Public tips about a rental car and a controversial piece of technology helped investigators identify and track the suspect in the Brown University and MIT professor shooting, ultimately ending a days-long manhunt that rattled New England. 

Providence police say tips led them to a gray Nissan sedan rented by 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente. An arrest warrant photo shows Valente at an Alamo Rent a Car location in Boston last month, and again weeks later picking up the Nissan investigators say became central to the case. 

License plate reader cameras

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez Jr. said Thursday the vehicle was detected by Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras, which helped lead investigators to the Massachusetts rental car location. Through that process, police obtained surveillance footage of the suspect and a copy of the rental agreement, which provided his real name. 

According to a court affidavit, a search of Flock license plate reader cameras in Providence detected the Nissan 14 times in the weeks and hours leading up to the shooting at the Brown University engineering building. 

Investigators tracked the car's movements to Brookline, Massachusetts where MIT Professor Nuno Louriero was gunned down at his apartment, and then eventually to a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, where Valente was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Federal prosecutors say the technology helped tie together both tragedies and bring the manhunt to an end. 

"The tipster gave the description of a car. It was like a gray Nissan," explained Josh Thomas, Flock Safety's chief communications officer. "You can use gray Nissan and Flock Safety to literally find this specific one vehicle that was involved in this incident." 

Pushback over technology

Flock Safety has faced criticism and pushback over its technology and data storage practices. The city of Cambridge recently ended its contract with the company following public outcry. Flock, however, said its technology's role in the search for a killer, demonstrates the intended use of its products. 

"These are tragic moments with real people's lives being impacted and frankly, it's terrifying to know that a serial killer is out on the loose. So, when you have tools and technology like Flock Safety that can really safely be used by local law enforcement in collaboration with other departments, even across state lines, it is possible to bring these tragedies to a conclusion," added Thomas. 

The ACLU, which has pushed back against the Flock Safety contracts in municipalities across Massachusetts, acknowledged the cameras' role in helping the case but reemphasized broader concerns with the technology. 

In a statement to WBZ, Kade Crockford, director for technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts said license plate reader technology "can play a valid and important role in legitimate, targeted criminal investigations" but adds they're "concern has always been its use in warrantless, dragnet surveillance of drivers without any probable cause or reasonable suspicion." 

"Above all, law enforcement should not be creating or maintaining enormous databases that show where millions of ordinary people are driving and then sharing those records with thousands of other agencies nationwide, without any meaningful checks or balance," Crockford added. 

"This isn't about mass surveillance," said Thomas. "It's precision policing. It's giving the right tool at the right moment."