BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida mother found a strange surprise in her son’s shoe earlier this year, sparking concerns over a potential stalker.
Jackie Giurleo told News 6 that she had taken her children to a Christmas parade back in December.
But after getting home, she began getting notifications sent to her phone about an AirTag.
“It was saying that there was an unknown air tag device with us,” she explained. “So I had shown it to my husband, and we thought, ‘Oh, we’re in a crowded area. It’s like Bluetooth or something; we must be picking up somebody else’s.’”
However, Giurleo continued getting messages about the AirTag on her phone throughout the holidays.
AirTags are Apple devices that can be used to track people and objects. They can help users locate small children and other items to keep them from getting lost, though they’ve also been used by stalkers to track other people.
The problem was that Giurleo had never owned an AirTag.
It wasn’t until January when Giurleo went to pick up her sister in St. Augustine, who then began getting the messages, as well.
“She was familiar with AirTags, so over the course of the weekend, she was looking it up on her phone, and we could see every step that we had taken,” she stated. “We could see everywhere that we went, but the thing is: it wouldn’t allow us to disable it. It wouldn’t allow us to locate it; it wouldn’t allow us to turn it off; it wouldn’t allow us to ping it.”
Soon after that, Giurleo received yet another notification — but this time, it showed her 7-year-old son, Aiden.
More specifically, it showed where he had been.
“When I saw that picture, my heart just dropped to my stomach...” Giurleo explained. “I go, ‘That’s him going to the neighbor’s house to see if Alice can play. That’s him going to the other neighbor’s house to see if Terry can play. That’s him picking up his basketball when it goes across the street.’”
While the constant AirTag notifications were already a concern, this discovery prompted Giurleo to contact the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, though investigators were unable to find anything, she told News 6.
Giurleo received yet another message indicating her son’s position shortly thereafter, and so she and her sister began tearing through cars, clothes and backpacks to figure out where this AirTag was.
“We were kind of using my phone like a metal detector, looking for this thing. And it wound up beeping right next to Aiden’s shoes,” Giurleo said.
After pulling up the insole, she uncovered the AirTag — roughly the size of a quarter — wrapped in a piece of cloth and stuffed in a small hole.
“As a mom, I just walked outside,” she said. “I died. I walked out because my kids are standing right there while I’m seeing this, and they don’t understand the thoughts that went through my head.”
Giurleo again called deputies, who went into action trying to determine where the AirTag came from.
Meanwhile, Giurleo and her husband began talking, and he asked whether they might have been even Aiden’s shoes, pointing out that it appeared like something a mother would do to track her children.
“As soon as he said that, I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Giurleo stated. “I had a flashback to a month earlier, where (Aiden) was like, ‘Mom, look! That kid has my shoes!’”
It turned out that there had been a bounce house at the Christmas parade, and a child with the same shoes as Aiden had been playing on the inflatable. As such, the two children might have accidentally switched shoes, she reasoned.
According to Giurleo, detectives soon verified that this was the case, and the other boy had been in Florida from out of state to visit for the holidays.
“They were at the same parade. They had taken their kid to the exact same store, bought the same shoes while they were down here. And they had put the air tracker in his shoe in order to do exactly what it’s supposed to do,” she said.
With that stress out of the way, Giurleo soon shared her story with the community, offering the following tips:
- AirTags are small: Being roughly the size of a quarter, AirTags can be placed in plenty of nooks and crevices — such as on cars or behind license plates — without others noticing.
- iPhones can help track AirTags: Even if an AirTag is hidden on you or your belongings, iPhones have a built-in feature that allows them to notify you when you’re being tracked by an AirTag that’s not yours.
- AirTags can be helpful: While they can be used to stalk others, AirTags can also be placed on small children or elderly adults to keep track of where they are. Some inserts allow users to place an AirTag in shoes to prevent it from falling out or getting lost.
- Keep an eye on your AirTag: If you suddenly realize that your AirTag is tracking someone else, it might be a good idea to get in touch and let them know there was a mix-up.
For more information on what to do if you begin receiving alerts on your phone about an AirTag nearby, check out Apple’s support page here.
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