In this day and age, it is quite common for law enforcement to seize and then search personal computers as part of a criminal investigation. It is so common it has come to be expected. Defense attorney Dan Horowitz freely gave consent to have the home computers searched. Amazingly, Pamela's laptop was used to determine her estimated time of death, as oppsed to scientific medical evidence, the reason for that remains unknown, however, the information was also used for the prosecutions timeline in their case against Scott Dyleski. DDA Hal Jewett asserted that Pamela was surfing the internet on her laptop from 7:49 AM until 10:12 AM the morning of her murder. Jewett claims at approximately 10:12 AM Pam was interrupted and attacked by the masked Scott Dyleski. This theory is based on the examination of Pam's laptop by inspector Kyle Ritter of the Alameda County District Attorney's office.
Let's take a closer look
Initially Deputy Sheriff Philip Venable was called by the DA's office to collect and examine the computers in the Vitale/Horowitz home. As stated, Daniel Horowitz consented to the search. In fact, he told police that it was his wife's routine to get up in the morning and search the internet for information on his cases. Inspector Venable collected the computers, and then realized his work on other cases involving Dan Horowitz may present a conflict of interest, so the computers were handed over to Kyle Ritter for examination. A report was then generated and given to Philip Venable. Philip Venable then testified at Scott's preliminary hearing.
It is interesting to note that when Pam's laptop was collected, it was open and turned on as it sat on the coffee table. It did not have any blood drops, stains or spatter despite the battle that took place in the area. It is not known what kind of battery Pam had in her laptop, only that it was open and turned on, and odd activity took place long after she was murdered.
From the prelim testimony of Philip Venable:
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A. Activity initiated at 12:24:13 a.m. on the 15th.
Q. And the next one?
A. The next one the 12:26:50 a.m. on the 15th.
Q. And what's the next one?
A. The next one is 7:49:57 a.m.
Q. So, about seven hours, give or take a few minutes, of inactivity?
A. Correct.
Q. And with respect to when that computer -- when there was again activity on that computer, does it reflect, People's Exhibit 4, the site that was visited on that entry?
A. Which entry?
Q. The one at seven and change in the morning?
A. Yes, it does.
Q. And where, according to that document, was a Web site visited?
A. Well, there was two, actually, at the same time: My Computer; she accessed what appears to be Quicken.
Q. And what's the next one?
A. The next one is C.N.N.
Q. And, in fact, over the course of the next few hours are there a number of entries reflecting visits to C.N.N. Web sites or links thereto?
A. Yes, there are several. There's several Google hits, Court TV, Websleuths, True Crime.
Q. Do some of those reflect a search using the name Horowitz or Daniel Horowitz?
A. I do not see specific search on Horowitz, no.
Q. Do some of those reflect a search on the name Polk or Susan Polk?
A. No. The only name I see that is being searched is a -- looks like Susan Darge.
Q. Susan Darge. And in conjunction with the searches of Susan Darge, are there also entries that appear to be searches of family-tree-type Web sites?
A. Yes. Clarification. I do see Susan Polk being searched on Google on the first page.
Q. And is there anything that indicates to us when the last -- the time stamp for the last indication of activity there was on that computer during the day of October 15th and at any time until the discovery of Pamela Vitale's body?
A. The last -- the last entry during the daytime period on 10/15/05 was at 10:12:46 a.m.
Q. And to what site does that entry relate?
A. It was a Google search, but part of the -- part of the U.R.L. is not visible on this particular page.
Q. In the searches that immediately precede that, do there appear to be searches for the name Darge, or Susan Darge, or family tree type of entries?
A. Yes. There's Google searches on Darge in Wisconsin, immigrantships dot net, looks like the West Virginia Library, Clark County Cemetery, RootsWeb, Reunion.
Q. And these entries -- there's a number of them. I'm not going to ask you to count them, but over the course of these five pages there's a lot of entries there, is there not?
A. Yes, there are.
Q. And are these entries fairly uniform in their spacing? I mean, there may be period of times of five or ten minutes where there's no use, but fairly uniform in their spacing between, I think you said seven -- around 7:40 in the morning and 10:12 in the morning?
