Picture this: It’s 1979 in Southern California. Five teenage girls are about to meet the most horrific end imaginable at the hands of Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris – the infamous Toolbox Killers. Now imagine if someone had posted a photo of their suspicious van on Instagram. Or if a concerned friend had tweeted about one of the girls not coming home. Or if Ring doorbell footage had captured their faces.
Would those girls still be alive today?
I’ve spent way too many nights falling down this particular rabbit hole (much to Ryan’s annoyance – “Are you seriously researching serial killers at 2 AM again?”). The question haunts me: could modern technology have saved these lives?
The Nightmare That Was The Toolbox Killers
For those blissfully unaware of this particular horror show, Bittaker and Norris cruised Southern California in a silver GMC van they nicknamed “Murder Mac” between June and October 1979. They abducted, tortured, raped, and murdered five teenage girls.
Their methodology was as calculated as it was horrific. They’d drive around looking for hitchhikers or girls alone, offer them rides, and then take them to remote mountain locations.
The case eventually broke when Norris couldn’t keep his mouth shut and confessed to a former cellmate. But that was after five innocent lives had already been stolen.
Social Media: The Serial Killer’s Worst Nightmare
Today’s world looks drastically different. We’re all walking around with tracking devices in our pockets that we voluntarily pay for (hello, smartphones). We document our whereabouts with check-ins and geotags. We share our plans publicly. We have cameras everywhere.
For someone like me who’s obsessed with how criminals get caught, modern technology is basically a true crime enthusiast’s dream come true.
The FBI now regularly uses social media platforms to track suspects and gather evidence. What used to take weeks of canvassing neighborhoods can now happen in minutes with a viral post.
The Five Ways Social Media Could Have Changed Everything
1. AMBER Alerts on Steroids
When 16-year-old Lucinda Schaefer disappeared on June 24, 1979, imagine if her face had been instantly shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The first 48 hours are crucial in missing persons cases, and social media shrinks that window dramatically.
2. Suspicious Vehicle Spotting
The silver van used by Bittaker and Norris would have been photographed, posted, and shared thousands of times if it had been spotted near multiple disappearances today. Someone would have gotten a plate number. Someone would have seen something.
3. Digital Breadcrumbs
Cell phone pings would have placed them at crime scenes. Their search history would have revealed planning. Digital forensics experts can now recover data from devices even when criminals think they’ve deleted everything.
4. Community Watchdogs
True crime communities online are basically volunteer detective agencies at this point. We share information, connect dots, and spot patterns that sometimes even law enforcement misses. (I’m not saying I personally solved three cold cases from my couch while eating Cheetos, but I’m not NOT saying that either.)
5. Surveillance Everywhere
Between security cameras, dashcams, and doorbell cameras, Bittaker and Norris would have been captured on video dozens of times. Their faces would have been all over the news before they could claim a second victim.
The Dark Side of the Digital Age
Of course, technology isn’t a perfect solution (as subtle as a bloodstain on white carpet). Social media can also spread misinformation faster than my aunt Karen shares conspiracy theories.
Remember the Boston Marathon bombing and the Reddit “investigation” that wrongly identified suspects? Yeah, not our finest moment as amateur sleuths.
And privacy concerns are legitimate. The same tools that help catch killers can be used to track innocent people. It’s a balance that law enforcement constantly struggles with.
What This Means For Today’s Predators
The Toolbox Killers operated in an analog world. Today’s world offers far fewer shadows to hide in.
The digital footprints we leave everywhere make it nearly impossible to commit serial crimes without detection. Ted Bundy would have been caught after victim one or two in today’s world. The Golden State Killer was eventually caught through DNA and genealogy databases decades later.
Modern killers know this. That’s why serial killing has statistically declined since the 1980s. It’s simply harder to get away with multiple murders when everyone has a camera and an internet connection.
The Bottom Line
Would social media have saved those five girls in 1979? I believe with every fiber of my true-crime-obsessed being that it would have.
After the first disappearance, digital alerts would have blanketed the area. After the second, their van would have been identified. The pattern would have been obvious much sooner.
The tools we now take for granted – from simple Facebook posts to sophisticated digital forensics – have fundamentally changed how crimes are solved and prevented.
So tonight, when you’re scrolling through your feed between true crime podcasts, remember that your phone isn’t just showing you what your ex had for dinner – it’s part of a vast network that makes it harder than ever for monsters to hide among us.
And that’s something worth liking.
(Just make sure you’ve locked your doors first.)