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Victim's phone fitness app helps convict murderer today
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Carlos Schiffermann
Feb 9, 2016, 5:48:00 PM2/9/16
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Victim's phone fitness app helps convict murderer today
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/09/making-a-murder-case-how-a-prosecutor-won-a-conviction-with-an-absence-of-evidence/
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The ?dangerous science? that helped convict a 14-year-old girl?s killer
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By Lindsey Bever February 9 at 1:20 PM Follow @lindseybever
James VanCallis, right, with his attorney, Azhar Sheikh, during his murder
trial on Feb. 8, 2016, in Mount Clemens, Mich. (Brandy Baker/Detroit News
via AP)
There was no DNA ? no blood, no hair, no saliva, no semen ? to connect a
Michigan man to 14-year-old April Millsap?s abduction, assault and brutal
murder.
The teen had gone out to take her dog, Penny, for a summer-evening walk in
Macomb County, Mich., one night in 2014 when, prosecutors said, James
VanCallis Jr. approached her.
They said he beat the girl in the head with a motorcycle helmet, stomped on
her throat ?to silence her? and stripped her nearly naked, according to the
Detroit Free Press.
They said he killed her and left her body along the Macomb Orchard Trail.
In court, prosecutors pointed to crime-scene photos, saying the killing
lasted about 10 minutes ? during which Millsap shed tears and grabbed at
leaves on the ground. Then, prosecutors used data from a fitness app on her
cellphone and images from Google Earth to track her killer?s movements.
?To me, that?s the smoking gun,? Armada Police Chief Howard Smith said,
according to MLive.com. ?That?s what kind of cinched it for me.?
[?Serial? takes the stand: How a podcast became a character in its own
narrative]
VanCallis, a 34-year-old from Goodells, Mich., was charged with murder,
kidnapping and assault. Following a two-week trial, he was convicted by a
jury Monday in a Macomb County court and will be sentenced in March.
Under Michigan law, according to the Detroit News, he faces life in prison.
Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo told jurors that in
VanCallis?s case, ?an absence of evidence isn?t evidence of absence,?
according to MLive.
?Yes, there is no physical evidence, but it certainly wasn?t for lack of
trying,? he said. ?We can?t get to what he?s already thrown out before we
know it?s him.?
In the end, a source familiar with the case told the Detroit News, jurors
felt there was ?overwhelming? evidence to convict VanCallis for beating the
girl to death.
#VanCallisTrial ? Prosecutor admits a photo of #AprilMillsap ,
identified by her mother. pic.twitter.com/8IOyMVKE28
? Cathy (@courtchatter) January 20, 2016
Cellular evidence has become a controversial topic in trials.
Perhaps the best-known controversy surrounds Adnan Syed, who was convicted
of murdering his former high school girlfriend in 1999, largely on the
basis of cellphone data. His case gained national attention though the
podcast ?Serial? and has since made its way back to the courtroom.
For years, investigators have used cellphone records to determine where and
when perpetrators picked up a phone ? an attempt to show whether they were
near crime scenes. But experts have argued that using cellphone towers to
trace someone?s whereabouts is risky since signals do not always tap the
nearest tower. In addition, they say, tower ranges vary and overlap.
?It?s not really junk science ? it?s misinterpreted science,? Larry Daniel,
a forensic expert from Raleigh, N.C., told The Washington Post in 2014. ?It
is useful and can be used. But in the hands of a novice, this is dangerous
science.?
[How listening to ?Serial? made us doubt ?Making a Murderer?]
In the Michigan case, police believe, based on phone records, that
VanCallis had traveled to Armada, a small town in the eastern part of the
state, to visit his brother, according to MLive.
Witnesses told police they had seen a man matching his description riding a
motorcycle near the trail. Police said he was also seen on surveillance
footage from a nearby gas station, according to the news site.
Smith, the town?s police chief, said he believes April Millsap denied
VanCallis?s advances and that he left, according to MLive.
She then texted her boyfriend, police said, writing, ?I think I almost got
kidnapped.?
April Millsap's last text message to her boyfriend
pic.twitter.com/nKREMgfOL0
? Jameson Cook (@JamesonCook) January 21, 2016
VanCallis grew angry, Smith said, and returned to kill the girl.
Millsap died from blunt-force trauma to the head and asphyxiation.
A passerby discovered her battered body along the trail about 8:30 p.m.
July 24, 2014, soon after she set out for her walk, according to MLive. Her
shirt had been partly removed, her bra ripped and pants pulled down,
according to the Detroit Free Press.
An autopsy showed she had a bruise above her eye ? one the prosecutor
argued matched VanCallis?s motorcycle helmet.
