Who knew a Nintendo Switch would be the key to finding a kidnapped child? According to recently released court records, that’s exactly what happened last year, and it may have even saved her life.
The records reveal that on August 3, 2022, a fifteen-year-old girl residing in the U.S. state of Virginia was tragically kidnapped. Family members and volunteers from the local nonprofit group Hear Their Voices searched everywhere in the area, but the trail went cold. There appeared to be no sign of her anywhere.
No sign, that is, until a friend found traces of the girl’s live activity on her Nintendo Switch, and reported it right away to authorities.
The Switch contains a feature that alerts other players when a user’s Nintendo ID account is active online. The feature is designed, of course, to encourage social recreation among gamers. But in this case it was life-saving. The FBI and Nintendo worked together to find the missing girl through her “breadcrumbs” of activity and her Switch IP address.
Eleven days after the kidnapping authorities found her in an apartment with a 28-year-old male in Tolleson, Arizona, 2,000 miles away from her home. He was arrested and is now serving 30 years in federal prison. The girl reunited with her family a day after she was found. The amazing story from a local Arizona news outlet can be found in its entirety here.
“She reminded me so much of my daughter,” said Keitra Coleman, a volunteer at Hear Their Voices. “She went through a lot in those few days.”
Had it not been for the girl’s Nintendo Switch, the harrowing nightmare likely would have continued for much longer. Saving kidnapped children in real life is no hero’s game. According to the FBI, close to 550,000 children were abducted last year. Many of them are sadly forced into human trafficking. Internet safety plays a crucial role in abduction prevention, especially with children. It’s a sobering wake-up call to practice online safety habits in your daily scrolling, no matter how old you are.
According to court records, the man had befriended the girl online before kidnapping her and whisking her away on a bus. He allowed her to keep her Nintendo Switch to play games and watch YouTube videos while captive. Little did he know, that very Switch paved the way to unraveling his crime. “He definitely underestimated that part,” said Coleman. “We cried on the phone. It was just joy.”
“It’s probably nothing that anybody even had thought of at this point,” reflected Frank Milstead, a retired Arizona DPS Director. Though not involved in the case, Frank said police often utilize the data in electronic devices to help locate missing children. He did note, however, “the fact that somebody else down the road — another child — was bright enough to go, ‘Hey, look, my friend is online, and she’s been missing, and I need to tell somebody'” using data from a Nintendo Switch was a new experience altogether.
