Photo Clues Lead to Camera's Owner

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Brian Ascher and his fiance Erika Gunderson pose for a photograph in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008, in Standings, an East Village bar which was the last piece in a puzzle to track down the owner of a Canon digital camera Gunderson found in a New York taxi on New Year's Eve. The couple tracked down the camera's owner in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) (Kathy Willens - AP)

This photo provided by Alan Murphy shows him posing for a photo with his niece Sarah O'Sullivan on Dec. 20, 2007, in Florida. Erika Gunderson found Murphy's camera in a New York City taxi cab on New Year's Eve. Using clues from photos and video stored on the camera, Brian Ascher, Gunderson's fiance, was able to track down Murphy in Sydney, Australia and return his camera to him. (AP Photo/Alan Murphy) (Alan Murphy - AP)

In a photo provided by Alan Murphy, Dan Humprey and Jeanette Casey pose in front of Standings, a bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York, on Dec. 30, 2007. Erika Gunderson found Murphy's camera in a New York City taxi cab on New Year's Eve. Using clues from photos and video stored on the camera, Gunderson's fiance, Brian Ascher, was able to track down Murphy in Sydney, Australia and return his camera to him. ( (AP Photo/Alan Murphy) (Alan Murphy - AP)

In a photo provided by Alan Murphy, a "No Loud Talking Allowed" sign inside Burp Castle, a bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York, is seen on Dec. 30, 2007. Erika Gunderson found Murphy's camera in a New York City taxi cab on New Year's Eve. Using clues from photos and video stored on the camera, Gunderson's fiance, Brian Ascher, was able to track down Murphy in Sydney, Australia and return his camera to him. ( (AP Photo/Alan Murphy) (Alan Murphy - AP)

Brian Ascher and his fiance Erika Gunderson pose for a photograph in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008, in Burp Castle, an East Village bar which was a key piece in the puzzle of tracking down the owner of a Canon digital camera Gunderson found in a New York taxi on New Year's Eve. By matching the photographs stored in the camera with details in this bar and Standings, the bar next door, the couple tracked down the camera's owner in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) (Kathy Willens - AP)

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By BRIAN BERGSTEIN

The Associated Press
Saturday, January 26, 2008; 4:43 AM

-- At dusk on New Year's Eve, Erika Gunderson got into a taxi in New York City and entered a digital-age mystery. Sitting on the back seat was a nice Canon digital camera. Gunderson asked the driver which previous passenger might have left it, but the cabbie didn't seem to care. So Gunderson brought it home and showed it to her fiance, Brian Ascher. They decided that the only right thing to do was to find the owner.

But how? The only clues were the pictures on the camera: typical tourist snapshots, complete with a visit to the Statue of Liberty. How could they find a stranger among the huddled masses?

Gunderson is busy in finance for Bear Stearns Cos., so the detective quest fell to Ascher, a 26-year-old law student at New York University. He was on winter break and eager to put off writing a paper about climate change treaties.

He checked whether anyone had reported a matching missing camera to the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission. No dice. He placed ads in lost-and-found sections of Craigslist but got just one response _ from a couple in Brazil who had lost a camera in a cab on Oct. 12, not Dec. 31.

"I guess they thought their camera had been riding around in a taxi for two months," Ascher recalls now, chuckling at the notion that such a thing would be possible in New York.

The 350 pictures and two videos on the camera showed several adults, an older woman and three children. Half put them at New York sites like the Empire State Building. The other half had the group enjoying warm weather and frolicking at kid-friendly theme parks.

Ascher easily pinpointed Florida. The group had stood in front of a sign indicating Clearwater, Fla., and posed at Bob Heilman's Beachcomber Restaurant there.

They also took a pirate-themed boat ride where the kids got mustaches painted on their faces. Ascher zoomed in on the group to see name tags on their shirts. He spotted an Alan, an Eileen, a male Noel and a female Noelle, plus a Ciarnan. Under their names was written "IRE."

When Ascher checked the videos, he saw nothing telling, just the children dancing and swimming. But in the background, he heard Irish accents.

OK, Ascher figured, the camera's owner is from Ireland.

Ascher called Canon's Ireland division to see if anyone had registered the $500 camera's serial number. No such luck. He posted ads on Irish Web sites. Nothing.

He checked the date stamp on the photos from Bob Heilman's and called to inquire whether anyone remembered serving a big Irish group that day. Without the diners' last names, there was no way to check. It's a nice thing you're trying, the manager told Ascher, but you probably just found yourself a new camera.

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