Channel 11 sits down exclusively with local investigator who testified in John Chapman trial

Less than a week after a federal jury handed down a guilty verdict for John Chapman in the cross-country kidnapping and killing of Bethel Park woman Jaime Feden, Channel 11 is sitting down exclusively with the local investigators who testified.

Channel 11′s Amy Hudak was the only local reporter who traveled to Las Vegas for the federal trial and listened to key testimony, including from Allegheny County Mobile Device Computer Forensic Examiner Matt Rosenberg.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE >> John Chapman found guilty of murdering Bethel Park woman Jaime Feden in 2019

Rosenberg, who works for the Allegheny County Police Department, examines phones, laptops and tablets to extract information from them. He has testified at countless criminal trials, but the Chapman case was his first cross-country trial where he collaborated with local, state and federal agencies from Pittsburgh to Nevada. He says that teamwork was part of the successful prosecution of Chapman.

“I’m glad justice is served,” Rosenberg said. “I’m happy for the family that they got the results that they got.”

Rosenberg tells Channel 11, in 2019, when Jaime Feden went missing, he was on paternity leave – a first-time dad to a little girl. Bethel Park police called and asked him to come back to work the digital forensics for the Feden case. He agreed.

“It made it much more meaningful,” Rosenberg said. “Before I had a child, I would see the case as they came in - I don’t want to say I was numb to it - once I had a child, it changed the entire complexity of everything.”

Then COVID-19 hit and there were years of court delays.

“I was like ‘I don’t think this is ever going to go to trial,’” Rosenberg said. “Every year we’d get a text that would say ‘okay we’re starting back up again,’ or ‘no we’re pushed back another time.’”

Rosenberg kept working on the case and used his digital forensic skills to uncover what some call a smoking gun - deleted pictures on John Chapman’s cell phone showing Feden zip-tied to a signpost in the Nevada desert. Duct tape covered her mouth and nose. It’s the same place where Feden’s body would be found weeks later. The prosecution used that evidence to help put John Chapman at the scene of the crime at the time of the killing.

“We have some cases now where we’ve found video and things of that nature and I’m like ‘there it is, that’s it,’ and I immediately run to the detectives, run to my department and say, ‘you need to get in here and see this now,’” Rosenberg said. “Those were definitely damaging, to say the least.”

Rosenberg recently received a prestigious award from the Secret Service for his work. He came in second out of nearly 4,000 digital forensic examiners for the data he’s able to extract, similar to the pictures he found on Chapman’s cell phone. If you ask him about it, you’ll get a humble response. He’ll credit others.

“I’m just a small piece, I’m not anything big here,” Rosenberg said.

He says his focus now shifts to what’s next. John Chapman will be going on trial in Nevada on state murder charges. Rosenberg will be heading back out west, along with a whole group of local investigators — including those from Bethel Park Police. The state murder trial will likely take place sometime this fall.

“I’m glad justice is served,” Rosenberg said. “I’m happy for the family that they got the results that they got. I thought it would be over once we got the verdict in, but the justice system, it keeps on chugging along.”

As for the team of investigators and law enforcement he’s a part of, Rosenberg says he is grateful.

“It’s an honor to work with them,” Rosenberg said. “To be dedicated to this team, I can’t imagine working anywhere else.”

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