How Microsoft Helped Track Down a Serial Killer
Maury Troy Travis was the first serial killer arrested using IP tracking
Many of us even today browse the internet under the false belief that the incognito mode of our browser or the VPN that we use protects us from being tracked by our internet providers, and in turn, by legal authorities, if so required.
Today, there is still a lot more understanding of how your IP address can often reveal all the information about you including your identity, address, details on your internet activity, and many other details. In 2002, when the internet era was still in its early stages, the ignorance around the topic was a lot higher.
This same ignorance led to the arrest of Maury Troy Travis, a serial killer who is believed to have killed at least two women, and whose total victim count is unknown but could potentially range between 17 and 20 women.
The Peculiar Anatomy of the Arrest
We’ll get to the actual crimes of Travis a little later, but the intriguing nature of how Travis was actually arrested warrants a reverse chronology to this story.
Like many mentally ill serial killers, Travis decided to claim and boast of his crimes — in his case via posting an anonymous letter to…
