[LINK] Facebook and crime victim identification

[Jan Whitaker]

Fwd: [crimescenewriter] WI cops give Jane Doe a Facebook page
http://www.switched.com/2009/08/21/wisconsin-police-create-facebook-page-to-aid-jane-doe-homicide/

>Last November, local police found the "partially decomposed" body of 
>a young woman (composite image pictured) in the woods in Fond du Lac 
>county. Unfortunately, detectives are no closer to identifying the 
>woman nearly a year later. ABC News reports that after making the 
>usual moves (handing out photos, checking missing persons register) 
>detectives turned to the Internet and Facebook.
>
>On the sheriff's Web site, Fond du Lac police posted an image 
>(created by forensic artists) of the girl known only as the Fond du 
>Lac "Jane Doe." Detective Soskinski told ABC News that police 
>created a Facebook profile, but Facebook kept removing it. Police 
>obtained a court order from a Fond du Lac circuit court judge in 
>July requiring Facebook to let investigators post the girl's 
>information. and it turns out the social networking service's 
>automatic filters were being tripped by the name "Jane Doe" 
>(Facebook requires that all profiles be operated by actual, living 
>human beings).
>
>Lawyers from Facebook helped the investigators set up a page (as 
>opposed to a profile) for their "Jane Doe." The page hasn't 
>generated any leads yet, but it has already gathered almost 200 
>fans, and more are sure to pour in as visitors click the "share" 
>button. With any luck, someone will recognize the composite image of 
>the girl's face, or the clothes she was found in. [From: ABC News, 
>Facebook, and Fon du Loc County Sherrif]


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
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Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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