But, authorities said, there was no DNA ? neither at the scene nor at
VanCallis?s home ? to connect him to the crime.
At trial, the prosecutor slammed VanCallis?s helmet on the table.
?This helmet knocked her silly,? he told jurors, according to the Detroit
Free Press.
The most damning testimony, it seems, came from VanCallis?s ex-girlfriend,
who told police she saw him cleaning his shoes with hand sanitizer,
according to the newspaper. She told authorities that she found human hair
in his jacket pocket.
She also told them that VanCallis had told her: ?I messed up. You need to
stand by me.?
VanCallis, prosecutors said, asked his brother to delete the texts between
him and his former girlfriend.
?He cleaned off the DNA,? the prosecutor said. ?He cleaned off April.?
Cataldo, the prosecutor, also showed jurors animation using GPS data from a
fitness app on the teenager?s cellphone that was laid over a Google Earth
map. It showed the phone moving fast from the crime scene, which Cataldo
said proved VanCallis had taken the girl?s phone and fled, according to
MLive.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/09/making-a-murder-case-how-a-prosecutor-won-a-conviction-with-an-absence-of-evidence/
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Morning Mix
The ?dangerous science? that helped convict a 14-year-old girl?s killer
Resize Text
Print Article
Comments 92
Book mark article
Read later list
Saved to Reading List
By Lindsey Bever February 9 at 1:20 PM Follow @lindseybever
James VanCallis, right, with his attorney, Azhar Sheikh, during his murder
trial on Feb. 8, 2016, in Mount Clemens, Mich. (Brandy Baker/Detroit News
via AP)
There was no DNA ? no blood, no hair, no saliva, no semen ? to connect a
Michigan man to 14-year-old April Millsap?s abduction, assault and brutal
murder.
The teen had gone out to take her dog, Penny, for a summer-evening walk in
Macomb County, Mich., one night in 2014 when, prosecutors said, James
VanCallis Jr. approached her.
They said he beat the girl in the head with a motorcycle helmet, stomped on
her throat ?to silence her? and stripped her nearly naked, according to the
Detroit Free Press.
They said he killed her and left her body along the Macomb Orchard Trail.
In court, prosecutors pointed to crime-scene photos, saying the killing
lasted about 10 minutes ? during which Millsap shed tears and grabbed at
leaves on the ground. Then, prosecutors used data from a fitness app on her
cellphone and images from Google Earth to track her killer?s movements.
?To me, that?s the smoking gun,? Armada Police Chief Howard Smith said,
according to MLive.com. ?That?s what kind of cinched it for me.?
[?Serial? takes the stand: How a podcast became a character in its own
narrative]
VanCallis, a 34-year-old from Goodells, Mich., was charged with murder,
kidnapping and assault. Following a two-week trial, he was convicted by a
jury Monday in a Macomb County court and will be sentenced in March.
Under Michigan law, according to the Detroit News, he faces life in prison.
Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo told jurors that in
VanCallis?s case, ?an absence of evidence isn?t evidence of absence,?
according to MLive.
?Yes, there is no physical evidence, but it certainly wasn?t for lack of
trying,? he said. ?We can?t get to what he?s already thrown out before we
know it?s him.?
In the end, a source familiar with the case told the Detroit News, jurors
felt there was ?overwhelming? evidence to convict VanCallis for beating the
girl to death.
#VanCallisTrial ? Prosecutor admits a photo of #AprilMillsap ,
identified by her mother. pic.twitter.com/8IOyMVKE28
? Cathy (@courtchatter) January 20, 2016
Cellular evidence has become a controversial topic in trials.
Perhaps the best-known controversy surrounds Adnan Syed, who was convicted
of murdering his former high school girlfriend in 1999, largely on the
basis of cellphone data. His case gained national attention though the
podcast ?Serial? and has since made its way back to the courtroom.
For years, investigators have used cellphone records to determine where and
when perpetrators picked up a phone ? an attempt to show whether they were
near crime scenes. But experts have argued that using cellphone towers to
trace someone?s whereabouts is risky since signals do not always tap the
nearest tower. In addition, they say, tower ranges vary and overlap.
?It?s not really junk science ? it?s misinterpreted science,? Larry Daniel,
a forensic expert from Raleigh, N.C., told The Washington Post in 2014. ?It
is useful and can be used. But in the hands of a novice, this is dangerous
science.?
[How listening to ?Serial? made us doubt ?Making a Murderer?]
In the Michigan case, police believe, based on phone records, that
VanCallis had traveled to Armada, a small town in the eastern part of the
state, to visit his brother, according to MLive.
