Lindsay Clancy Trial: Detective Reveals What Was Really on Her Phone

**Tony Brueski** (0:00)
This is live courtroom coverage of the trial of Lindsay Clancy from the Hidden Killers podcast in True Crime Today. Now, back to the courtroom.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:11)
Good morning, sir.

**Tony Brueski** (0:14)
Tony Sprague, please.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:15)
Thank you. Good morning. Can you please state and spell your name for the record?

**Timothy Chiappini** (0:19)
My name is Timothy Chiappini. Last name is spelled C-H-I-A, P as in Peter, P as in Peter, I-N-I.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:26)
Where do you work?

**Timothy Chiappini** (0:28)
I work for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Department of State Police.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:31)
How long have you worked for the state police?

**Timothy Chiappini** (0:33)
I graduated the Academy in March of 2012

**SPEAKER_2** (0:36)
What is your current assignment?

**Timothy Chiappini** (0:39)
I am currently the unit commander for the Critical Incident Technical Investigations Team.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:43)
How long have you been doing that?

**Timothy Chiappini** (0:45)
Since approximately April of this year.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:48)
What was your assignment in January of 2023?

**Timothy Chiappini** (0:52)
I was assigned to the State Police Detective Unit for the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:57)
Do you have specialized training in cell phone forensics?

**Timothy Chiappini** (1:00)
I do.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:01)
And could you describe that, please?

**Timothy Chiappini** (1:03)
I was initially certified as a Celebrite Physical Operator and a Celebrite, excuse me, Celebrite Certified Operator, Celebrite Certified Physical Analyst in March of 2017

**SPEAKER_2** (1:16)
And are you also trained in gray key and magnet?

**Timothy Chiappini** (1:20)
I have been trained in gray key examination since August of 2021 And I've been familiar with the forensic program known as Axiom in that course, but I'm not certified in Axiom.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:33)
And regarding Celebrite, can you describe that software for us?

**Timothy Chiappini** (1:37)
Celebrite is a forensic access and acquisition tool for cell phone or mobile device forensic extractions. It also has an analysis component as well.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:48)
And were you asked to do a forensic analysis on a cell phone belonging to Lindsay Clancy in 2023? Oh, I'm sorry.

**Timothy Chiappini** (1:58)
Yes, ma'am. Celebrite is an access and acquisition tool for mobile device forensics and cell phone extractions. It also has an analysis component for extractions.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:11)
And were you asked to do a forensic analysis on a cell phone belonging to Lindsay Clancy in 2023?

**Timothy Chiappini** (2:18)
I was.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:19)
Did you do that?

**Timothy Chiappini** (2:20)
I did.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:21)
And how did you do that?

**Timothy Chiappini** (2:22)
I performed We performed... an advanced logical extraction on the iPhone device belonging to Lindsay Clancy.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:28)
Can you tell us what that means in just lay terms that we could all understand?

**Timothy Chiappini** (2:33)
An advanced logical extraction of an iPhone is essentially an iTunes backup. It is the information or data from the phone that you as a user can see, including images, calls, text messages, browser artifacts, basically everything that the person would see that uses an iPhone.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:52)
And is it just making a copy of everything that you can see on that phone?

**Timothy Chiappini** (2:57)
That's correct.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:58)
And what is the analysis portion of, you mentioned you do celebrate extraction and celebrate analysis. What's the analysis portion?

**Timothy Chiappini** (3:08)
In January of 2023, the analysis software would be Celebrite Physical Analyzer. And with that, you can also export a report to be utilized in Celebrite Reader.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:20)
So basically, are you just taking someone's phone, making a copy of the data that's on it, and then looking through the data?

**Timothy Chiappini** (3:26)
That's correct.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:28)
Is it an exact copy?

**Timothy Chiappini** (3:31)
Yes. When the phone is front of the extracted by the Celebrite software, a hash value is created. A hash value is a unique digital fingerprint of the extraction.
It's an alphanumeric string of characters. And every time the extraction is open in the Celebrite software, a hash value is verified. If the data in the extraction is changed by just one bit, the hash value would be changed and the extraction would no longer be valid.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:57)
So basically you look at those numbers, the number chain, to make sure they're the same and then you know it's an exact copy?

**Timothy Chiappini** (4:04)
That's correct.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:05)
And did you do that in this case?

**Timothy Chiappini** (4:06)
I did.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:07)
And was it an exact copy?

**Timothy Chiappini** (4:08)
It was.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:09)
And are you able on the extraction to change any of the data while you're analyzing it?

**Timothy Chiappini** (4:15)
No.
That would invalidate the hash. I can use filters in the analysis to look at particular data that I want, but I can never change the contents of the extraction.