A recent missing-persons case in Virginia was solved thanks to an unconventional tool, as The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed a Nintendo Switch was used to locate a missing 15-year-old girl and return her to her family.
According to court documents obtained by ABC 15 in Arizona, the girl–whose name has not been disclosed due to her status as a minor–had disappeared from her home on August 3, 2022. After attempts to find her in the neighborhood failed, a friend noticed the girl’s Nintendo Switch Online account was showing recent activity and alerted the authorities.
The girl had befriended a then-28-year-old man named Ethan Roberts on the internet. Roberts traveled to Virginia to meet the minor, and then brought her with him to his home in Tolleson, Arizona, and eventually forced her into child pornography.