Google to remove Maps image showing murdered 14-year-old

Californian resident Jose Barrera complained to the search giant after finding satellite imagery that showed the image of his murdered son

James Vincent
Tuesday 19 November 2013 12:42 GMT
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A blurred screenshot from Google Maps showing the scene captured by Google's satellite imagery.
A blurred screenshot from Google Maps showing the scene captured by Google's satellite imagery.

Google has said it will alter content in Google Maps after a Californian man reported that the application showed the dead body of his teenage son.

Jose Barrera said he discovered the image using Google’s satellite view last week. They show the body of his son Kevin Barrera, who was shot and killed in 2009 aged 14.

"When I see this image, it's still like that happened yesterday," Barrera told Californian news station KTVU-TV. "And that brings me back to a lot of memories."

The image shows a police car and a number of what are presumably official investigators clustered around. Further down by the railway tracks (blurred in the image above) is the body of Barrera's son.

Kevin is believed to have been shot in that location on the night of 14 August, though police have been unable to establish a motive for the killing or identify any witnesses.

"Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy. Since the media first contacted us about the image, we’ve been looking at different technical solutions,” said Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps, in a written statement.

"Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case.

“We believe we can update this in eight days, and we’ve spoken to the family to let them know we’re working hard on the update.”

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