Witnesses told police they had seen a man matching his description riding a
motorcycle near the trail. Police said he was also seen on surveillance
footage from a nearby gas station, according to the news site.
Smith, the town?s police chief, said he believes April Millsap denied
VanCallis?s advances and that he left, according to MLive.
She then texted her boyfriend, police said, writing, ?I think I almost got
kidnapped.?
April Millsap's last text message to her boyfriend
pic.twitter.com/nKREMgfOL0
? Jameson Cook (@JamesonCook) January 21, 2016
VanCallis grew angry, Smith said, and returned to kill the girl.
Millsap died from blunt-force trauma to the head and asphyxiation.
A passerby discovered her battered body along the trail about 8:30 p.m.
July 24, 2014, soon after she set out for her walk, according to MLive. Her
shirt had been partly removed, her bra ripped and pants pulled down,
according to the Detroit Free Press.
An autopsy showed she had a bruise above her eye ? one the prosecutor
argued matched VanCallis?s motorcycle helmet.
But, authorities said, there was no DNA ? neither at the scene nor at
VanCallis?s home ? to connect him to the crime.
At trial, the prosecutor slammed VanCallis?s helmet on the table.
?This helmet knocked her silly,? he told jurors, according to the Detroit
Free Press.
The most damning testimony, it seems, came from VanCallis?s ex-girlfriend,
who told police she saw him cleaning his shoes with hand sanitizer,
according to the newspaper. She told authorities that she found human hair
in his jacket pocket.
She also told them that VanCallis had told her: ?I messed up. You need to
stand by me.?
VanCallis, prosecutors said, asked his brother to delete the texts between
him and his former girlfriend.
?He cleaned off the DNA,? the prosecutor said. ?He cleaned off April.?
Cataldo, the prosecutor, also showed jurors animation using GPS data from a
fitness app on the teenager?s cellphone that was laid over a Google Earth
map. It showed the phone moving fast from the crime scene, which Cataldo
said proved VanCallis had taken the girl?s phone and fled, according to
MLive.
Carlos Schiffermann
Feb 9, 2016, 5:49:22 PM2/9/16
to
On Tue, 9 Feb 2016 14:47:57 -0800, Carlos Schiffermann wrote:
> Cataldo, the prosecutor, also showed jurors animation using GPS data from a
> fitness app on the teenager?s cellphone that was laid over a Google Earth
> map. It showed the phone moving fast from the crime scene, which Cataldo
> said proved VanCallis had taken the girl?s phone and fled, according to
> MLive.
That last post was only suppoed to contain the one paragraph above.
> Cataldo, the prosecutor, also showed jurors animation using GPS data from a
> fitness app on the teenager?s cellphone that was laid over a Google Earth
> map. It showed the phone moving fast from the crime scene, which Cataldo
> said proved VanCallis had taken the girl?s phone and fled, according to
> MLive.
When will criminals stop being so stupid as to steal the victim's cell
phone?
Rod Speed
Feb 9, 2016, 7:26:47 PM2/9/16
to
"Carlos Schiffermann" <car...@whydoIneedthis.com> wrote in message
news:1c5urptgwqs3i$.fjz4ao5ouoly.dlg@40tude.net...
> Victim's phone fitness app helps convict murderer today
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/09/making-a-murder-case-how-a-prosecutor-won-a-conviction-with-an-absence-of-evidence/
Happened with one of ours too. They worked out who the
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/09/making-a-murder-case-how-a-prosecutor-won-a-conviction-with-an-absence-of-evidence/
stupid bastard was when his phone and hers moved around
together and ended up where they found the corpse.
Rod Speed
Feb 9, 2016, 7:27:40 PM2/9/16
to
"Carlos Schiffermann" <car...@whydoIneedthis.com> wrote in message
Alan Browne
Feb 11, 2016, 5:39:52 PM2/11/16
to
On 2016-02-09 17:49, Carlos Schiffermann wrote:
> When will criminals stop being so stupid as to steal the victim's cell
> phone?
Rhetorical, right?
> When will criminals stop being so stupid as to steal the victim's cell
> phone?
--
"But I am somehow extraordinarily lucky, for a guy with shitty luck."
..Harrison Ford, Rolling Stone - 2015-12-02
Ant
Feb 13, 2016, 2:43:01 PM2/13/16
to
Bad copy and paste. :P
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It's the year of the fire monkey! EeeEee! :P
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Michael Eyd
Feb 15, 2016, 3:20:01 AM2/15/16
to
Am 13.02.2016 um 20:43 schrieb Ant:
> Bad copy and paste. :P
I agree, however that's no reason to cite all that bad copy&paste in
> Bad copy and paste. :P
your post, again... ;-)
Best regards,
Michael
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