Cell Tower Forensics

Cell Tower Forensics is also known as Call Detail Records (CDR) or Usage Detail Records (UDR) Forensics. It is the processing of analyzing records provided by the cell phone carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) to determine who an individual was communicating with and where they where.

Unlike many sources of data which depend on getting a device from a person of interest, cell tower data can be provided directly from the carrier eliminating the risk of deletion or damage to the device.

Cell tower records have been used to locate missing persons, determine cell phone usage at the time of a crash, find how long someone had been driving, and even show what time someone usually goes to bed. They have been used by police to try to place suspects at a scene and they have been used by defendants to prove alibis. They have also been famously misused in cases like Adnan Syed, profiled in Season 1 of Serial, when experts did not conduct a proper location analysis. In short, proper analysis of cell phone usage records contains a wealth of information that can support your claim or defense.

This data can become even more compelling when coupled with other sources of data, such as downloads from the phone itself. The usage data can show a text message at a given date and time, and analysis of the phone can confirm the message as well as provide the contents. Cell tower records could reveal a stop at a convenience store, which can lead the discovery of confirming surveillance video.

If you have cell tower records in your case, or need help obtaining such records, call us today!