Chicago police detectives relied on a silent witness to bring carjacking charges against 30-year-old Keyruni Buford: the electronic monitoring and GPS bracelets he was wearing.
Prosecutors said the ankle monitors’ location data played a key role in the investigation as cops investigated the hijacking, which occurred around 2 a.m. on September 16.
A 47-year-old woman was sitting in her 2021 Nissan Sentra in the 7600 block of South Champlain when two men climbed in and forced her out at gunpoint.
Police tracked the car to a nearby McDonald’s, where surveillance video showed Buford getting out of the passenger seat, prosecutors said in a petition to have him detained as a safety threat.
Those ankle monitors, strapped to Buford a month earlier in connection with a domestic battery matter, put him at the scene of the crime, the petition said. His phone location data pinged along with the car’s movements after the hijacking, too, according to CPD’s arrest report.
Also on his phone was a picture of the carjacked vehicle’s registration information and a text message he sent to another person about a stolen car.
“Asked who stole the car, defendant responded ‘me lol,'” prosecutors claimed.
Judge Charles Beach ordered Buford jailed to await trial.
Buford has been featured on CWBChicago several times.
He was one of three men accused of attacking and robbing a 64-year-old Boystown resident in October 2016. Police said they found the victim’s credit cards and cash on Buford. Two men arrested with him had the victim’s wallet and phone. Judge Timothy Chambers sentenced him to six years in 2018.
Buford was on parole at the time of that robbery for mugging another Boystown resident in 2013.
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