A. Yes.
Q. And then after 10:12 there is nothing until late in the evening; is that right?
A. Correct.
Q. Now, I want to ask you about that late in the evening because there is -- it looks like right around midnight on the evening of the 15th of October there appears to be like 32 pings to C.N.N.; is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, assuming that the residence at the Horowitz home was being processed by the crime lab and one of the things that they did before they turned the computer over to you was to examine the computer for fingerprints, is it possible that anybody manipulating that computer, perhaps touching or brushing the keys of the computer, could cause the computer to record something that might be reflected in the entry we see in People's Exhibit 4?
A. It could.
Q. And can you just very briefly describe for us how that could be?
A. Well, depending on how the computer is configured, there is a sleep state that occurs when there is a predetermined length of inactivity on the computer. Essentially what happens is the computer shuts itself down, but does not turn itself off, so the mere touch of the mouse pad or the touch pad or pressing any key would wake that computer up from that sleep state.
Q. And then would the computer record the time that that happened?
A. Yes, it would.
Q. And would it record the Web page that the computer was on at the time that that happened?
A. If the browser is opened at the time the sleep state is interrupted, yes, it would.
Q. Suffice it to say, is it your understanding that at the time we see some entries there for late in the evening of the 15th and early in the morning of the 16th, the computer and the residence it was in was securely in the custody of the Sheriff's office being processed by the crime lab; is that true?
A. It was while I was there, yes.
First of all, Ping is a tool, a utility that one can use to obtain information about network connections. The Ping utility is essentially a system administrator's tool that is used to see if a computer is operating and also to see if network connections are intact source . It has nothing to do with hibernation states so the testimony of Venable is confusing as it relates to Ping. Public defender Ellen Leonida did nothing to explore this area, so exactly why Pamela's laptop Pinged CNN multiple times remains unknown.
Secondly, the exam revealed that a search was conducted on the name Susan Darge. On the outset this seems to imply it was Pamela doing the searching on the laptop because it was well known that Pamela liked genealogy, and Susan Darge is a distant relative of Pam. The odd thing is that Pam had already connected with Susan Darge.
Susan Darge had this to say about Pam on Pam's memorial website:
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Pamela and I discovered each other in September of 2003 through our mutual interest in genealogy. I responded to a message she posted on ancestry.com about the Darge family from the Good Thunder, Minnesota area. I sent her an email introducing myself and letting her know that Herman Darge and Amalia Graf were my great-grandparents. She responded with an enthusiastic email, writing ?They?re my great-grandparents too!!!!? She pronounced us second cousins and I learned of her fondness for using multiple exclamation points -- my first clue to her effervescent personality. We began an email relationship interspersed with occasional phone calls, sharing our family history research with one another and reminiscing about relatives we both knew growing up. In particular we shared stories of our great aunts Leona and Alma who we both respected as bright, caring, and independent women and who taught us the card game King's Corners. We found out we both had walked through the same cemeteries in southern Minnesota, taking pictures of the same headstones, and following many of the same clues in piecing together our ancestry. We traded old family photos and compared old family folklore. We learned of things we had in common such as music, wine, Italian food (anything Italian, actually), philosophical musings, the value of lifelong learning, and following our own paths in life. In one of our early conversations I shared with Pamela that my father, Roland Darge, had died when I was 13 years old and that I only knew him through a child?s eyes. I longed to know more about him. She picked up on the depth of my feelings and hatched an idea to surprise me. Her Dad grew up with my Dad and she knew he would have many first-hand stories to share. So one evening she arranged for a three-way phone call with her in California, her parents in Minneapolis, and me in Duluth. The conversation lasted for a couple of hours and I learned so many wonderful and interesting things about my Dad. It was a precious gift and I will never forget her thoughtfulness in arranging it. Even after her parents were off the line, Pamela and I continued to talk for another couple of hours and I remember it being 1:30 a.m. when we finally hung up. We had become more than genealogy partners, we had started to become friends. If you?ve ever been pulled into the world of genealogy, you may know how addictive it can be. Excitement is found in each new discovery, every puzzle solved, and every barrier broken through. It was wonderful to share this with Pamela -- a kindred spirit who never got bored with the subject. I?m sad that we?ll never get to meet in person as we had planned. Thank you for creating this website in honor of your Mom. I will treasure visiting it to learn more about her life and spirit. Submitted by Sue Darge