A recent sexual assault charge in Florida has been linked to a high-tech kind of witness: an online gamer who overheard an apparent rape through an online-gaming headset.

A Fox affiliate in Pasco County, Florida, reported that the arrest of 18-year-old Daniel Fabian on November 21 stemmed from a "late June" report by an unnamed Grand Theft Auto Online player. This deputy affidavit alleges that Fabian had told other online players, through voice chat, that he was stepping away to "smash" (a slang term for sexual activity) with someone, and that this person was 15 years old.

According to the affidavit, Fabian apparently failed to mute his attached microphone. The affidavit also alleges that during the following 15 minutes, the witness heard cries of "distress" and the word "no" from a woman's voice. Other details about this witness report, including the witness's affiliation with the defendant or how this evidence led to an eventual discovery of an alleged victim (and her submission of a medical exam and DNA test, which linked Fabian to the assault), have not appeared in reports about the charges.

The reports also do not indicate whether this victim is the same as a plaintiff in another 2018 case against Fabian; both charges have been filed as "lewd and lascivious behavior" with a victim 12-16 years old.

Fox's report alleges that the console in question was a PlayStation 4, but it does not go into detail about whether Fabian's console included a PlayStation Eye camera—which can optionally function as a full-room listening device for in-game chat. Popular game-streaming sites like YouTube and Twitch do not immediately appear to have captured archives of the Grand Theft Auto Online session in question, in spite of PS4 consoles including a one-button way to capture and archive online-game audio and video.

The report follows news in early November that a New Hampshire judge ordered Amazon to turn over a full two days' worth of Echo device recordings. The audio in question is tied to a span of time in January 2017 when an alleged double-murder occurred, and Amazon had previously stated it would not submit such audio data to authorities "without a valid and binding legal demand."