Cell phone data could be key to solving Ohio State campus attack case

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Nearly two months after an attack on the campus of the Ohio State University, a brutal assault case remains unsolved.

Standing over an indoor putting green, 22-year-old Tom Damschroder sends one golf ball after another straight into the cup. He’s has a lot of time to practice.

Damschroder was with three college friends in the early morning hours of January 5 when they were assaulted by another group of young men on North High Street near the Ohio Union.

Damschroder has no memory of the assault that left him with two skull fractures.

“Thinking about it is not going to help,” Damschroder says. “It’s not going to change anything, so I just kind of focus on getting better.”

He was forced to withdraw from Ohio University to focus on his recovery. The neck brace is gone now and he hopes re-enroll at OU in time for summer classes. 

Bill Damschroder, Tom’s father, says he remains confident Ohio State University police will solve the crime.

“There is an element of justice that needs to be served here, not just for Tom but for the community at large,” Bill Damschroder said. “We can’t have people doing what they were doing.”

OSU police released surveillance photos of the suspects including one showing a suspect using a cell phone. 

For a couple of years now, a growing number of law enforcement agencies have been requesting Google data to try to identify cell phones in and around a crime scene as a way of identifying possible suspects.

Bill Damschroder says detectives have requested Google data for this case. 

“It’s a great tool because…it’s a type of electronic fingerprint, it’s an electronic DNA scenario,” Damschroder said.

To gather the data, police obtain what’s referred to as a “geofence warrant.”

They identify a specific geographic zone and a specific timeframe and request information about cell phones that were in or passed through the zone.

A spokesman for OSU police would neither confirm or deny whether a warrant was issued for Google data in this case.