Chandler burglary victim uses Internet to nab suspects

CHANDLER, AZ - Police say a Chandler woman used the Internet to track down two suspects after her home was burglarized and a relative's car stolen.

Molly Jim tells ABC15 she was leaving her apartment on January 9 when she saw two people in the parking lot including a female who walked up and asked where the nearest gas station was.

Jim got suspicious because she thought the two might have been trying to siphon gas from cars. Before leaving to take her boyfriend to work, Jim said she "took a mental note of the situation" in case anything happened.

Later that day, she noticed her aunt's car was missing. Jim also discovered someone had broken into her apartment and stole her wallet which contained her credit cards, debit card, social security card and cash.

Jim discovered her credit cards were being used to make purchases the next day for more than $2,000 and when she called the bank to cancel her account that the phone number on the account had been changed.

Jim then paid $3 to use an Internet search tool to find out who the phone number belonged to. Using the name, she then searched Facebook and found a match.

"Oh my God. I can't believe I found them through a social media network before the police could even apprehend them," Jim said.

Police ended up arresting 27-year-old Matthew R. Lankford after Jim recognized him as the man hanging out in front of her apartment.

While looking further into his Facebook page she saw a photograph of Lankford's wife, 22-year-old Kayla Lankford and also recognized her.

"The anger kind of ... I'm glad it came because that's what had driven me to want to search for them," Jim said. "I was so happy I was able to have a picture of them and know for sure that's who they were."

Police did a photo line up with Jim and she was able to identify the Lankfords as the two people in front of her apartment the morning of the thefts. 

Kayla Lankford was arrested at a Gilbert hotel on January 26 and police found identification cards belonging to the victim on a table in the room. 

Matthew Lankford was arrested two hours later and refused to answer questions, police said. He reportedly had 4.5 grams of methamphetamine with him when arrested. He also had an arrest warrant out of Yavapai County for auto theft. 

Both Lankfords were booked into jail on counts of car theft and second-degree burglary.