It seemed impossible. The few images Detective Zack Currier had of a vehicle involved in a deadly hit-and-run incident were awful. Even Currier, when asked for those images, warned me that they were blurry and dark, and that we likely wouldn’t be able to do much with them. “Just send us everything you have.
Our readers are total nerds,” I responded. Well, it’s been a few weeks now, and somehow you readers pulled it off. You identified the car, and now police have a suspect.
Two weeks ago, the Capitola Police Department out of Capitola, California posted this to its Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CapitolaPoliceDepartment/posts/680691277498135?ref=embed_post
This prompted a reader, John Paul Jose, to email me asking if I thought Autopians might be able to figure out what the car is.
I called up the Capitola Police Department to see if indeed, the police could use help identifying the make and model of the vehicle (often they’re just asking for folks who know this particular car). I ended up chatting with detective Zack Currier; here’s what he told me (excerpt from the previous article)
“It would be very helpful,” he said, going on to discuss “flock cameras,” which are usually staged in high-traffic areas. “I can search through Santa Cruz and Watsonville flock cameras,” he told me, “But I’m usually looking for a vehicle that I know what it is,” he said. He knows the suspect’s vehicle exited the highway from Santa Cruz. “The issue is I don’t know what kind of car it is, so when I put it into the search bar, I’m looking at hundreds of SUVs.”
“[Helping us determine] the make and model is huge,” he said. “You let the auto body shops know, you let the public know…Knowing the make and model is huge for us.”
The photos I received were not amazing. We had these two blurry shots of the car going under an overpass:
Facebooker Michael Gutierrez posted in the comments of the Capitola Police Department’s Facebook post this image of the two photos stitched together:
You can see two horizontal-ish looking elements in the taillights, and the headlights look pretty slim. There’s also a shark-fin antenna on the roof, and five-spoke wheels. Otherwise, there’s not a whole lot to go on other than the general SUV-ish shape.
Detective currier also sent me this image of what he suspected was the vehicle’s headlight passing behind a dumpster:
And Currier sent me this video, which showed a really blurry car passing from right to left at about the 18 second mark. I personally didn’t get much from this:
The response from readers was lightning-quick, with the post garnering over 200 comments in short order. After combing through the comments, we published this article on the top guesses:
Those top guesses were:
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Genesis GV80
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2013 to 2019 Ford Escape
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2022+ Chevrolet Traverse
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2011 to 2013 Toyota Highlander
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2020+ Land Rover Discovery Sport
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2023+ Honda Pilot
The amount of time and effort that you incredible readers put into trying to identify the car involved in the hit-and-run is truly inspiring. Check this out:
As time went on, one of those six hypotheses in our follow-up post began gaining more and more support from sleuthing readers: the 2023+ Honda Pilot. The support grew in no small part due to reader John Paul Jose’s graphic (Jose was the one who’d sent me the original tip!). Look at this incredible work on JPJ’s part:
I sent detective currier a few emails letting him know what we’d discovered: “Hi Detective Currier, Here are our best guesses on the vehicle’s make and model: https://www.theautopian.com/
Here was Currier’s reply:
Hey David, first off, I want to thank you and your community for all the help. We have received such in depth and detailed breakdowns of what the suspect vehicle possibly could be.
John Paul Jose and others have really taken the time out to examine and compare some features to the 23/24 Honda Pilot. We now how some potential leads we are investigating involving that type of vehicle.So far, the Honda Pilot appears to be the best match to me and the other investigators on this case.Thank you all again for the help and hope you all enjoy the holidays!
Hey David,An update is we had made an arrest for this case last friday and the vehicle associated was proven to be a 2023 black Honda Pilot. Like I said before, I would like to thank you and your community for all the input and dedication.
Did you or JPJ get the $10,000 reward?
Good job, everyone.
Well. Done.
Very well done.
Wow great news. The other day driving at 5am to the gym, I saw a car like this on the other side of the road. As soon it passed me, I look trough the mirror and it looked like all of these pictures. My brain did a connection to the article and I was like, it has to be a Honda Pilot for sure, it matches. I was so happy lol
I think I’m going to order the stealth package on my next new vehicle. /s
Good work folks!
That’s really cool, nice work team!
Very cool result, similar to the “sedition hunters” who have helped bring many to justice.
I love that we do this. As an aside, I’ve seen Reddit groups identify a vehicle from just some broken plastic, but there are much nicer people here.
OK, but what about; “…The Capitola Police Department is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver responsible…”
Who is getting that sweet, sweet cash?
Half to JPJ, and half to Jason’s fund? JPJ did loads & loads of the work(and brought it up in the first place), and the site wouldn’t exist w/ out Jason.
-or, maybe give it to the family for funeral expenses?
I forgot to say, well done, you people!
I second giving it to the family to offset funeral expenses; double-dipping on doing a good deed.
If (hopefully) the Autopian gets the reward, I hope they give half (or more) to John Paul Jose for both bringing it to our attention in the first place and for being one of the strongest champions for the correct answer, and the rest of it goes to gifting ~50 annual Vinyl level memberships to any folks active in the comments of those two articles that aren’t members already.
Arrest AND conviction, so whoever it is could be waiting awhile if this ends up going to trial
Good catch there.
donate it to the Torch get-well fund!
I love this community.
Thanks for the update! On my drive home from Seattle to Oregon I saw a black LRD and wondered if the police had been able to locate the vehicle. It probably sounds stupid, but this should be a regular thing Autopian readers can help with. How else can we assist with our useless knowledge of cars?
Send up the Autopian Bat symbol to police stations everywhere!!!
Just some rust thrown on the light? Or is that just for getting a hold of David Tracy?
I’d guess getting hold of DT and making a post like the original would work well. The unfortunate thing is The Autopian is still pretty new and most LEO’s don’t know about it. 🙁
Well it is nice to hear of some good news with all that has been going on with with poor JT’s heart scare, which has shaken up the Autopian community to its core, so this news is a nice respite.
Excellent job my fellow Autopians!
Excellent work, kids!
Does Autopian get the reward? If so can it be donated to the family?
I was looking for this update. I have been looking at taillights and SUV shapes on my daily commute since this article came out. There aren’t many Honda Pilots in those model years on the road around me though, but damn it I had to know now I do. Good work to everyone who had input.
Hit and run incidents are on the rise. It was heartening to witness the intensity and size of the Autopian readership response and that it provided useful input toward a positive outcome.
Even though my input provided no help, I’m very proud of this community and of this website. This legit has made my day better to hear this update.
Me too. Helping family get closure is huge.
I did my part by not commenting as I know nothing of SUVs
Good job all!
Holy crap… car nerds FTW!
Great job, community! And extra kudos to JPJ, awesome work!
New Netflix True Crime doc: “DON’T F**K WITH CARS”
I spoke with my friend who is the son in law of the victim and the suspect was arrested last Friday. The suspects vehicle is a 23 Pilot. My friend said the detective was impressed with how well this community responded. From the victims family comes a lot of gratitude. This group is the best.
This is amazing!
Thank you for bringing this to us in the first place. Always glad to help. Very happy it appears solved.
AWESOME. I had nothing of value to contribute, but I think it is awesome that the commentariat here was able to provide real, valuable help for this case.
Same here, I couldn’t provide anything to the discussion (not that I din’t try), but love that this group stepped up like it did.
Even though my guess was wrong, I’m oddly proud of the time I took comparing photos and discussing the little details with all of you. Should I have been doing this from work? Eh…
Set this insurance bullshit aside. I’ve got a murder to solve!
I love this community. Well done everyone.