A very tragic story has received a happy ending in Arizona, as a 15-year-old kidnapped girl has been found thanks to her Switch. She was abducted by sexual predator 28-year-old Ethan Roberts, who brought her from her home to Virginia. But she did get to bring her Switch.
Recently she used the console to watch YouTube and download a game, which was noticed by one of her friends, who instantly called the authorities. With some tech magic from the FBI and Nintendo using the IP address, she could be located and safely returned to her family.
Ethan Robers can look forward to 30 years in federal prison, and Arizona Department of Public Safety director Frank Milstead says to ABC15:
"It's probably nothing that anybody even had thought of at this point. The fact that somebody else down the road - another child - was bright enough to go, 'Hey, look, my friend is online, and she's been missing, and I need to tell somebody.'
Everything's connected to Wi-Fi to LTE (long-term evolution devices). A cell phone, an iPad, a watch, whatever it is - you can use those things to locate people. The bad guys need to know that the police are watching and that you're leaving a digital footprint everywhere you go. We will find you."
Thanks, Eurogamer.