Sandy MaloneIndianapolis, IN – Police are looking for an Indianapolis carjacking suspect who accidentally took a selfie on his victim’s phone.
The incident occurred at about 10 a.m. on Nov. 22 when Megan Whisler was sitting in her 2005 Ford 500 in front of an assisted living facility, waiting for her mother who was visiting a family member, WXIN reported.
Whisler said a man with a gun approached her driver’s side window and started giving her orders.
“I couldn’t even form a thought,” she told WXIN.
“So I turned off my car and he said, ‘Scoot over,” Whisler recalled. “I think he wanted me to get in the passenger’s seat. I don’t know if he was up to something more sinister or if he just wanted me to not make a scene and not scream. But I didn’t want to go anywhere with him.”
So instead of moving into the passenger seat, the carjacking victim got out of her car and handed her car keys to the thief, WXIN reported.
“And he just snatched my phone out of my hand, and he got in my car. And I literally just watched him,” Whisler said.
The thief fled with her car and her cell phone, WXIN reported.
Whisler reported the incident to the police and they tracked her cell phone using the Find My Phone app.
Policer tracked the phone down on the side of the road about 15 minutes away from where the carjacking occurred, WXIN reported.
Whisler said that when the police returned her phone to her and she opened it up, she realized that the carjacker had left a big clue for authorities.
The phone held a picture of the man who had stolen her car hours earlier at gun point, WXIN reported.
“I looked and was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ That’s the person, that’s the person that literally robbed me today and took my car,” she said.
Whisler said that she thought her phone might have made noises when police were pinging it during the search and the alerts scared the carjacker, WXIN reported.
She said investigators thought that when the thief picked up the phone to find out what the noise was, he accidentally took a picture of himself and didn’t realize that he’d done it.
The picture remained on the phone when the carjacker tossed it as he made his getaway, WXIN reported.
Whisler said she wasn’t concerned about her car or the things inside it.
She said that she was worried the carjacker would find other victims to rob, WXIN reported.
“I consider myself very lucky that I made it away with my life and everything that he took is replaceable,” the woman said. “Who’s to say the next time he does this it’s not the same outcome?”
Daniel Rosenberg, with Crime Stoppers, said carjackings have surged in Indianapolis, WXIN reported.
“We need to make sure somebody like this isn’t wandering around on our streets,” Rosenberg said.
Investigators have not yet determined if the suspect in the selfie was connected to other area carjackings but said the matter was under investigation, WXIN reported.
Authorities asked that anyone who recognized the carjacker in the selfie call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS (8477).
Holly Matkin
