The Maury Travis case is fascinating, not least because it contains a letter and a map sent to the press, but also shows that advances in technology are making it more and more difficult for a serial killer to remain active.
Travis has the dubious honour of being “the first serial killer to be caught by Google”, although, as you will already be aware, Dennis Rader (BTK) also met his downfall due to traced computer documents.
The difference is that Travis was caught using co-operation between the police and internet service providers (ISP’s), whereas Rader simply didn’t realise that his Word document could be linked to his log-in details.
Unfortunately, Travis was never able to shed any light on his decision to communicate with the press, or his embracing of internet technology, as he was found hanged in his cell at St Louis County Jail in 2002 before standing trial.
Born on the 25th October 1965 in Missouri, Maury Troy Travis was to become a rarity in the world of serial killers. Firstly, he was to join the small number of killers who use the media as a tool to communicate, secondly, because he used technology to revisit his crime scenes, and thirdly, because he was one of a small number of black serial killers.
Little is known of his early life, but we do know that when he was arrested on the initial murder charge, he was working as a waiter and was also on parole for a previous robbery.
The wheels of this case were set in motion when a St Louis Post-Dispatcher reporter received a letter praising him for his story on a murdered prostitute which featured in the newspaper some time earlier.
Accompanying the letter was a map of West Alton, an area of St Louis, Missouri, which bore a large “X” at an area in which the writer claimed that a body could be found.
The letter was immediately handed over to the police, who quickly found the skeleton of a woman at the spot marked on the map by the killer.
All attention was then turned to the map itself, with the FBI becoming involved in the investigation.
It was quickly discovered that the map was downloaded from Expedia, and the investigating team swooped into action, contacting Expedia with a subpoena which compelled them to give out the information of any customer who had downloaded the map of West Alton between May 18th (the day the original newspaper story was printed), and May 21st (the date of the postmark on the letter).
Expedia directed the FBI to Google, who handle the information for its map site.
A positive result was found within a fortnight.
On June 3rd, Microsoft told the investigators that only one computer had accessed this map during the specified time period, but were unable to give a name or address.
The only information which could lead to the killers identity was the code 65.227.106.78. Travis’ I.P address.
Unfortunately, the FBI was still a long way from catching the killer, as it is not easy to track an I.P address. They were forced to enlist the help of WorldCom, a telecommunications business whose role was to assign a temporary I.P address to any customer dialling-up an internet session (don’t forget, this was before the days of broadband and fibre-optic technology!).
This was still far from simple, as a different I.P address was assigned every time someone logged on to the internet, with each I.P address having been used for thousands of people to connect to the web.
It was a question of who used that I.P address at that specific time, and due to all hands at WorldCom being put to deck, the result was found the next day.
The user was identified as MSN/maurytravis.
The customer was later officially identified as Maury Troy Travis of Ferguson, Missouri.
By June 7th, the case had been sufficiently strengthened by DNA evidence and tyre tread markings for an arrest to be made.
36 year old waiter Travis was arrested for two counts of kidnapping, which linked to him to several murders around the state. Video tapes of him committing sexual assaults on several women were later found at his address.
Travis hanged himself on June 17th, having never commented on his crimes.
The two murders Travis almost certainly committed are those of Alycia Greenwade and Betty Smith, both from the Missouri area.
However, the FBI believe that Travis could be responsible for up to 10 unsolved murders.
Below is a timeline from the website of the St Louis Post-Dispatcher which makes this complicated case much easier to dissect.
|
Also provided by the Post-Dispatcher is an explanation of I.P addresses, and their functions.
|
Below is a map similar to that sent by Travis to the Post-Dispatcher, along with a crime scene photograph from the spot marked “X.”
Below is short documentary regarding the Maury Travis case.
Red Ink Letters 