TMCnet News
Internet detectives ferret out clues in Mackenzie Cowell caseWENATCHEE, Mar 06, 2010 (The Wenatchee World - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Investigators have been working since Feb. 9 to solve the murder of Mackenzie Cowell. They are not alone. The Internet is abuzz with armchair detectives, ferreting out tips, facts, rumors and innuendo about who killed the 17-year-old Wenatchee High School senior last month. Internet sleuthing by the public is "absolutely a new frontier," says Tricia Griffith, the Park City, Utah, woman who owns Websleuths.com, an Internet Web site on crime. Internet sites have given crime buffs an outlet they didn't have before, Griffith said. Entries about Cowell abound on the site. Posters want to know about the girl's friends and family, about her cell phone usage, and about her school activities. Many also are using the Internet to search public records, and they're finding out information about such things as property ownership, old divorces and old restraining orders. Griffith is quick to admit that information online can get personal. "The Internet can be a wonderful frontier, but it can be horrible if you don't keep in mind that you don't want to harm anybody," she said. "We do our best to prevent that." Griffith said volunteer moderators strictly enforce rules, such as no sleuthing about minors and no use of names that have not been mentioned by law enforcement or in the media. Also against the rules: abusive language, name-calling and attacking another poster. Griffith said moderators also work hard to keep posters on point. Violators are warned, and will be banned if they continue to break the rules. "We don't want to do harm," she said. "The last thing we want to do is bring in some poor person who is walking along and all of a sudden they're connected to a murder case just because they're a neighbor." Griffith has owned the site since 2004. She said she thinks its "explosive" growth in commenters is the result of her strict rules. Her site has 25,139 members. She notes, however, that visitors to the site outnumber members three to one. Another place that postings about Cowell abound is on The Wenatchee World's Web site. Web Editor Brianne Pruitt said she thinks the Cowell case has generated more reader comments than any other story on the Web site in recent years. She noted that total comments on the Web site in February almost doubled over what they were in January. She attributes most of that to the 1,504 comments made on Cowell stories. Pruitt said strict rules also apply to World posters. "We won't allow any accusations, any libelous comments and we won't allow people to post rumors, things we haven't verified,' she said. Unlike Griffith, however, she does not see a need to keep commenters strictly on one topic, such a solving a crime. "We want to be a place for people to come and talk and discuss and share their feelings, and feel like they're part of a community," she said. "Comments on our site range from folks trying to think up tips or ideas to help solve the murder, to people sharing condolences to family and friends, to people sharing memories of Mackenzie." Do investigators look at these sites? Yes, says Mike Harum, Chelan County sheriff. He wasn't familiar with Websleuths but said investigators "read everyone of them" posted about Cowell on The Wenatchee World's site. He noted that recently a poster on the site asked if anyone had noticed an entry on the sheriff's office log from Feb. 9 that came right after the entry about Cowell's car being found abandoned up Pitcher Canyon. The call was about a panic alarm at a building in Chelan. The poster had traced ownership of the building to a member of the Cowell family and wondered if there might be a connection. Turns out, there wasn't a connection to the case, but it was a situation that law enforcement was not aware of until the commenter pointed it out, Harum said. Sgt. Tom Hickman is in charge of the State Patrol's Division 6, which includes Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties. He said he has not looked at cyber sleuthing sites during any investigations, but he and other detectives have looked at comments on newspaper Web sites for clues. He said he could not recall any comments that lead detectives to any clues that helped solve a case. He noted that "a lot of times" detectives have already investigated areas that commenters suggest online. Hickman said he would rather rely on tips that come in through a phone call to the investigators. Asked if he thinks Internet sleuthing sites are a good idea, he replied, "I don't know enough about them to say one way or another." Doug Jones, spokesman for the task force investigating Cowell's death, said investigators look at comments on Websleuths and The Wenatchee World site but have found "nothing substantial" in the way of clues off the sites. He said most of the suggestions made by commenters are things investigators have already done or have considered. Jones noted that false rumors are not uncommon on Internet Web sites. "We recently heard that Wenatchee is sending someone down to Mexico," Jones said. "We're wondering, 'Where did that come from? ' " He said investigators would appreciate if people with tips about the Cowell case call the RiverCom dispatch center at 663-9911. Griffith said she monitors viewers and can tell from e-mail addresses that, over the years, investigators have visited the site numerous times. She said she could not comment on whether any tips from Websleuth members have solved any cases, but, she said, she thinks some posts have helped detectives brainstorm. "They come here and they read and they get ideas," she said. She said she was not aware of any Wenatchee investigators currently trolling the site. Griffith bristles when asked if she hears complaints that posters on her site are just playing at being detectives. "People say it's just a bunch of bored housewives or shut-ins; that makes me furious," she said. "I don't care if you are a bored housewife or shut-in, you have something to offer, just as much as a real detective." She said she thinks people who comment on her site are "good people who want to help ... even if it's just to keep a cold case alive." Dee Riggs: 664-7147 [email protected] To see more of The Wenatchee World or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wenworld.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Wenatchee World, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |