CBS 5 - KPHO Woman says she found suspects on Facebook

Woman says she found suspects on Facebook

A 23-year-old Chandler woman said she helped put two suspects behind bars using the internet.

Molly Jim said she found 22-year-old Kayla Lankford and 27-year-old Mathew Lankford, who allegedly stole her identity and her aunt's car, by using the internet.   

Jim said at about 4 a.m. Jan. 9, she saw two suspects outside her apartment while taking her boyfriend to work and thought, "They were acting very suspicious," she said.

Jim said she drove away and didn't think anything else of it, until she realized later the same day that someone had broken into her home while she was gone and had gotten into her purse.

"When I opened my purse, I then noticed that my wallet was taken out of it," she said. 

And the clues were pretty tough to spot. Jim said, "They actually took the time to take the car key off the key chain so everything was left completely in its place."

Jim said the thieves got away with her aunt's car.

She said she called police and headed to the bank to close her accounts. "And that's when I noticed that the information had been changed," she said, explaining that the phone number on her account was changed.

Jim said she was one step behind the suspects and did not want to wait for police, so with that one phone number she had her first lead and she hit the internet.

"So then I came to the Spokeo website, and you can put in the phone number," she said.

After a quick reverse search, Jim said two names popped up - Kayla and Mathew Lankford.

She said she put those names in Facebook and found a picture.

She said she recognized their faces as the same couple she saw early the morning of Jan. 9 while taking her boyfriend to work and it all clicked. "There was no doubt in my mind," she said. 

Jim said she was able to call police and tell them she knew who the suspects were.

Police reports show Kayla Lankford is charged with one count of theft - means of transportation, one count of second-degree burglary and one count of property theft.  

Those same records show that Mathew Lankford is facing one count of theft - means of transportation, one count of burglary in the second-degree and one count of dangerous drug possession.  

Copyright 2012 KPHO (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.