Dead cyclist identified with the help of iPod

By Maria Elena Baca and Joy Powell, Star Tribune

Last update: September 7, 2007 - 11:55 PM

Medical investigators used an iPod serial number Friday to figure out the identity of a bicyclist killed when he collided with a school bus in Minneapolis on Thursday morning.

Adam Ray Finley, 30, was killed about two blocks away from his Calhoun Boulevard apartment while riding in an intersection north of Lake Calhoun about 10 a.m. Thursday.

Until Friday afternoon, authorities were baffled as to his identity because he was carrying no identification. The medical examiner had sought the public's help in identifying the body and was preparing to release a sketch.

But Friday afternoon, an investigator for the Hennepin County medical examiner's office took an iPod recovered from the victim to an Apple outlet. An employee there contacted Apple corporate security, which in turn called back with the name and address of the person who had registered the iPod's serial number with Apple, investigators said.

Finley is formerly of Iowa, and his family still lives in Auburn, Iowa.

The bus, operated by Laidlaw Education Services of Brooklyn Park, had no children aboard.

JOY POWELL

Recent Local + Metro stories

Driver in Minn. tent death due in court - September 7, 2007

Driver in Minn. tent death due in court - Prosecutors say the driver of a van that backed over a tent at a campground in Renville County, killing a toddler, had a preliminary blood alcohol level of 0.17 percent — more than twice the legal limit. More