Belinda Lane used MySpace and Facebook to track the men she believed to be behind her daughter's 2006 shooting
REUTERS
Belinda
Lane, a California woman in her late 50s, has spent a decade on social
media hunting for the gang members who killed her daughter. Her efforts
came to an end last week with the arrest of the final suspect in the
case.
In February 2006, Crystal Theobald of Riverside, California, was a passenger in a car that was shot up by gang members who apparently confused its occupants for a rival gang. Theobald, a 24-year-old mother of two, was killed. Lane, her mother, told a local ABC affiliate that she promised her daughter at her funeral that she would find her killers.
It was 2006, so Lane took to then-hot social media platform MySpace and created fake profiles, then made contact with people she heard were involved in the shooting.
Before the term even existed, Lane essentially catfished William Sotelo, posing as women named “Angel” and “Rebecca,” who sent him messages like “hey what upp im new to myspace and i found ure myspacee. u look hott we should chill sometime u would like me and my friends,” according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “Angel” invited Sotelo to an “End of the World Party” on June 6, 2006, that would have strippers and free alcohol—but attendees would have to disclose information about themselves to come.
Lane used her daughter’s photo for Angel’s profile. Just before the supposed party, Lane told ABC7, Angel asked Sotelo, “if you claim to care about me so much, then why did you kill me?”
By this time, Lane had told the police everything her aliases Rebecca and Angel had learned from Sotelo. He was questioned, which led to the arrests of 11 people involved in the Theobald’s murder. Julio Heredia, who actually pulled the trigger, was convicted in 2011. The rest pled guilty.
But there was still one person left to find: Sotelo, who was believed to be driving the car that shot at Theobald’s car, disappeared before he could be arrested. At some point in the intervening years, Lane switched over to Facebook (where she apparently also now runs an unsolved crime community page) and kept up her campaign. Two years ago, she received a tip on Facebook that Sotelo was in Mexico. She passed that along to police. Last week, Sotelo, now 28, was arrested in central Mexico. He has been extradited back to California, and pled not guilty to Theobald’s murder.
The Riverside police told The Washington Post that Lane’s work was “instrumental” in tracking Sotelo down.
“Without her help, he would likely still be outstanding right now,” Lt. Christian Dinco said. As for Lane, she told ABC7 that last Sunday was “the best Mother’s Day I’ve had in 10 years.”
In February 2006, Crystal Theobald of Riverside, California, was a passenger in a car that was shot up by gang members who apparently confused its occupants for a rival gang. Theobald, a 24-year-old mother of two, was killed. Lane, her mother, told a local ABC affiliate that she promised her daughter at her funeral that she would find her killers.
It was 2006, so Lane took to then-hot social media platform MySpace and created fake profiles, then made contact with people she heard were involved in the shooting.
Before the term even existed, Lane essentially catfished William Sotelo, posing as women named “Angel” and “Rebecca,” who sent him messages like “hey what upp im new to myspace and i found ure myspacee. u look hott we should chill sometime u would like me and my friends,” according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “Angel” invited Sotelo to an “End of the World Party” on June 6, 2006, that would have strippers and free alcohol—but attendees would have to disclose information about themselves to come.
Lane used her daughter’s photo for Angel’s profile. Just before the supposed party, Lane told ABC7, Angel asked Sotelo, “if you claim to care about me so much, then why did you kill me?”
By this time, Lane had told the police everything her aliases Rebecca and Angel had learned from Sotelo. He was questioned, which led to the arrests of 11 people involved in the Theobald’s murder. Julio Heredia, who actually pulled the trigger, was convicted in 2011. The rest pled guilty.
But there was still one person left to find: Sotelo, who was believed to be driving the car that shot at Theobald’s car, disappeared before he could be arrested. At some point in the intervening years, Lane switched over to Facebook (where she apparently also now runs an unsolved crime community page) and kept up her campaign. Two years ago, she received a tip on Facebook that Sotelo was in Mexico. She passed that along to police. Last week, Sotelo, now 28, was arrested in central Mexico. He has been extradited back to California, and pled not guilty to Theobald’s murder.
The Riverside police told The Washington Post that Lane’s work was “instrumental” in tracking Sotelo down.
“Without her help, he would likely still be outstanding right now,” Lt. Christian Dinco said. As for Lane, she told ABC7 that last Sunday was “the best Mother’s Day I’ve had in 10 years.”
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