Ontario police turn to Xbox Live to find missing CoD4 player

by Griffin McElroy on Oct 26th 2008 2:00PM

Brandon Crisp, a 15-year-old Barrie, Ontario native and avid gamer, has been missing since October 11. Crisp stormed out of his home shortly after his parents, afraid for the teen's social well-being due to his proclivity for Call of Duty 4, took away his Xbox 360. Since Crisp's disappearance, several groups have made major efforts to try and locate the teen -- including Microsoft, who donated $25,000 to a reward fund for anyone with information on Crisp's whereabouts.

Following the suspicions of Crisp's parents, the cyber crimes unit of the Ontario Police are now turning to an unlikely source for leads -- Brandon's Xbox Live friends list. Fearing that one of his clanmates might have something to do with his disappearance, police asked Microsoft to breach their own privacy protocols to reveal the personal information of Xbox Live subscribers that frequently associated with Crisp. Regardless of what you may think of Microsoft's actions, we're sure we all share the hope that Brandon will return home quickly and safely.

Source

Tags: brandon-crisp, call-of-duty-4, disappearance, microsoft, Xbox-360, xbox-live

Reader Comments (144)

MILF in that picture!

Did the fat woman eat her?

Fat = More to hold on.

She isn't THAT fat.

Here tits are quite nice.

The internet, making me lose faith in humanity everday.

Eww, man, no she's not. And no, they're not. Ugh.

Reerrr, look at the paternal grief on that! I wouldn't consoling her! Reeerrr

I bet he's hiding out at a friend's house playing on his Xbox. XD

It's like real life Search and Destroy!

... but all jokes aside, I hope he gets home safe and sound.

I don't know what to think, in all honestly he could be at a friends house, but more than likely he went off, got picked up by some stranger and is most likely dead now. It's a sad state of reality, but it's true.

Actually, the idea that he ended up with a stranger may have is a far lower statistical probability. Most abductions and abuse come from someone known to a child: a family member, friend, mentor, educator, etc. The "stranger danger" is a myth perpetuated by the nightly news and a public that prefers to fear the unknown rather than Uncle Roy or their next door neighbor.

Ug, bed time for me, typing bad:

"Actually, the idea that he ended up with a stranger is statistically less probable."

What basis do you have to say that its most likely he was kidnapped by a stranger and killed?

Seriously, did you think before typing that? Most people are not picked up by strangers - they are with those who know them (if picked up by someone at all). Most are also not killed. What kind of idiot thinks that the majority of those who leave home at some point end up dead? I used to go play with my friends outside of the home everyday. How did I beat those insane odds and make it home alive again?!

Life is not some bullsh*t movie - in the real world people run away every day to live on the streets, go to a friends, hide with an aunt who was nice to them, and 100's of other reasons. Think before you post crap that is heartbreaking to those who know and love this kid.

The most likely scenario is that the child is with a friend. Yet none of us (except the great twit quickshade) knows the truth yet.

Microsoft looks into his Live account and find him signed in and playing.
Kid gets grounded till end of eternity.
End of story.

he's probably just like playing COD4 at a buddies house or something.

the police aren't that inept

I blame whoever decided to have the kid dress like that for the photo.

While I do hope the kid is ok I don't like Microsoft releasing the information of his online friends. This is a runaway! I see no relevance in the private information of his online friends.

Now if The "New XBOX Experience" had clan support they could seriously narrow down their search.

Hope the kid is OK....

This is why a 15 year old shouldn't be playing an M rated game.

I don't care about the kid, sounds like he took off because he's a loser, too bad for him.

parents shud jus put a play timer on the 360 instead

Why cant they just connect the xbox 360 to the internet (if he has auto-logon) and log on unto his account and see his friends list? and recent players? stupid cops going the hard way to see his friends list if they could it the easy way!

I might be wrong.....mabey they want to see EVERYONE he played with....

They don't want to see who he played with, they want to know who they are. Just knowing a tag doesn't get you a lot without their name, address, phone number, etc.

Look at those people, you can see it in their eyes, they killed him.

