If You're Going To Kill Your Spouse, You Probably Shouldn't Google 'How To Commit Murder'
from the just-a-suggestion dept
Back in 2005, we noted that your Google searches can be used against you in a court of law, after a man who searched on Google for “neck snap break” just before his wife was murdered, saw that evidence presented at his trial. The latest is that a woman is accused of searching for a variety of incriminating phrases days before her husband was murdered. Among the searches were “How to Commit Murder,” “instant poisons,” “undetectable poisons,” and “fatal digoxin doses.” She also researched various gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A week and a half later, her husband was murdered using a gun bought in Pennsylvania (and soon after the woman had obtained a prescription for a well-known “date rape” drug). Whether or not the woman is actually guilty, it is a reminder that your Google searches can (and probably will) be used against you, if you happen to research your crimes that way.
Comments on “If You're Going To Kill Your Spouse, You Probably Shouldn't Google 'How To Commit Murder'”
Yeah, so use a proxy!
… I mean, don’t kill people!
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When I did my murder search, they found nothing on my computer because I used the computer at the library!!!!!!!
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please someone help me. my husband has mentally abused me for 30 years. i have not the guts to leave, help! we have a gun i want to die. i cant take this presure of every day living on egg shells. never know when he go off. answer me this why do i love him at times?he used to beat me. he hasnt in years but he always digrades me. in front of people.that really hurts.i wish i could of met a man who was different
how do they know it is you who is searching. Especially if you have dynamic ip address?
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Bill gates knows ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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could it have been on her search history?
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could it have been on her search history?
Well then, maybe she should sue Microsoft for not clearing her history when she closed her browser?
er.. um…
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If you have a google account and are signed in EVERY search is recorded. Clich the “Search History” link your google search pare (after you sign into your account). Every search that we done while you were signed in is recorded and saved forever!
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“Every search that we done while you were signed in is recorded and saved forever!”
Not “forever” just until you tell Google to clear them and not to ever save them.
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I didn’t even know this feature existed, but I went to my search history and nothing was there.
I like when things work out like that.
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Because even dynamic IPs are logged at the ISP.
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Because Google keeps LOGS. Every time you do anything on Google, they log what you do, what you searched for , and also the IP address and time and date. So, even though you have an IP address that changes every time you logon, only YOU had that address at that particular date and time.
Between the USGOV and the BIG CORPS, we have absolutely no privacy at all.
Just remember, every thing you do or say on the Interweb, can be traced back to you. Consider email like a postcard. Dont write anything that you would not want the entire world to hear or see what you wrote.
Re: sammys comment
“by sammy on Mar 14th, 2007 @ 7:52am
how do they know it is you who is searching. Especially if you have dynamic ip address?”
Google says they’ve revamped their privacy practices, announcing they’ll make search data largely anonymous after 18-24 months “unless we’re legally required to retain log data for longer” (which is very possible). “By anonymizing our server logs after 18-24 months, we think we’re striking the right balance between two goals: continuing to improve Google’s services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention practices,” says the company. Either way, if you’re planning a murder, you should probably avoid Google entirely.
Also, read Officer Friendly’s post. Good advice for all…..
Re: How do they know
The same way they know to show you ads based on stuff you’ve searched for. And most people that use google are logged into their google account so they can open their e-mail easily.
But even though you may have a dynamic ip address your ISP is required to maintain records of what device has an IP at some specific point in time.
Even reading this article could be incriminating!
Do the crime, do the time.
Uh.. divorce is messy, but at least you don’t have a cell-mate who’ll think of you as his new girlfriend. Murder is SOO stupid. Use some imagination!
this article
I am asking the same question as you Mit, did they confiscate her computer and see the search results save in the form history? Or did google and/or the ISP provide the court with this evidence????? Article does not state this…
Re: this article
In any criminal investigation, searching a victim’s computer is now standard. If you’re signed into Google, your search history is captured and can be viewed at any time. You can turn off the search history, but it’s on by default and I’ll bet most people don’t know it can be turned off.
Your search also stays in your browser, unless you’ve cleared your history, again, something average users won’t or don’t know how to do.
