'Find my iPhone' warned murder victim of assailant's location minutes before death

AppleInsider · February 6, 2019 8:23PM

A murder victim was warned by Find my iPhone that her assailant was nearby only minutes before she was shot to death, but it gave her enough time to save her son.

An example screen of the Find my iPhone app on an iPad

Arraigned on Monday, James Taylor, 75, is accused of shooting Catherine Taylor, 70, at her son's home, following a domestic dispute two days prior over vehicles. Police were called to the disturbance to try and resolve the dispute, but Catherine moved into her son's home nearby to get away from the ex-husband.

According to CTPost, the victim admitted she was tracking James Taylor's location by using the Find my iPhone app on her iPad, which gave the position of James' iPhone. The app was being used as the iPhone was on a shared family plan with their carrier, with the initial aim of using it to track down a missing vehicle.

On Sunday night, Catherine discovered the app was reporting the iPhone as moving around the son's home where she was occupied, prompting her to ask her son to call the police. Shortly after the discovery in the app, the son heard glass shattering followed by screaming and a gunshot. Police say the son then discovered James Taylor holding a rifle and standing over Catherine, who was bloody and motionless.

It is reported James attempted to reload the rifle and point it at his stepson, but he was tackled and struck multiple times in self-defense, while at the same time calling for the police. Members of law enforcement found the stepson pinning Taylor to the floor on their arrival.

Taylor has been charged with murder, home invasion, attempted murder, first-degree burglary, illegal discharge of a firearm, and third-degree assault. Arraigned on Monday, Taylor's bond has been set at $2 million, with the case set to continue on February 19.

While not intended for monitoring individuals in this way, Find my iPhone has proven to be useful in a number of incidents. In January, it was used to track down a woman abducted from a bar in Boston, while in August, two teenagers helped foil a carjacker by telling police where an iPhone left in the vehicle had been taken.

mac_128 · February 6, 2019 8:45PM

While the results in this case had positive outcome, this is definitely going to give people pause about how it could be used against them in a reverse situation. It's definitely a double-edged sword.

ivanh · February 6, 2019 9:11PM

It’s misleading and not funny. Don’t forget that while the victim was tracking the location of the murderer, the murderer was at the same time tracking and confirming the victim’s location, using Find my iPhone.

applezulu · February 6, 2019 9:29PM

ivanh said:

It’s misleading and not funny. Don’t forget that while the victim was tracking the location of the murderer, the murderer was at the same time tracking and confirming the victim’s location, using Find my iPhone.

While that's possible, you're making an assumption that is not substantiated in either the AI article above or the CT Post article used as its source. The article says the victim was tracking the assailant. Nowhere does it say the assailant was also using the service to track the victim. It would seem from the articles that he already knew where she was staying.

spamsandwich · February 6, 2019 9:51PM

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

zroger73 · February 6, 2019 10:19PM

Tragic story. It sounds like a plot for a horror movie.

koliadascope · February 6, 2019 10:33PM

Find my iPhone is based on the Apple ID, not the carrier's Family Plan. They must have been sharing one Apple ID and in that case, the attacker would've had the ability to track the victim as well.

rayz2016 · February 6, 2019 10:37PM

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

Or you could take firearms off everybody thereby reducing the risk all round.

napman · February 6, 2019 10:42PM

Rayz2016 said:

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

Or you could take firearms off everybody thereby reducing the risk all round.

Do you honestly believe you could take firearms away from everybody? How would you take them from the criminals who likely obtained the weapons from illicit, untraceable sources?

mike wuerthele · February 6, 2019 11:27PM

Koliadascope said:

Find my iPhone is based on the Apple ID, not the carrier's Family Plan. They must have been sharing one Apple ID and in that case, the attacker would've had the ability to track the victim as well.

While everything on a single iCloud account can be tracked with Find My iPhone, so can devices all associated with Family Plan Sharing. Depending on configuration, not every device on Family Plan Sharing has the ability to locate every other device.

edited February 2019

cmd-z · February 6, 2019 11:56PM

Mike Wuerthele said:

Koliadascope said:

Find my iPhone is based on the Apple ID, not the carrier's Family Plan. They must have been sharing one Apple ID and in that case, the attacker would've had the ability to track the victim as well.

While everything on a single iCloud account can be tracked with Find My iPhone, so can devices all associated with a Family Plan.

Minor nit, but "Family Sharing" is Apple's terminology for sharing iCloud space, calenders, notes, purchases, etc. One does not have to have a "plan" per se, even a free 5 GB iCloud account can participate in Family Sharing to open up features like Find My iPhone for family devices (but only Organizer and Parent/Guardian).

edited February 2019

mike wuerthele · February 7, 2019 12:36AM

cmd-z said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

Koliadascope said:

Find my iPhone is based on the Apple ID, not the carrier's Family Plan. They must have been sharing one Apple ID and in that case, the attacker would've had the ability to track the victim as well.

While everything on a single iCloud account can be tracked with Find My iPhone, so can devices all associated with a Family Plan.

