Investigators tracked down a hit-and-run suspect through a 1-star Google review
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- A couple in Florida was involved in a hit-and-run incident. One of them died.
- A one-star Google review pointed investigators to the driver of the other vehicle, according to reports.
- The suspect was charged with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and serious injury.
Investigators in Florida made an arrest in connection with a fatal hit-and-run incident thanks to an unexpected piece of evidence — a scathing Google review, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The incident involved a collision between a couple on a motorcycle, Tiffany Fletcher and Kirk Adams, and a white pickup truck that made a U-turn into their lane in Riverview, Florida, on June 9, per the Tampa Bay Times.
The collision caused the motorcycle to fly onto the highway shoulder, resulting in Fletcher losing consciousness and suffering a head injury and a broken left femur, The Washington Post reported.
Adams, who was also badly injured, died several days later from his injuries, according to court documents reviewed by The Post.
The driver of the pickup fled the scene, prompting detectives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to launch an investigation.
And it was a negative one-star business review on Google that led them to a suspect.
"Just doing this review because the owner or son of the owner had a big accident on 301 and Balm River involving a couple on a motorcycle," said the review of Arbor Pros Tree Service, a tree removal company, according to court documents reviewed by The Post.
The review continued: "The thing is he [fled] the scene and all I got was his company name on his white truck. Please if anyone seen his truck with a hit on the passenger side that's the bike that he hit and ran like a coward. putting this here in case he didn't Turn himself in yet."
The review no longer appears to be online.
Ismael Gonzalez, who wrote the Google review under a fake name, had tailed the pickup driver and confronted him about the incident, but the driver reacted aggressively, per The Post.
He then investigated further by searching for the company name on Google, which led him to photos of the owner, Chad Stall, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, investigators used surveillance footage from a business near where the crash occurred to match the tree removal company's logo to the one seen on the tailgate of the pickup truck that fled, The Post reported, citing an affidavit.
A detective visited Arbor Pros Tree Service's listed address, where they found Stall driving the vehicle, court documents said, per The Post.
Despite Stall's insistence that he was at home on the night of the crash, his mother, co-workers, and his child's mother disputed the alibi, according to The Post.
Stall was arrested on July 7 and charged last week with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in a death and serious injury, according to court records.
At the time of the crash, Stall was on probation, having previously served four years in prison on a manslaughter offense, per The Post.