Recent news was released about a missing girl last year was found when the FBI used her Nintendo Switch information to locate her.
In a surprising and miraculous turn of events, a missing girl was found with the use of her Nintendo Switch. A 15-year-old girl disappeared in August 2022. She had recently become friends with Ethan Roberts, a 28-year-old man who made her create explicit images involving minors. The FBI recently explained how they used the Nintendo Switch’s online function to find her.
According to ABC 15, Roberts went from Arizona to Virginia to abduct the young girl. Luckily, he allowed her to bring her Switch. One of the indicators that helped the FBI track her location was when she downloaded a game and was watching YouTube. Once a friend spotted her name pop up appearing online, authorities were immediately contacted.
Retired Arizona DPS director Frank Milstead was not involved in the case directly but stated how “the fact that somebody else down the road – another child – was bright enough to go, ‘Hey, look, my friend is online, and she’s been missing, and I need to tell somebody.” It is fantastic to see how our tech devices on us could save us when we least expect it. However, the trauma of those 11 days will never be forgotten.
The FBI coordinated with Nintendo to track the Switch’s IP address, and the FBI was able to find the girl 11 days after she was initially taken. It turned out the young girl was taken approximately 2,000 miles away from her home. From there, Roberts was apprehended in his apartment, and the girl was returned safely to her family. Roberts was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for creating child sex abuse images and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity in April this year.
Milstead continued along the same line of how great tech can be: “The bad guys need to know that the police are watching and that you’re leaving a digital footprint everywhere you go. We will find you.” This was a rare account of how a missing persons case could be resolved with the use of tech. It is essential for authorities to recognize the potential value of gaming and tech devices as crucial tracking tools in cases involving missing individuals. Of course, I do not want them tracking me all the time. But you never know when you will need that kind of help.
