Social media aided in capture of road rage suspect.
WEST GOSHEN » Eighty hours.
That is how long it took for law enforcement investigators to find a figurative needle in a haystack in the case of the apparent road rage death of an 18-year-old high school graduate from West Chester.
What helped the police clear the case in such a relatively short period of time, without the aid of obvious connections between suspect and victim or a positive identification by eyewitnesses, was a combination of age-old investigatory techniques and modern technology, those connected to the case said Monday — one day after the arrest of a Delaware County man blamed in the homicide.
Police used good oldfashioned shoe leather searching, recorded video evidence from public and private surveillance cameras, 21st century social media outreach, and tremendous community support to move from first determining a murder had been committed to eventually identifying and charging a suspect — all in fewer than four days.
On Sunday, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of David Andrew Desper, 28, of Trainer, Delaware County, and charged him with the death of Bianca Nikol Roberson. He was arraigned by District Judge Michael Cabry of Honey Brook on charges of first- and third-degree murder, possession of instruments of crime, and recklessly endangering another person.
Desper is being held without bail in Chester County Prison pending a tentatively scheduled July 13 preliminary hearing before District Judge William Kraut of West Goshen. The hearing is likely to be continued, however.
Roberson died of a single gunshot wound to the head, suffered when she was entangled in an apparent “cat-and-mouse” game while trying to merge from one lane to another near the end of the Route 100 spur that connects to Route 202 south in West Goshen at around 5:30 p.m. last Wednesday.
Police initially did not know that Roberson’s death was a homicide until an autopsy concluded that she had been shot.
Viewing a video surveillance camera located on the Route 10 spur, police identified a faded red pickup truck as being the vehicle most likely belonging to the assailant. An eyewitness, who told police he was driving in front of Roberson’s 2009 Chevrolet Malibu when he heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, saw the pickup racing away.
Thus began the massive manhunt that could consume the West Goshen police and Chester County Detectives, as well as countless other departments in the tristate area and thousands of interested persons across the country.
According to West Goshen officials, the video surveillance was able to ascertain that the red pickup had sped away from the scene, gone south on Route 202, then exited onto Paoli Pike. The direction of travel from there led police to believe the truck was headed towards Delaware County.
“Detectives from our department and the county (Detectives) went up and down streets and door to door for one and a half days solid without a break, inspecting hours and hours of video footage,” said West Goshen Lt. Michael Carroll Monday, describing what had been done to track the vehicle and identify a suspect. Although he said he could not estimate how many hours of footage were ultimately viewed, he noted that the investigators “were getting it done.”
The video evidence “changed everything,” Carroll said, coming as it did not only from public sources but from those installed on people’s private homes “It was huge. I think our detectives were surprised at the footage that came from those residents who were willing to help.”
Still photos and videos from those sources were then posted on the department’s Facebook page, where they were picked up by news outlets and social media users and distributed across the nation and world. Tips began to stream in.
“I think that is what probably brought the case to a close as early as it did,” Carroll said of the social media distribution. The constant presence of posts on Facebook and Twitter, repeated by both other police departments and shared by users “put pressure on (the suspect) to turn himself in. The amount of information coming, “because of social media was just unimaginable.”
He said that the West Goshen department’s own Facebook page received about 800,000 hits worldwide.
The way the digital world assisted in the investigation — while not entirely foreign to Carroll and his colleagues — still made an impression on the veteran investigator.
“When I started (working with West Goshen police in 1996) there was no internet presence (for police),” he recalled. There were no computers in the police station, no email, no online communication with the public. “Now, people have computers in their pockets.”
“The difference can’t be quantified, in my mind,” Carroll said.
He said the swiftness with which the department was able to make an arrest in the case brought out messages of thanks from the public, and more. On Monday, two children named Emma and Trevor brought in doughnuts and coffee for the officers. On Friday, a woman donated homemade cookies for those on duty. “She was just in tears,” said Sgt. Darren Sedlak. “She said she just wanted to help us keep going.”
“The community support has been overwhelming,” said Carroll.
Police were able to use a fragment of the built that killed Roberson to identify the murder weapon as a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. When they were eventually able to track the red Chevrolet Silverado to an address in Concord, Delaware County, they were able to identify Desper as the owner. Going to his home in Trainer, they found the alleged murder weapon in a bedroom, and unused ammunition if a trash can outside the home, according to the affidavit filed by West Goshen Detective Jose Torres, a former state trooper, and Chester County Detective Ben Martin, who came to the D.A.’s Office from East Pikeland police.
Desper had purchased the gun legally in 2015, and had a permit to carry it — which means he could have it in his vehicle while he drove.
Attorney Daniel McGarrigle, who represents Desper and helped arrange his surrender to county authorities, declined on Monday to discuss the conversations he had with Desper and his family about his decision to turn himself in. McGarrigle said he met with Desper and his family members on Saturday evening, and contacted police around 1 a.m. Officers came to his office in Media to take Desper into custody around 2 a.m., he said.
McGarrigle, who has handled at least two high profile criminal cases in the county, including winning an acquittal for a Virginia man in a decades-old contract killing case in West Nantmeal, said he would not comment on the road rage case.
When he announced Desper’s arrest at a news conference Sunday, District Attorney Tom Hogan called Roberson’s death “a savage, brutal act.” Hogan noted the victim was “gunned down because somebody didn’t want to give way” on a roadway.
The case has been preassigned to Common Pleas Court Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft.