Police Use Call Detail Record Analysis to Solve Florida Murder

FORT MYERS, Fla. - EntSun -- Four years after the murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers in her home, her family has found closure in a multi-trial case. Lee County Sheriff's Office painted a picture of an inter-state murder-for-hire conspiracy that involved her husband and a potential 4 million dollar life insurance policy. To solve the case, the Sheriff's Office used high tech investigation techniques and followed a digital trail of cellular information, and it paid off with justice prevailing.

Teresa Sievers, 46, was found bludgeoned to death on the kitchen floor of her family's home in Bonita Springs on June 29, 2015. After a lengthy investigation, critical pieces of technical information aided investigators. One of the essential discoveries in the case was the use of disposable cell phones, often called "burner phones," being used by two of the suspects, Mark Sievers, the victim's husband, and Curtis Wright, the contracted killer. Investigators were able to get a list of cell phones near the crime scene when the crime occurred, and they began to look for patterns. It didn't take long for two of the phones to match the location patterns of the suspects.

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Once investigators had identified how the suspects were communicating, they had to move digitally back in time. The virtual time travel occurred through the examination of historical phone records. This process is called Call Detail Record Analysis, in which the phone carriers use these records for billing, maintenance, and troubleshooting. Investigators used CellHawk software, developed by Hawk Analytics, to display the communications, including calls, between the suspect phones, and plot their historical locations on maps to see where each phone was before, during, and after the murder.

The cellular information showed phone calls between the suspects and placed them near the crime scene when the murder occurred. This information was all the jury needed to convict all suspects in the case that occurred in separate trials. The jury found Mark Sievers guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. His sentencing is scheduled for January 9, 2020.

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Hawk Analytics develops software that Maps, Connects & Uncovers Trends in Mobile Device Data. Their flagship product, CellHawk, combines cellphone industry experience with the investigators' needs. The result is an easy-to-use system for rapidly mapping, analyzing, and presenting historical cell phone call detail records (CDRs). CellHawk is currently in use by agencies throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.hawkanalytics.com.