How a Reddit Put up Helped Discover the Brown College Taking pictures Suspect

After a flurry of media hypothesis Thursday, police discovered the physique of 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente in a New Hampshire storage facility, lifeless from an obvious suicide. Neves Valente is the suspect within the Dec. 13 Brown College mass taking pictures that killed two college students and wounded 9 extra, in addition to the homicide of an MIT professor on Monday. And regulation enforcement says a submit on Reddit helped discover the killer.

The FBI launched screenshots from a safety digital camera on Monday that have been then posted to r/Windfall, the subreddit for individuals to debate something associated to Windfall, Rhode Island. Reddit consumer lamin_kaare wrote that police ought to be on the lookout for a gray Nissan with Florida plates, noting that the consumer noticed somebody who was performing surprisingly within the space.

The Reddit post:

I’m being lifeless severe. The police must look into a gray Nissan with Florida plates, presumably a rental. That was the automotive he was driving. It was parked in entrance of the little shack behind the Rhode Island Historic Society on the Cooke St aspect. I do know as a result of he used his key fob to open the automotive, approached it after which one thing prompted him to again away. When he backed away he relocked the automotive. I discovered that odd so when he circled the block I approached the automotive and that’s after I noticed the Florida plates. He was parked within the part between the gate of the RIHS and the nook of Cooke and George St.

Different commenters inspired the consumer to go to the police, with one writing, “I believe you’re on to one thing.” The OP’s response: “Thanks and respectfully I do know I’m. There was nothing refined about the best way he retreated from his automotive and I’m glad I approached and noticed the Florida license plate.”

The OP wasn’t the primary particular person to contact the police and level them to the Reddit submit. An nameless supply made the decision first, in response to an affidavit posted on-line by Rhode Island Legal professional Basic Peter F. Neronha.

Police checked safety digital camera footage from the Rhode Island Historic Society, which confirmed the Nissan and the Florida plate. And the truth that this data wasn’t publicly accessible satisfied police that whoever wrote the Reddit submit could have discovered the suspect.

The unique Reddit poster, recognized solely as John within the affidavit, contacted police the following day and got here in for an interview. He informed them about his odd encounter with the suspect, noting that he was performing suspiciously by not having acceptable cold-weather garments on when he noticed him in a rest room at Brown College. That was two hours earlier than the taking pictures. After recognizing him within the rest room carrying a masks, John really began following the suspect in what he known as a “recreation of cat and mouse.”

From the affidavit:

John then described an encounter with the Suspect close to the RI Historic Society. He watched the Suspect strategy a gray or silver sedan bearing a Florida registration plate. John assumed the Suspect had a key fob as a result of the lights of the Nissan lit up as the Suspect approached, as if the automobile was being unlocked by a key fob. The Suspect abruptly turned round from the automobile and walked in the reverse path, taking a left at the close by intersection. John acknowledged that the Suspect “seemed at [him] like he knew [him.]” John approached the sedan and noticed two fanny pack type baggage on the rear floorboard on the passenger aspect. John remained on that block and noticed the Suspect looping again to the space, then switching instructions each time they noticed every different.

After shedding the suspect for a bit, John noticed him once more:

John then ran up behind the particular person of curiosity, slowed to a speed-walk and walked previous the Suspect. John then turned to face the Suspect. John estimates that they have been standing roughly two ft away from every different. John requested the Suspect, “Your automotive is again there, why are you circling the block?” The Suspect responded, “I don’t know you from no one,” then Suspect repeatedly requested, ‘Why are you harassing me?’” Throughout this change, John detected a cadence or accent to the Suspect’s voice that he believed to Hispanic. John noticed the Suspect strategy his automotive one extra time, however then John continued onto Waterman Road and did not have any subsequent encounters with the Suspect.

Police detectives confirmed John two photographs obtained by Flock, the corporate that’s constructed intensive surveillance infrastructure throughout the U.S. utilized by investigators, and he acknowledged the suspect’s automobile, replying, “Holy shit. That may be it,” in response to the affidavit.

Police have been capable of monitor down the license plate of the rental automotive, which gave them a reputation, and inside 24 hours, they’d discovered Claudio Manuel Neves Valente lifeless in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, the place he reportedly rented a unit.

Why did Neves Valente allegedly do it? That half is much less clear. Initially from Portugal, he reportedly went to the identical Portuguese engineering college as Nuno Loureiro, the MIT professor, within the Nineteen Nineties. Loureiro was discovered lifeless in his Brookline, Massachusetts house. And whereas Neves Valente went to high school at Brown within the early 2000s as a graduate scholar learning physics earlier than dropping out, the motive for that taking pictures is unknown.

Peter Neronha, Legal professional Basic of Rhode Island, said, “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these college students and why this classroom.”

Web sleuthing is often a catastrophe, particularly in 2025. The web lots grow to be satisfied they’ve found one thing, and it spirals uncontrolled, with social media customers accusing harmless individuals of being killers. That’s precisely what occurred with the Brown College case, as X customers have spent most of this week accusing varied of us of being murderers.

Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist, was satisfied the suspect was Muslim and posted incessantly whereas accusing some random scholar of being the shooter as a result of he was Palestinian. One other consumer posted a “gait analysis” that pointed to the unsuitable man as effectively.

However within the case of “John” from Reddit, we’ve one thing completely different out of your common novice web investigation. He was allegedly really on the scene and noticed one thing suspicious. He posted it on Reddit, and the group inspired him to go to the police. We don’t know if John would’ve achieved that if he hadn’t shared his story on an web discussion board, however authorities credit score his assist with discovering the suspect.

We could by no means know extra about John, given the truth that he says he doesn’t need to discuss with the media.

“Respectfully, I’ve mentioned all I’ve to say on the matter to the fitting individuals,” John’s newest submit reads. “If any comply with up is required the fitting individuals know find out how to attain out to me. Although it’s definitely your proper to strive, any information media trying to achieve out to me is not going to obtain a response.”