the tell-tale fitbit
Police: Murder suspect's alibi at odds with victim's Fitbit data
A suspected murderer gave police an alibi so outlandish — it involves a masked assailant with a voice like Vin Diesel's who was ultimately chased off with a blowtorch — that the fact a Fitbit could hold the key to whether he is telling the truth isn't the strangest part of the story.
Richard Dabate told authorities that at around 9 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2015, a mysterious intruder entered his Ellington, Connecticut, home, and subdued him using "pressure points," The Guardian reports. Then, using a gun belonging to Richard, the man shot Dabate's wife, Connie, as she returned home from the gym. Dabate then claimed he used a blowtorch to chase the assailant away. Police say that Connie Dabate's Fitbit tells a different story.
The electronic physical activity tracking device showed that Connie was moving for more than an hour after her husband said the murder took place, police documents say. It also showed that once she came home, she moved more than 1,200 feet; Richard Dabate said she was killed in the garage right when she arrived home. Investigators say they also looked at computer records and found that Richard Dabate lied about sending an email to his work from the road, plus they were unable to find any signs of a forced entry, struggle, or a tall man with a "Vin Diesel voice," which is how Dabate described the alleged murderer.
Police say the couple's marriage was on shaky ground, and that Richard Dabate had a pregnant girlfriend on the side and attempted to claim a $475,000 life insurance policy on Connie Dabate five days after her murder. Now facing trial on charges of murder, tampering with evidence, and making a false statement, Dabate is due back in court Friday.