A mother used Apple’s Find My iPhone feature to track down her kidnapped daughter, tracing the teenager to a McDonald’s parking lot more than 150 miles from her home in Pittsburgh.
The unnamed daughter was being held against her will by her ex-boyfriend, who allegedly kidnapped her and bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape — but apparently (thankfully!) forgot to remove the victim’s iPhone.
The daughter managed to text her mother, requesting help, at which point her mom notified Pennsylvania State Police — who collectively managed to trace her daughter’s location using Find My iPhone and get her back.
“The defendant was attempting to leave Pennsylvania with the victim,” revealed a statement concerning the arrest of 18-year-old suspect Joseph Boller, whose bail has been set at $150,000.
While there’s no doubt that this is a horrible story, it’s a great reminder of how Apple devices can be used to (potentially) save lives — and why we should all have Find My iPhone enabled on our devices, to boot.
Source: NBC News
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
One response to “Mom uses Find My iPhone to track down her kidnapped daughter”
I’ve always had that feature enabled. There isn’t a reason not to. Its not foolproof obviously, but its way better than nothing, and this isn’t the first time its saved someone from a horrible fate.