Back when the Internet was barely even conceived and saying the word “Google” would have gotten you only strange looks, things were understandably a bit harder, or at least more complicated. Directions were found on good old fashioned paper maps, addresses were found in good old fashioned address books, and instructions on how to perform a murder were found the good old fashioned way – by trial and error.

These days the Internet has transformed daily life to the extent that no question is truly unanswerable. Ask anyone anything, and if they don’t know the answer you will hear “Just Google it.”

The Internet and technology giants have transformed the very meaning of the words “how to,” and with sites like Expert Village and eHow detailing step-by-step how to do nearly everything, it was really only a matter of time before sites explaining how to commit murder popped up on the Web.

But, what happens on the Web doesn’t necessarily stay on the Web, and it has taken multiple less-than-genius criminals to exhibit this fact.  Today, computer searching is a quick and accessible investigation tool used worldwide and in various ways to track, catch, prosecute and convict criminals.

Apparently though, that memo didn’t reach one would be murderer. In another example of criminal stupidity, a couple accused of strangling a 19-year-old girl in Florida has proven that just because you know how to type into a Google search bar doesn’t mean you should. James Ayers, 32, and Nicole Okrzesik 23, reportedly researched multiple incriminating topics using Google before they proceeded to kill their mutual friend Juliana Mensch.

Searches found on the computer include “chemicals to pass out [sic] a person,” and “making people faint,” but sooner or later the couple decided to get to the point, searching “ways to kill people in their sleep,” “how to suffocate someone” and “how to poison someone.” 

Supposedly finding what they were looking for, the couple chose one of the murder methods and used it to kill Mensch, but afterward they were stumped. What were they to do with the body? They must have decided Google couldn’t help them there, but apparently Facebook and text-messaging could. The couple discussed methods of disposal on both, and the messages were eventually recovered by police.

At the time of the murder, Mensch was asleep on the floor while the couple trolled the Internet, and it is assumed she never suspected she was in danger, as both Ayers and Okrzesik had gotten high with her in their Fort Lauderdale home and she regarded them as friends. The motive for the murder was found to be money to buy drugs, say police.

After using the Internet to help plan and commit the murder, Ayers could not help but use it once more afterwards. Hours after the incident, Ayers reportedly posted a photo online of him and Okrzesik having fun at a bar.

So remember, human stupidity has no bounds, and there is one thing that could have saved Ayers and Okrzesik, and ultimately Mensch from their fates. No, not if they hadn’t used Google – they just researched the wrong thing. Had they typed in the question, “Is there Internet in prison?”, this whole episode might have been avoided.