This Woman's Fitbit Could Help Convict Her Husband of Her Murder
You can count on your Fitbit to track your steps, your calories burned, even your sleep. But here's something the company probably isn't going to tout on the packaging anytime soon: You can use a Fitbit to track down a murderer.
That was the case in the tragic story of Connie Dabate, who was shot in her home in Ellington, Connecticut in December 2015 after returning from a spin class at her local YMCA, where her Fitbit had been logging her workout.
Her husband Richard's explanation of events leading up to the murder made police suspicious. He said he had left the house first to drop their kids off at school when he got a notification that his house alarm had gone off; at home, he encountered a masked intruder who, when his wife also returned home, attacked him then shot his wife. The police were unable to find evidence of an intruder, but they did find a note on Connie's phone titled "Why I want a divorce."
And here's where the Fitbit comes into play: The numbers on Connie's Fitbit were not matching up with Dabate's story. Investigators working on the case have Connie's Fitbit data, which she kept running after her class at the Y. The tracker showed the 39-year-old walking around her house with a timestamp that showed she was moving an hour after her husband claimed she was killed. Her activity stopped six minutes before her husband triggered their home alarm.
Craig Stedman, a district attorney in Lancaster county unaffiliated with Dabate's case, told the Hartford Courant that using data like this isn't common, but he's done it before. "It is an electronic footprint that tracks your movements," Stedman said. "It is a great tool for investigators to use. We can also get the information much faster than some other types of evidence such as DNA tests."
Dabate has been charged with felony murder, tampering with evidence, and providing a false statement. He's currently out on bail; his next court date is April 28.
[h/t: The Cut]
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