Digital Forensics Dispatch

Digital Forensics: Cellphone Evidence Brought in Parkland Gunman Trial

August 9, 2022

Wayne Roustan and Brian Hamacher of NBC 6 recently wrote about digital evidence being used in the trial of the Parkland Gunman. Detective Ronald Faircloth of the Broward Sheriff’s Office testified regarding digital evidence found on Nikolas Cruz’s cellphone during their investigation. Among the data on the cellphone was browser history, files and other electronic data.

Faircloth performs digital forensics for the Broward Sherrif’s office. One of the many items found in the forensic examination of Cruz’s phone was a PDF file. Roustan and Hamacher write “the phone had a PDF showing the bell schedule including dismissal times at MSD [Marjory Stoneman Douglas] that had been created less than two weeks before the shooting.”

In addition to the PDF, browser history and searches were also found. In the search history were YouTube videos about other school shootings, google searches for information about AR-15s and police responses to school shootings.

Text messages were also discussed in Faircloth’s testimony. The detective revealed two conversations that the gunman had on the day of the shooting.

The forensic analysis of the phone also revealed three videos that the shooter had taken. One of the videos outlined the gunman’s plan for the shooting.

The evidence that exists on mobile phones can be astounding and certainly varies from case to case. In this instance, it looks like there was an ample amount of data on the shooter’s cellphone left for the digital forensic examiner to uncover about the shooter’s motive and planning of the horrific incident that occurred.

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