Raleigh police use Google in hopes of solving 2018 murder case

Raleigh police have asked Google for information they hope will help them solve a 2018 murder.

Posted 10:03 p.m. Jun 19, 2019 — Updated 10:03 p.m. Jun 19, 2019

RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh police have asked Google for information they hope will help them solve a 2018 murder.

According to court documents, Vernon Jeffreys, 43, was shot and killed outside of his home on Bakers Grove Way on Feb. 13, 2018.

Police said that two armed men entered the home, while a third person stayed in the car. Then, the men held Jeffreys' wife and child at gunpoint, searched the house, and took Jeffreys outside where he was killed.

Police release sketch of suspect in Raleigh homicide

The warrant, obtained by WRAL News, also talks about four surveillance cameras in the immediate area. Specifically, that the suspects' vehicle was caught on video circling the home at least twice before the murder.

After combing through the information, police made a second request for additional information and received that this month.

To find suspects, Raleigh police quietly turn to Google

This is not the first time police have used information from Google. In at least four investigations in 2017 – cases of murder, sexual battery and even possible arson at the massive downtown fire in March 2017 – Raleigh police used search warrants to demand Google accounts not of specific suspects, but from any mobile devices that veered too close to the scene of a crime, according to a WRAL News review of court records.

Suggest A Correction