Authorities were able to pinpoint an area the three women may have been...thanks to a cell phone call.

That last frantic communication from them was a call cut short.

But it expedited the search.

Perry Olson has more on the potential life-saving technology in our phones...

"911 where is your emergency?"


Sometimes that question can't be answered...but there is a tool for that... I have just dailed 911 there and thanks to technology the help on the end of the line in this case Carol Cook knows where I am calling from...

(DeVawn Beckman - Minot Central Dispatch) "There we go...and you see the little cell phone icon that shows up..."


That is where I am this time right at Central Dispatch itself...but what this does show is how beneficial this tracking technology is...thanks to a chip in most cell phones...

(DeVawn Beckman - Minot Central Dispatch) "It feeds that information to us and plots it out on a map so that we are able to see within very close proximity to where you are at."


Just how close? Well, a call from a landline brings up the exact address the call is originates from...and a cell phone...

(DeVawn Beckman - Minot Central Dispatch) "Usually pinpoint it within about 50 yards I think."


It is a tool that is frequently used. Beckman offered an incident last winter when two truckers from the southern US became lost near Surrey...Dispatchers used this satellite mapping to deliver them safely back simply because they knew where the lost truckers were...

(DeVawn Beckman - Minot Central Dispatch) "You can pick out farmsteads and trees and ponds and so through about a 20 minute conversation we figured out where they were at and got help to them."


While help couldn't come soon enough to save the three Dickinson State students...technology like this was at least able to speed up the search...giving families answers quickly...In Minot, Perry Olson, KX News.

By the way just calling on a cell phone and hanging up won't show your location.

The call needs to last long enough for the cell tower to locate your position...that takes usually only about ten seconds. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list