Investigators trace cell phone number used by Crisostomo

Police investigators were able to establish the cell phone number that Joseph A. Crisostomo used on the night before and morning that murdered bartender Emerita Romero went missing, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

In the CNMI government’s supplemental brief on cell tower records filed last week in the Superior Court, chief prosecutor Shelli Neal said investigations revealed that when Romero went missing, Crisostomo was using a cell phone that belonged to his female friend.

Neal said police sought and were granted a search warrant seeking subscriber information and toll records related to Crisostomo’s friend’s cell phone number and for Romero’s cell phone number.

In response to the search warrant, the chief prosecutor said the IT&E manager for network services submitted a spreadsheet containing multiple fields of data, including calling number, originating tower, dialed number, called number, terminating tower, originating time, disconnect time, call duration, answer time, calling mobile info, called mobile info, and others.

Neal said all information included in the spreadsheet is information that is routinely gathered in the ordinary course of business by IT&E for billing purposes.

The information, she said, is then relied upon and used by IT&E in the ordinary course of business to bill its customers, resolve disputes, and detect and/or prevent fraud.

Neal said they have not proposed to call the manager as an expert witness because the provision, acquisition and/or compilation of data gathered during regularly conducted activity that was provided in response to the search warrant for toll records did not require any scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge.

“Anyone, including a janitor, can read and/or interpret the data displayed in the spreadsheet without the need for additional education, training, skills, certificates or degrees,” she pointed out.

Neal asked the court to deny Crisostomo’s motion to exclude the testimony of the IT&E manager and the cell tower records.

On Feb. 5, 2012, Romero was reported as a missing person when she did not show up for work. Police’s subsequent investigation revealed that she called 911 in the early morning hours of Feb. 5.

Investigative efforts led Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to Marpi area where Romero’s body was found in the abandoned La Fiesta Mall in San Roque on Feb. 7, 2012.

Crisostomo is facing charges for the kidnapping and murder of Romero.

Investigators said Romero was last seen boarding a tinted car near her house in Garapan on Feb. 5, 2012. Police established that she mistook the car for a taxicab.