2 more investigations where Middletown police used pacemaker data

Using data from a pacemaker to secure an indictment in an arson fire is not the first time Middletown police have used the medical device’s records in criminal investigations.

“Everybody and everything out there now has a device with a lot of information in it,” Middletown Police Lt. Jim Cunningham said.

Police, he said, also sought pacemaker data during the investigation of two homicides last year.

On Nov. 4, Joe Romano was found shot to death in the kitchen of his Lafayette Avenue home.

Hours later, on Nov. 5, Tiffany Hoskins was found shot inside a home at 1507 Jacoby Ave. Middletown firefighters were called to the scene and found flames shooting from the second floor and Hoskins' body at the top of the home's stairway.

Cunningham said both Romano and Hoskins wore pacemakers, and detectives sought data from those devices while investigating their deaths.

He declined to comment extensively about how the data was used because three men charged in connection with the crimes are awaiting trial, but he did say the data helped narrow the time of death for Hoskins.

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