“During a knock-and-talk with a suspect, my partner and I noticed a camper on the adjacent property. The door of the camper appeared to be slightly ajar, so we went to investigate and found the door was pried open. We found muddy boot prints inside. The suspect we interviewed became increasingly nervous but with little to no proof he committed the crime, the chances of making an arrest that day were slim. We also found the residence on the same property was broken into and several tools were taken. We made contact with the victim and got a working list of the items that were taken. We took pics of the boots the suspect had in his residence and several photos of the items around his property in hopes of catching him with the pry bar. After we left, I checked LeadsOnline hoping the guy sold some items, but I came up with nothing. The next Monday, I was using LeadsOnline and to my excitement, I located the transaction ticket from Saturday where our suspect must have gotten spooked and sold the stolen tools to a local shop. LeadsOnline was instrumental in the capture of this suspect and based on the facts of the case we would have had a very hard time proving the crime, and less of a chance to recover our victim’s items.”
Det. Ryan Newman
Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office
North Carolina