U.S. Marine to Contact FBI About Girl

[Seraphim]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030715/ap_on_re_eu/britain_missing_girl

[CX20]

The British press are alledging that Studebaker has a history of similiar behaviour;

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003321318,00.html

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=424776

[nicho]

Attractive young lady, she is

[Nawlins]

Yikes. I hope it's true that she's okay and he didn't have malicious intent. Situations like that happen more than anyone wants to admit.

[Seraphim]

Missing girl safe, ex-Marine arrested

http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/2003/07/16/british_girl030716

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030716/ap_on_re_eu/britain_missing_girl

[budanski]

COUPLE WERE SNARED BY SATELLITES

Mirror.co.uk (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13186087_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-COUPLE%2DWERE%2DSNARED%2DBY%2DSATELLITES-name_page.html)

Jul 17 2003
By Jeff Edwards, Chief Crime Correspondent



POLICE knew Toby Studabaker was in Germany on SUNDAY night thanks to a £60billion satellite system which tracked his mobile phone even when it was not in use.

Fearing the former marine might harm 12-year-old runaway Shevaun Pennington if he thought detectives knew where he was, the information was kept secret.

Instead FBI agents in London asked French authorities to announce publicly they did not even know if the couple had entered France from Britain, let alone moved on to Germany.

The pair were traced to Frankfurt on Tuesday when Studabaker rang his family in Michigan and Shevaun used the same phone to call her parents in Greater Manchester. Then, to the horror of investigators, Studabaker "dropped off radar" because his mobile's battery went dead.

But yesterday morning, after he recharged the phone overnight, satellite monitors were able to pick up the trail again.

Later in the morning, Studabaker triggered an electronic alarm programmed into the computer systems of credit card companies when he used a Visa card to buy Shevaun's airline ticket home.

By the time the information was received and confirmed, Shevaun's flight was in the air.

A message was radioed to the flight deck telling the crew the missing schoolgirl was believed to be on board and the plane would be met by police on touchdown. Soon afterwards Studabaker was arrested near Frankfurt airport.

A National Criminal Intelligence source said: "We knew Studabaker had a mobile and we also knew its number.

"The satellite net can follow a phone with stunning accuracy all over the world. The phone does not even need to be in use. As long as it has power it can be located."

The system uses 24 communications satellites to target a mobile's microwave transmissions. It can triangulate a phone's location down to a few metres and was even able to turn on Studabaker's mobile when it was switched off. Studabaker was filmed by CCTV arriving at Manchester airport on Saturday.

As soon as it became clear the following day that he and Shevaun had left Britain, police called in the FBI.

In the wake of unprecedented co-operation following the September 11 attacks agency chiefs chiefs in Quantico, Virginia, spoke directly with Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd and promised to provide "every resource".

Detectives consulted criminal psychologists and hostage negotiators to establish the risk of Studabaker harming Shevaun if he felt cornered. It was agreed there was "some possibility" he might panic and kill her in an attempt to "dispose of evidence".

Six FBI agents based at the US Embassy in London linked with officers from the NCIS French Desk and Manchester detectives to organise the hunt. As the search widened, 12 more FBI officers based in Paris and Germany were brought in to co-ordinate the operation with French and German authorities.

The NCIS source said: "The FBI agreed without hesitation to throw everything they could into finding Shevaun and Studabaker."

Tip for future fugitives: (and who says you don't learn anything here)

The cell system needs to keep track of which cell your phone is in so it can route incoming calls. Most people don't know that your phone can be "pinged" by the cell tower. When pinged, the phone transmits a response, which can be triangulated on. The newest phones also have GPS capability so they can transmit your location if you dial 911.

If you find yourself needing to "disappear", remember to physically remove the battery from your cellphone.

[ScoutRanger]

Something that really bugs me though about the coverage is how they had to magnify on the fact that he was a Marine, and even called him a Marine. Isn't that a little inappropriate seeing as how he is not serving nor is he retired?

[Ratamacue]

Well, it's the fact that they have to emphasize that he was a Marine that annoys me. It's like they're saying that all Marines are child molesters or the Marine Corps turns you into an old horny bastard who stalks girls on the internet.

[martinexsquaddie]

Hang on the Police were saying they were tracking him by hi tec means.
The girl was already on his way home and the ex marine handed himself in hardly a Police victory :o

[Argyll]

Shame the same stuff can't be used to find Saddam ;)
Has anyone wondered where the US are keeping all these"playing cards"?

Rat,thats not the feeling at all,it's your feeling!!,the fact that he's an ex serviceman was valid,he ,for all we know was/is suffering PTSD!

[Nawlins]

Rat,thats not the feeling at all,it's your feeling!!,the fact that he's an ex serviceman was valid,he ,for all we know was/is suffering PTSD!

Tane, you have a point, not likely that he has PTSD. But even if it's a possibility, getting in a relationship with a child is not, AFAIK, part of the symptom picture of PTSD. Actually sufferers tend to avoid new relationships or very much contact with people at all. So I don't think that would be a valid argument.

I thought it was a bit strange that they were calling him a Marine when he's not serving anymore... I have to agree with the others who feel that it's instigating anti-US military sentiment.

[Royal]

I thought it was a bit strange that they were calling him a Marine when he's not serving anymore... I have to agree with the others who feel that it's instigating anti-US military sentiment.

I agree with you apart from the word US - the UK press jumps on any story involving service or ex-service personel, it's not just that he's a Yank.

Any of the Brits here will testify to the number of ****** missconduct stories in the UK press about service people that would never have made it there if they had been ordinary office workers...

[Nawlins]

Thanks for the info. This was the only story like this I had seen out of the UK, and since he happened to be US military...

[Seraphim]

Wow, thats just like in the movie The Recuit. I guess everything isnt all hollywood.