Log off time?

[frogmarch]

In early December 2006, Chadron State College math professor Steven Haataja went missing. In early March, his charred body was found tied to a small tree on ranchland just south of Chadron, Nebraska.

In early May, the county attorney held a news conference on the case, which included a timeline of Haataja’s activities on his last day.

Snip from the timeline:

At 11:41 p.m., Haataja's password-protected computer at CSC is accessed.

The timeline doesn’t say what time Haataja logged off. By checking his computer, would investigators have been able to tell when he did?

For more information on the case and the complete timeline:

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/top-stories/professor-s-death-unresolved/article_9816323f-9145-5d3d-acd5-1c6c6357d844.html

[steve2470]

1. I'm not sure if cookies are date-stamped, anyone know ?

They can also look at the logs on his hard drive of his OS activity.

[frogmarch]

2. Thanks. I don't know if the police

turned it over to a specialist or if they tried to figure things out themselves. If they tried to do it themselves, I'm not sure any of them would know any more than I do about computers, and that is pretty much nothing.

[ManiacJoe]

3. Depending on the OS, he may not have logged out.

There are usually logs available that user initiated activities can be tracked in, depending on the OS.

[frogmarch]

4. Thanks. It seems odd that law enforcement

would say when he logged in but not when he logged out, if they knew. The article I linked with the timeline is an old one, but there have been no updates on the case since, so no one knows any more about it then we did then. I can understand why law enforcement wouldn't want to release everything they have on the case since it's still open, but they asked for the public's help in solving it, so one would think they'd say what time he logged out if they know, since it would have been right after that when he vanished.