Re: Re: this article
Even if you clear the history cache, good computer forensic analysts can still retrieve the information. It doesn’t clear it from your hard drive….IT CAN BE RETRIEVED….unless you use some special software that totally wipes the drive
Re: Re: Re: this article
Isn’t that the truth. My husband tryed to have me killed and looked up a bunch of things and they were all saved on hard drive
Re: Re: this article
thats a machine issue, ya know, well now you do & here i cant beleave this, where posting to it, like im doing now, geeeeez, i just did it, google search, cause i seen it on t.v. yikes to see there is such a thing & as allways searching because we all now have the internet should go as follows, the address box only, as in http://www.howtodothings.com, never invole search enjin,s because thats where we get malware= more machine issues, thank yous, 🙂
Re: this article
i believe these phrases (included inthe article) should answer your questions:
“At exactly 5:45:34 on April 18, 2004 a computer taken from the office of the attorney of Melanie McGuire, did a search on the words “How To Commit Murder.”
and
“Jennifer Seymour, who worked for the State Police digital technology unit, testified thismorning how she examined the digital contents of computers and hand held devices obtained as part of the investigation”
and
“She testified that she isolated data that was accessed in the weeks leading up to the murder, by inserting the keyword “search,” which showed activity by Google and MSN search engines, with the searches center-ing on poisons and gun laws.”
and a few more references to the computers which were confiscated and had the search histories pulled from them.
LOL
Freedom of Information!
id be more worried about..
some of your searches ‘flagging you’ for an investigation
then them starting trouble with you
like i look up a ton of weird shit all the time cause i like to investigate .. news
like the other day i was looking up ‘3000 children missing from florida CPS’ cause apparently florida CPS literally lost 3000 kids, and half of them turned up in other countries, some turned up dead, with no heads, or being used as sex slaves in saudi arabia… nice work CPS..
i was also following info about pedophiles in the CPS… i mean these searches could flag me and get me investigated without any real probable cause..
just for trying to be informed you end up with people spying on you..
any information that can be collected can and will be abused as well…
“.. news like the other day i was looking up ‘3000 children missing from florida CPS’ cause apparently florida CPS literally lost 3000 kids, and half of them turned up in other countries, some turned up dead, with no heads, or being used as sex slaves in saudi arabia… nice work CPS..”
This comment really has nothing to do with the original post – is sounds more like a vendetta against CPS than a comment pertaining to the main subject. By the way, I did a Google search using that exact phrase and got no hits.
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You got no hits , cause you add “””” in yout search.
Just search 3000 children missing from florida CPS, or 3000 children from CPS, and you will have hits . But search without “” .
Re: Actually....
actually i just did a search also using that exact phrase and got “71 400 results”. So I guess you just don’t know how to use boolean operators correctly…
Re: Re:
it actually is true. I have done the investigations into those accusations as a criminal investigator
Serves Her Right...
I think this is great evidence against her. The Internet is a vast tool for information, but come on…searching for the perfect murder strategy is bit much.
Just watch CourtTV for a few days, no one can trace that back to you and it’s a wealth of forensic evidence.
Re: Serves Her Right...
So then she Tivo’s CSI and CourtTV’s murder episodes and has them saved….
Re: Re: Serves Her Right...
I think that could somehow come back to haunt her…
If she really wanted to learn how to do it, she needed to be commited (no pun intended).
Google keeps up with your searches.
If you are logged in to google for your customized homepage, by default google keeps up with your searches, I found this out about a month ago when I went “hrm I wonder what that “Search history” link is.”
Found out I had searches saved from 2005.
Made for a good laugh but I quickly turned that off.
FireFox2
Those with the sense to use FF2 would realise that (at least for the en-GB version), it comes with “prompt to clear private data” or words to that efect checked in the privacy tab of the options panel. If you are searching for how to commit murder, then logging in to google is not smart either.
I didn't get something
How did they get to know what the woman searched?
Did they search her personal computer? Or Google gave the court the search results?
Re: I didn't get something
How did they get to know what the woman searched?
Did they search her personal computer? Or Google gave the court the search results?
I don’t get something, do people even read the links before posting dumb questions? Way to go Ale.
Re: Re: I didn't get something
You’re right. Now I get it.
😉
It’s called an internet caffe…duh!
Anyone doing a search for “how to commit murder” should be thrown in jail for life anyway. Nobody does a search for that unless they are contemplating doing it which is the crime of conspiracy to commit murder.
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What if I’m researching it for the mystery novel
I’m about to write?
