The Volokh Conspiracy - Cell Phone Records Provide the Key to Catching Serial Rapist:

The front page of today's Washington Post has a disturbing but remarkable story on how the police traced and identified the serial rapist who was targeting prostitutes in the DC area. The trick seems to have been the cell phone records. The rapist had made at least two calls to victims from a disposable cell phone that was registered with his home address, and a subpoena to the provider disclosed the address that let the police conduct surveillance of the rapist (including pen/trap monitoring) that clued them in to what he was doing and helped them stop the man before he raped again. Excellent police work.

	[Orin Kerr, July 28, 2008 at 1:56pm] Trackbacks Cell Phone Records Provide the Key to Catching Serial Rapist: The front page of today's Washington Post has a disturbing but remarkable story on how the police traced and identified the serial rapist who was targeting prostitutes in the DC area. The trick seems to have been the cell phone records. The rapist had made at least two calls to victims from a disposable cell phone that was registered with his home address, and a subpoena to the provider disclosed the address that let the police conduct surveillance of the rapist (including pen/trap monitoring) that clued them in to what he was doing and helped them stop the man before he raped again. Excellent police work.