Minor nit, but "Family Sharing" is Apple's terminology for sharing iCloud space, calenders, notes, purchases, etc. One does not have to have a "plan" per se, even a free 5 GB iCloud account can participate in Family Sharing to open up features like Find My iPhone for family devices (but only Organizer and Parent/Guardian).

Yeah, you're right. That's what happens when I try to do three things at once. Good spot.

ronn · February 7, 2019 3:11AM

Rayz2016 said:

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

Or you could take firearms off everybody thereby reducing the risk all round.

Or at lease the aggressor in a domestic dispute. He clearly has anger issues.

ricks1919 · February 7, 2019 5:08AM

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

"An Alabama police officer will face no criminal charges after fatally shooting E.J. Bradford, a 21-year-old black man whom the officer believed was a gunman in a shopping mall shooting. According to witnesses at the mall, Bradford had been helping other shoppers to safety, and according to video evidence, Bradford, who was carrying a gun, was running towards the real shooter. So this is what happens to the good guy with a gun." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/us/alabama-mall-shooting-death.html?emc=edit_nn_p_20190206&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=61125954ion=whatElse&section=whatElse&te=1&utm_source=hive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hive_email_id_27069&h_sid=7c9c1ec602-5a98fd71d48c56a4447c87d9 An example of what can happen when more people are armed. A man with a gun, looking to help people was shot by another man with a gun looking to help people. More guns doesn't equal safer conditions. Additionally, US has the highest amount of guns per capita, unsurprisingly it also has the highest rate of gun deaths in developed nations. Singapore has among the strictest gun laws, it has the lowest rate of gun deaths. Coincidence? I think no. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/10/06/555861898/gun-violence-how-the-u-s-compares-to-other-countries

bestkeptsecret · February 7, 2019 5:31AM

ivanh said:

It’s misleading and not funny. Don’t forget that while the victim was tracking the location of the murderer, the murderer was at the same time tracking and confirming the victim’s location, using Find my iPhone.

Who the fuck said it was funny? Jesus man! You just don't let up, do you?

steveau · February 7, 2019 6:25AM

napman said:

Rayz2016 said:

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

Or you could take firearms off everybody thereby reducing the risk all round.

Do you honestly believe you could take firearms away from everybody? How would you take them from the criminals who likely obtained the weapons from illicit, untraceable sources?

When police do not have to deal with domestic disputes, crimes of passion and dumb accidents that become murders or manslaughters because of the easy availability of firearms, then they have more time to disarm criminals. Also, when firearms become harder to obtain, criminals tend to restrict their use to fights with other criminals, making it much safer for normal, law abiding citizens. The facts are that in 2016 in the US there were an average of 4.62 homicides by firearm per 100,000 population, whereas in Australia, for example, there were 0.18. So you are 25 times more likely to be murdered by firearm in the US. BTW, in Australia there is a gun ownership rate of 13.7 weapons per 100 persons, which indicates that those that like to shoot (me included) can still own weapons (we just have to get a licence with background checks and do training first - same as if I want to drive a car).

fallenjt · February 7, 2019 9:06AM

mac_128 said:

While the results in this case had positive outcome, this is definitely going to give people pause about how it could be used against them in a reverse situation. It's definitely a double-edged sword.

Dude, if you don’t try to do anything fishy, why would you care if your family knows where you’re at? Family sharing is absolutely great. I know exactly where my kids are at anytime during the day!
btw, you can use “Find My Friends” app and choose not to share your location if you don’t want family to track you instead!

fallenjt · February 7, 2019 9:10AM

“The app was being used as the iPhone was on a shared family plan with their carrier, with the initial aim of using it to track down a missing vehicle. ”???
It doesn’t have anything to do with carrier plan but iCloud Famiy Sharing!

bells · February 7, 2019 11:22AM

napman said:

Rayz2016 said:

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

Or you could take firearms off everybody thereby reducing the risk all round.

Do you honestly believe you could take firearms away from everybody? How would you take them from the criminals who likely obtained the weapons from illicit, untraceable sources?

I think the implication was to make them not legally available thus reducing the risk. If you could truly take them from everybody there would be no risk of dying this way.

I would guess many if not most gun deaths are domestic related and result from guns easily obtained at Walmart’s.

not saying I support that approach but it seems ridiculous to suggest that making guns not legally available wouldn’t greatly reduce the risk of dying in this fashion.

spacekid · February 7, 2019 1:09PM

I wish those writing articles would say where the incident took place. I didn't find any mention in this one other than CTPost. Clicking on the article link, I couldn't find any mention in that article where the incident took place other than Fairfield. I clicked on the CTPost link and it didn't say. Only when I clicked on the contact us link did I find it was in Connecticut which explains what the CT in CTPost means. /rant

kent909 · February 7, 2019 3:12PM

napman said:

Rayz2016 said:

SpamSandwich said:

Better to own and be trained with a firearm for self-defense than be killed and have one’s iPhone provide ‘witness data’ after the fact.

Or you could take firearms off everybody thereby reducing the risk all round.

Do you honestly believe you could take firearms away from everybody? How would you take them from the criminals who likely obtained the weapons from illicit, untraceable sources?

You maybe could disarm all the people. But you will never disarm the boogie man.

'Find my iPhone' warned murder victim of assailant's location minutes before death

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