. Arguments ensued, further fueled by David’s lies about his million-dollar inheritance.

Shanti was found murdered in their home on the 24th of April 2018. “Her blood was found and eventually her body too in the bathtub.” Cpl. Woodyard recalls. At first, Tronnes claimed he was cleaning and walking the dogs when he found his wife’s body, however, medical examinations refuted those claims, and the race was on to charge David Tronnes with suspected murder.

“The key part for us was the digital evidence which established a pattern of life for the victim. Understanding the difference between normal, day-to-day activity from that person, and then seeing that normal activity abruptly stops.” Cpl. Woodyard says. “The perpetrator’s testimony claims that he engaged with the victim throughout the day, whereas the digital evidence was pointing to the fact that she had already been deceased. So now we get to combine that with traditional evidence and paint a really clear picture for jury members to understand kind of what happened there.”

With a strong case—backed up by digital evidence—against David Tronnes, he was eventually charged with first-degree murder. 

Miami Hitman

Similarly, in a case involving a homicide in Miami, digital evidence played a pivotal role in securing a conviction despite the absence of traditional evidence. “There was nothing, the reports were literally, this man left Miami, drove up here, shot the victim, drove back to Miami. There were no witnesses, there was no smoking gun. There was, there was nothing,” he recalls.

OPD pulled in toll records and surveillance footage from toll plazas, eventually apprehending who they figured to be the suspect at the time.

The real breakthrough came with the analysis of the suspect’s phone data, particularly the GPS data which showed the suspect’s route and pinned him to the scene of the crime. The testimony from the suspect at the time was that he left the phone in a friend’s car, however, the analysis of usage patterns along with the GPS data contradicted his alibi. “It’s weird that the phone in the backseat is texting people without you being there. Right?” Analysis of the phone’s biometric unlocking also strengthened the contradiction.

“His device was set up to be unlocked with his face and I was able to find artifacts of that happening the whole day.”

Despite the absence of direct witness testimony and DNA evidence, the mix of circumstantial and digital evidence was strong enough to lead to a conviction.

As technology becomes a mirror of people’s lives, the role of digital evidence has become indispensable in modern investigations. Orlando Police Department’s journey exemplifies not only the growing importance of digital forensics but also the necessity of adapting to changing landscapes. As the two cases demonstrate, digital evidence isn’t just a supplement to traditional methods—it’s often the linchpin that brings justice. Through their unwavering commitment to mastering the digital domain, OPD continues to pave the way, ensuring that no trail goes cold.

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