Google Street View shot of man allegedly stuffing body into car helps police solve case

WTF?! Every once in a while, you may come across a Google Street View image on your Instagram feed showing off something odd. But nothing comes close to this: a seemingly innocuous image from Google's mapping vehicles may have helped crack a baffling murder case in northern Spain.

The story started unfolding back in November last year when a Cuban immigrant living in the Spanish town of Soria went missing. A relative got suspicious after receiving some sketchy texts from the man's phone about leaving the country and ditching his mobile. It seemed like someone else might be sending those messages, so the family reported him missing.

As Spanish police investigated, their attention turned to the missing man's ex-partner and her new boyfriend. That's when Google's Street View imagery from the tiny village of Tajueco became a piece of evidence. The cameras just happened to capture images of a person stuffing a large plastic sack into the trunk of a red Rover – suspiciously hunched over, almost like they were struggling with a heavy load.

The couple's ties to the missing man and some help by the Street View evidence eventually led to the police arresting the ex-girlfriend and her new beau last month. Weeks later, a torso believed to be the victim's was found in a nearby cemetery.

In a statement, police confirmed that "One of the clues that investigators used to solve the crime, though not conclusive, were the images detected during an investigation of a mapping application."

"The investigation remains open for the full clarification of the facts investigated," they concluded.

Google relies on a fleet of camera-equipped vehicles, wearable backpack systems for pedestrian areas, and user-contributed photos to capture the imagery featured in its navigation apps and maps.

From the looks of it, the image in this case was captured by a vehicle. Though you can't help but imagine the classic case of some hiker with a backpack system stumbling across a shady situation, doing a double take, and quickly carrying on like they didn't see a thing.

Of course, this isn't the first time Google's roaming Street View cameras have captured some head-scratching scenes. We've seen all kinds of bizarre shots pop up over the years – like people just casually lying on the side of the road, which usually turn out to be silly pranks. But this case is perhaps one of the few times when the tech has been used to solve something as grave as murder.

Image credit: Google