Update: Looks like they’ve updated the imagery now.
As previously reported, a man found an image of his murdered fourteen-year-old son’s dead body lying next to some train tracks in Google Maps in an image captured by satellite.
The image is still up at 901 Sanford Avenue, Richmond, California.
Jose Barrera, the father, said he would seek to have Google remove the image, and Google has come out and said it would make an exception to its normal policy of image removal in this case.
CNN reports:
“Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy …,” said Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps, in a written statement sent Monday to CNN and other media outlets. “Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case.”
McClendon said replacing the image will take about eight days and that Google has spoken to the Barrera family “to let them know we’re working hard on the update.”
This is not the first time Google Maps has displayed bodies that appear to be dead, but in previous cases, the legitimacy of the claims have been disputed. This one, which may just be somebody sleeping, remains up.