The announcement came during a press conference late Sunday night. Anthony J. Machcinski, York Daily Record Anthony J. Machcinski, York Daily Record

Investigating the case was a matter of combing through a "labyrinth of social media shenanigans," York County DA David Sunday said.


As detectives investigated the threats made against Central York School District, they quickly became enmeshed in a web of social media that tested their persistence and intellect, Springettsbury Township Police Chief Dan Stump said.

York County District Attorney David Sunday characterized the investigation on Sunday afternoon as a matter of combing through a "labyrinth of social media shenanigans." 

However, hours later, Stump, Sunday and Central York Supt. Michael Snell announced that detectives had made their way through the labyrinth and had pinpointed a suspect.

Stump said Monday that in cracking the case, detectives had conducted numerous interviews, going from person to person, to find their way to the origin of the threats.

"You have no idea what's behind the door," he said. "You could hit a brick wall, you could find your suspect or you could find another door."

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Once they had gathered enough evidence, police applied for search warrants from social media companies such as Snapchat, a popular platform for teens.

"You definitely have to develop your probable cause, making sure we had sufficient information to reach the criteria, the burden of proof," Stump said. "We can't just say we want a search warrant for Johnny's phone because we think he might be involved."

Stump would not go into specific details — saying that the investigation is ongoing — as to what that probable cause consisted of.

READ: No threat to Southern Middle School after social media post investigated, police say

Even when police were narrowing their search, saying they had developed several persons of interest in the case, the female suspect, a student at Central York Middle School, tried to cover her tracks.

"They took measures to make it difficult to know they did it," he said.

Social media challenges

West York Borough Police Chief Matt Millsaps said his department also has experienced challenges in investigating cases that involve obtaining evidence from social media sites.

"There are certain ones that are readily engaged in working with law enforcement ... though they do ask us to provide a search warrant based on probable cause," he said.

Then there are others that do not have an infrastructure to communicate with police. Millsaps classifies Snapchat as a platform that, at its core, is designed to conceal information circulated by its users, he said.

As an added challenge, some foreign-based social media platforms will not accept search warrant from the United States.

Social learning curve

Stump said one important take-away from the ordeal is that in hundreds of interviews, police learned a great deal about social media and teens, directly from the experts: Teens.

"We learned how they communicate and what they communicate about in the circle of friends they create," Stump said. "They don't text; that's not how they communicate with each other."

READ: Parent, students charged for threats in several York County school districts

Most just use social media and speak in groups. Rarely do they speak one-on-one, he said. There are different gradations of contacts as well — from close friends to strictly online acquaintances.

This scenario surfaced during the investigation, as police learned that word of the threats had spread exponentially through the student body.

"So they would get a post and then forward it to their group, which could consist of anywhere from five to 15 individuals," he said.

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Contact Ted Czech at 717-771-2033.

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