A woman used an Apple AirTag to track her boyfriend to a bar, according to court documents. Once there, she caught him talking to another woman and then allegedly ran him over and killed him in the parking lot.
As first spotted by the Register, an affidavit from a detective on the case laid out how Gayln Morris suspected her boyfriend, Andre Smith, of cheating on her and placed an Apple AirTag in his car to see where he went. On June 3, 2022, Morris noticed that strange movement on the AirTag and drove to the location to confront Smith.
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The half-dollar-sized AirTag has made it easier than ever for stalkers to track their victims. It’s only been out for 13 months, but dozens of police reports mention the AirTag as playing a pivotal role in various stalking cases.
Morris pulled up to the bar and asked someone outside if they’d seen a guy with dreads nearby. “She told him that her boyfriend, Andre Smith, had a GPS tracker and it showed he was there,” according to the affidavit. She then went into the bar and confronted Smith and another woman.
Another witness said that Morris picked up an empty beer bottle and stated “she had air-tagged and GPS followed Andre Smith, and that he had been cheating on her.” Witnesses said Morris then took a swing at Smith and another woman with the beer bottle. Multiple people filmed the incident. The bartender threw them out.
The fight continued in the parking lot and Morris got into her car. “[A witness] said she looked out the window and saw Morris driving a car, and she pulled forward and clipped Smith, and he went down under the car, at which time, Morris backed over Smith then pulled forward and hit him for a third time,” according to the affidavit.
When the cops arrived, Morris and Smith were still in the parking lot. He was declared dead just short of 1 a.m. Detectives took statements from multiple witnesses and asked Morris if she had placed an AirTag in Smith’s car. She initially denied it, but relented when detectives threatened to get a search warrant for Smith’s car. “Morris then admitted that she had a tracker on his car, and stated that she placed it in the backseat of his vehicle near the cup holder,” according to the affidavit.
Apple has said it intended the AirTag to help people track its personal belongings and that it’s working on solutions to alleviate its horrifying stalking problem.