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Take very good care of your spouse until after the novel is published???? Basically, don’t kill anybody, and it’s not a problem.
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Yesterday I did a search for “hot wookie sex” just to see what I would get. By your logic that makes me a heinous wookiephile.
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There is nothing wrong with searching, but if there is a wave of wookie rape, maybe you would be a good suspect.
Should the government be looking at people that might need to be looked at? I sure think so. Think maybe someone should talk to your next door neighbor if he is searching and downloading information on how to build bombs? Do you think maybe someone should?
As for writing a book, unless its a really bad book, there is nothing illegal about your activities. Whats your problem?
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…and lets not even mention the writers who use the net for research…
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Anyone doing a search for “how to commit murder” should be thrown in jail for life anyway. Nobody does a search for that unless they are contemplating doing it which is the crime of conspiracy to commit murder.
Sure, Einstein. I’m writing a novel and have had reasons to look up many strange search terms over the past year.
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> which is the crime of conspiracy to commit murder.
Conspiring with who?.. Google?
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Unless you are searching for information on the movie “How to Murder your Wife.”
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Actually, I searched “how to kill your husband and not get caught” kidding around with my husband because he is driving me crazy.I don’t think that deserves being thrown in prison.
xD nub
You can delete your saved form information and use a proxy so people can’t find these things, she a murderous nub.
Search smarter
She should have searched for “how to commit murder AND get away with it.”
Not if you google ” How to erase my google searches “
lol :p
gotta love google
dynamic IP
Is traceable and can be corrolated to an assigned computer for a particular duration.
In addition most ISPs who use DHCP use PPoE (Point-to Point of Ethernet) which can require you to “log in” before you are assigned the IP address. if you don’t think your ISP keeps track of this your kidding yourself. It is used to troubleshoot network issues should you call in for customer support.
What about privacy?
She is not the brightest in town, thats for sure, since I would have done my search in public computer, or through a proxy, or whatever, but the problem is that this leads to privacy issues related with your web searches.
Check this out:
http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~thedude/bbs/index.html
Yeah, definitely pretty stupid considering the old Google
cache…all designed to “make your searches better” my a$$!
Google’s privacy policy is the worse in the industry and it all stems from popularity. Now where do I google “how to kill Google”?
An item
She obviously forgot to search:
How to get away with murder
Nothing is tracked by IP anymore
In todays world with pretty much everyone using DHCP no one tracks anything anymore that way everyone has started tracking people by MAC address because it is unique to each computer and can not be changed when a normal user is using it. Also most ISP’s keep track of most of the data that goes through them for 2 to 4 days.
Re: Nothing is tracked by IP anymore
I agree they are tracking MAC addresses but dont kid yourself. IP addresses, MAC addresses, date, time, what was searched you name it is logged somewhere. I dont no where you got your info on 2 to 4 days but I would have to say they can pull up searches from last year if they want.
At least there aren't that many of them
A few years ago, I discovered I was getting a few hits a month on my Harry Potter reference pages from people searching on “undetectable poisons”. I imagined that the small percentage of total searches where the searcher was digging down to the third or fourth page of results and clicking on everything.
Then I checked on Google and discovered it returned pages from my site at #1, #3, and #4. (IIRC, #2 was an essay on how there are no undetectable poisons.)
They were eventually knocked off the first page of results by all the news coverage of the UK ricin scare.
th8ink about it. they just sieze your computer and see what is in your history. What you download, if your music in winamp is all in an album called Downloaded Music. Sh*t…. Better do a low level format on my machine right away..
cookies
how to clear yourself
After you search “How to commit murder” follow up with
“It wasn’t me, I swear” and
“it was someone else. I didn’t do it.”
and
“it was my neighbour. or someone else on my street.”
and
“Check their search histories.”
and
“You’ll find something, I’m sure.”
The Right Way to Commit Murder
Oops my name is how.to.commit.murder that must make me a murderer…..it’s unfortunate that we have people that exist with pathetic logic like some of the commenter’s that could be allowed to be on juries…
Everyone’s guilty lets not bother to explore other scenarios that may prove a person’s innocence.
Now future searchers for this phrase will likely have this site included in their search….amazing how this search technology works….
We are living amongst the idiotic america…god help us
Another Search
How about search:
How to Kill (and here you enter the name of the person you want to kill)!!!