I wonder what is so interesting over there.. to the left. They don't look very upset to me.

This is such a difficult age- and both the parents and the child share some culpability here. The parents need to understand/spend more time with the child, so he has some social structure besides video games. The child needs to get into sports, or some other "real life" social activity. There is NOTHING wrong with parents taking the Xbox away if they felt it was necessary. Hope he's ok.

i hope he can put those cod4 survival skills to good use

Note:

Reward from Microsoft has rising to $50,000 dollars.

Damage control anyone?

Damage control? For trying to help find a missing child? Don't turn something like this into a fanboy war.

Thats crazy... hope the kid is doing ok physically atleast..

*Kid in the nearby forest armed with only a crude spear and sackful of rocks*

"Ok five rabbits down, where the hell is my airstrike?!"

"Ok, there's a bear right there. I think I can take it with my spear. Good thing I have Juggernaut and Steady Aim!"

"Whoa a 20 foot cliff! It shouldn't be too hard. I done way harder jumps than this. Besides, my health is gonna regenerate anyways!"

Sorry if there aren't those animals in Canada, I was just making a point. I hope this little prick gets found before gamers take even more shit.

Just read that MS is upping the reward to $50,000 for info leading to the boys return.....Cue MS handing over Live info or are they gonna wait until the reward hits a million.

Take that, overly controlling parents! This kid makes a move for liberty for all the minors playing M or above games!

for 50,000 i would run away for a couple of days

Gee, nope, still going with "his parents are douchebags who need to claim some responsibility". Hope Microsoft agrees. The ONLY people to blame here are his fucking parents. If you didn't read the original article, go do so.

I love how parents will buy their kids something, then realize its violent, etc, etc. Maybe you dumb parents should look at the boxes! Read the rating! Don't punish your kid for your mistake!

Also, I'll find the emo-brat for the return of my FableII LE goodies...*cough*Microsoft*cough*

joystiq is always days behind other blogs, this exact same story was posted on kotaku/destructoid/etc like two days ago, what gives? makes this blog essentially worthless.

i heard about this on the radio...and I like how they use the "terrorist video game" tag...

once again...blame the media, blame the parents...

This kid could go to hell that I wouldn't mind at all. Stupid spoiled kid.

And if I were his parents, I'd give a PS3 to him, that would be a very fair punishment. :P

Omg he'll be fiiiine!

He's in Canada for pete's sake! Right now some stranger took him, and transferred his account over to they're 360 and are knitting him a custom Hockey Jersey. Wots all the fuss aboot? Not to mention all that hot CoCo!

Does anyone else see the irony here?
Being: the parents took the 360 because they thought he wasn't making any friends.

Now they think he's staying with a friend he met through the 360?

Of course parents aren't going to point the finger at themselves. Why do you think politicians and other attention hos always point their fingers at (Video or D&D) games, music, and books for corrupting the youth? The youth enjoying these things presumably can't vote.

I hope the kid's okay and everything but I can't really feel too bad for the parents.

There is only one person to blame, the petulant kid. People are making a big deal abuot the father helping the kid pack. I know when i was a kid and I tried to pull that 'gimmie what I want or I'm running away' crap, my folks called my bluff and helped me pack too, and you know what...it worked. The only thing the parents might have done wrong is not smack the kid for being dumb.

I hope the kid is found, for the parents peace of mind...and once he's found, lock him in his damn room until the next presidental election in 2012 except to go to school, or maybe just save themselves the time and energy and send the damn kid to juvi hall...he's 15, pretty much a lost cause anyway.

.. this is a shame. Ive been a gamer since 98. But on PC. it .. gawd it looks like this console player is not .. forget that.
I am praying for him. As a gamer, this does notlook good. PC games are a little safer as the community is easier to track. names are easier to recognize.
Conosles liek Xbox sony.. gawd.. a sespool of personas.

luring a kid out on the promise of gameplay.. this is not going to end up nice.
So .. i will pray for his parents.

Previous 50 Comments

Ontario police turn to Xbox Live to find missing CoD4 player

Reader Comments (144)

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