Georgia cops nab rape suspect thanks to app, alligator sign

A West Virginia man was arrested in Georgia for rape after the victim was able to notify authorities of her location using a smartphone application and an alligator sign.

According to Coweta County, Georgia, authorities, a 17-year-old girl met suspect Dalton Ramsey online. He offered to drive her to see her boyfriend in Pennsylvania last week. But after picking her up, he instead stopped at B.T. Brown Reservoir Park, bound her hands with tape and sexually assaulted her at knife point.

“Somewhere along there, their ride to Pennsylvania, they pulled off in Coweta County, and he rapes her at knife point, and we were able to confirm the incident happened inside Coweta County,” Coweta County Sheriff’s Investigator Toby Nix said, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

Investigators said Ramsey allowed the victim to use her smartphone, which she used to tip off authorities to her location.

The girl first shared her location with her boyfriend. Investigators said her boyfriend did a quick Google search to discover an online image of an alligator warning sign for boaters at the reservoir. She confirmed she had seen the sign outside the closed park.

She then used an app called Noonlight once she and Ramsey were back on the road. Noonlight began tracking her phone and alerted authorities of her location. Within the app, the girl typed in “rape” and a description of the vehicle.

Investigators said surveillance footage showed Ramsey’s car outside the park.

Ramsey was pulled over and arrested on September 6 in Habersham County, where he was taken into custody on kidnapping charges. He will be extradited to Coweta County for additional charges.

The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office is charging him with rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a weapon and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime.

The victim has been reunited with her family, authorities said.