That should be effective
and then search
How to Save Children from Molestors
and
How to Avoid being known as a Hero
extensions
Ever hear of privoxy or customizegoogle or *drumroll* scroogle?
Murder is easy--so is the STUMBLE defense
While it is no difficulty to either surf anonymously or well hide your cyber tracks, if you are caught, blame STUMBLE UPON and an unknown but strangely entertaining sort of page that appeared with each click. Entirely possible with the correct (or incorrect settings…as you choose) Claim it peaked your curiosity as an intellect. I believe I read of this in a hacking defense case. The curiosity defense.
Murder is so incredibly easy that any intelligent person could commit a completely untraceable act of first degree premeditated murder and remain completely above proof!
There are natural agents that will mimic a heat attack so well that physicians are fooled, and there are at least ten other drugs that will kill without providing need of medical suspicion or leave easily detectable trace evidence.
Murder Anyone…. Ummm?
The article uses the word “trace” but it looks like they are just doing computer forensics stuff to retrieve data from the suspects hard drive that was deleted. The person who did all the “tracing” is described as:
“Jennifer Seymour, who worked for the State Police digital technology unit, testified thismorning how she examined the digital contents of computers and hand held devices obtained as part of the investigation.”
The first article thats linked about Google searches being used against people explicitly says that its just data retrieved from a hard drive.
The headlines of these articles are misleading, but they are eye catching because as soon as you see it you think what the people in these comments asked “Does google or our ISPs archive and hand over our searches to the police.” Since the content of both articles say nothing about that I dont think the question can be answered using them.
A better question might be, “Why do headline writers think that its ok to mislead people with these sorts of tricks?” Surely they know that once a person realizes that the headline is crap that the person is less likely to believe future headlines and click on them.
For those who are a little slow, the fact that the evidence is a google search is not important. What is important is that the evidence came from the suspect’s computer not google. If instead of a google search the evidence was a MS Word document detailing the suspects plans the headline could have been “MS WORD USED TO COMMIT MURDER.!@!!!! OMG MURDERERS DONT TRUST MICROSOFT WITH YOUR PLANS.”””!!!””!”
The article uses the word “trace” but it looks like they are just doing computer forensics stuff to retrieve data from the suspects hard drive that was deleted. The person who did all the “tracing” is described as:
“Jennifer Seymour, who worked for the State Police digital technology unit, testified thismorning how she examined the digital contents of computers and hand held devices obtained as part of the investigation.”
The first article thats linked about Google searches being used against people explicitly says that its just data retrieved from a hard drive.
The headlines of these articles are misleading, but they are eye catching because as soon as you see it you think what the people in these comments asked “Does google or our ISPs archive and hand over our searches to the police.” Since the content of both articles say nothing about that I dont think the question can be answered using them.
A better question might be, “Why do headline writers think that its ok to mislead people with these sorts of tricks?” Surely they know that once a person realizes that the headline is crap that the person is less likely to believe future headlines and click on them.
For those who are a little slow, the fact that the evidence is a google search is not important. What is important is that the evidence came from the suspect’s computer not google. If instead of a google search the evidence was a MS Word document detailing the suspects plans the headline could have been “MS WORD USED TO COMMIT MURDER.!@!!!! OMG MURDERERS DONT TRUST MICROSOFT WITH YOUR PLANS.”””!!!””!”
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For those who are a little slow, if you click “submit” twice, it will create two entries.
?
Comment is good If your thinking about it you shouldn’t
LOL
I was pissed at my husband and I told him I was going to Google how to kill him, lol… and we came across this message, lol… THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP!
Re: LOL
Most men will die first anyway, so just hang in there a few years and he will be gone. Dou you know why men die before their wives? Because they want to.
be afraid or not, ur choice but those who plan to kill and then use the gun on themselves are protected by law, law of nature
i dont give a fuck about what would or could be used against me in a cout of law. ima kill the bitch regardless of who knows. so in other words,, I’M GUILTY AS CHARGED!
oops
I have a son
My son that is not known to the public is hispanic and is a damn good looking young man.
hahahaha, i hope nothing happens to my husband now,lol
hmm
I think we are ALL guilty. Oops!
I killed my wife by pushing her off a cliff in Utah. It was over very quickly and I walked away free, it was an accident. My life is so much better now, I found a much better woman and alive in California on the coast. Wow, what a different a little push can make in one’s life.
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Good one. You think life with me was tough. I am waiting for you in hell to live out eternity
kill now
I would like to have been a Roman soldier holding Jesus the the night before he was to be hung on the cross. OMG, I would have taken a huge mallet and smash his head like a egg. I would hammered him from both sides until his brains were leaking out. Then, just for fun smash him straight in the mouth and busted out most of his teeth. Then dropped his drawers and cut his genitals off including his penis. Next put his feet into a fire and burned his feet and legs up to his knees off. Next, put his hands on a large rock and smashed both hands until they looked like red meat for the bbq. then pushed a large rod up his anus and out his mouth and put him over a fire. Once cooked fed him to wild dogs. Yeah, I would have taught the God almighty what it is like to be human…the little cock sucker
Re: kill now
Yeah, he was a real asshole. If I have had any balls I would have been there to help you
That is why you encrypt me friend
kill your wife
i would like to, but katie is kinda hot… i would not mind taking out her parents though – ALL IN THE NAME OF XENU!
kill her
May be their IP’s( http://howzzdat.com ) are logged to ISP’s
killing your ex
can you ever get away with murder,i do,nt think so,if you do it you do it,ffks do,t winge if the grab you.
Search " murder your wife"
I have absolutely no intention of killing my vile wife. But I do search for things like”kill wife and get away with it” and “make murder look like accident” so that when she next snoops on my computer shell Shute herself
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Use your imagination…i call that epic.
Search " murder your wife"
Yeah, good luck with that. Lemme know when the Feds bust in your door and arrest you with attempted murder. Yup, they’ll do it. Better take it on the lam before they track you down!
lol
I was.just watching files and saw a person typing kill+spouse wondering what is was
Re:
Maybe you could be logged into your Google account
lol leaving it up for m
y husband to see.
kill now
You wouldn’t have gotten the chance. God would have struck you dead.
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lol dude nice comment xD… i love this ..
Let’s face it if you do have a life of crap is 15 years really that long
murder
ok so here is how you hide things on an extreme measure
1) get a second hd & nic card for your laptop
2) get a new os for your hd
3) install hd & nic card – never touch your home network with the new hd nor run the new os thru your home network. never let your new nic authenticate with your home network either
4) take your new system to starbucks or some shit hole like that and perform your searches
5) before you kill clean the hd with appropriate magnets and dispose appropriately. dispose nic card too.
6) replace laptop with original equipment
7) kill
I love my husband
Re:
Lmao…i googled how to murder your wife…with my wife sitting next to me. i have 0 intentions of doing it…shed be way more likely to than i ever would :D…IT WAS just funny at the moment 😮
how to kill anyone
whoops tryin to fuck w my man! probably should not have checked into this fuckin site
Yeah, but if she’s an idiot who is already smoking a pack a day and drinking a lot … isn’t it pretty much “how long do in have to wait until the idiot dies”?
O my
Re:
Text me about this. I am a professional problem solver. I may be able to help. 315-570-0079
I work all over the globe.
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Sweet. I have this awful stain I just can’t get out of my couch. What are your rates?
The government knows everything!!!!! Even knows who your texting and calling and remember ppl plz..but nothing is ever erased!!!!!!!!
Oh, my goodness! So thankful to dr.mack201@gmail. com for bringing my ex lover…and now I enjoying my relationship…
Love
Maybe a better scearch would be “How to love my spouse better!”
Google how to commit murder
Now why would you want anyone to have that in their browser? Shame on you!!!!!!!!! Someone could have set her up?
Google how to commit murder
Now why would you want anyone to have that in their browser? Shame on you!!!!!!!!! Someone could have set her up? Killing someone you’d have to be 1 twisted MF. Even considering it you’d have to be pretty fuc_ed up!
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Anybody in their right fucking mind knows this you stupid son of a bitch. People like you is what keeps me up figuring the best way to blow your fucking brains out especially if yout a god damn nigger.
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Kill him it will be fine. He propably deserves it.
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Weirdo
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0092 03149906362 add my no v will chat on watsup and will discus my issue
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Don’t juts get a divorce the solution to every thing is not always death just be chill
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SHUT UP ASS HAT. DON’T SAY NIGGER.
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ITS RACsict To SyAY NiGger
Re:
And yet your still saying it just say "don’t say the n- word" easy because now it looks like you’re racist