August 12, 2023, New Haven, Indiana. Shortly earlier than morning broke within the residence he rented together with his spouse Alison, on the base of a steep stairway, Kevin Davis‘ blood seeped onto the ground.
OFFICER GARRETT SHANEBROOK | New Haven Police Division (bodycam video): The place’s that blood coming from?
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK | New Haven Police Division: His face and his nostril.
Det. James Krueger: The quantity of blood, it was alarming. It was — it was in every single place.
Alison Davis had already given lead Detective James Krueger of the New Haven Police Division permission to look the home.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): When you do comply with that, I would like you to signal there saying that you just perceive …
However she warned them concerning the bed room, the place their pit bull combine, Willow, would typically growl at strangers who approached.
ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): She’s up within the bed room, and he or she’s a guard canine.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER: OK.
ALISON DAVIS: And I don’t know if she’d do something, and I don’t need something to occur to her.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER: Proper now, what I received’t do is, I received’t go in that room.
ALISON DAVIS: OK.
AN ACCIDENTAL FALL?
Peter Van Sant: So that you go to the hospital?
Steve Krause: Sure.
Steve Krause watched his daughter attempt to will Kevin again to consciousness.
Steve Krause: Their favourite phrase for each other was “babe.” … And Alison’s up there, “Hey babe you’re gonna be OK. Hey babe, you know, I’m here with you. Hey babe, I love you.”
Kevin and Alison Davis
Krause Household
Kasey Klemm: She had like blood on her fingernail, cuticles, and on her telephone. I may inform that she had been crying however she form of simply regarded like in shock.
Alison’s greatest good friend Kasey Klemm.
Kasey Klemm: That they had her in like just a little small ready room with a chaplain. And I used to be attempting to calm her all the way down to ask questions, , like what was happening?
Again on the home, Krueger lifted restrictions and cleared the bloody scene. It was horrific. However at this level, he believed it was an accident.
Det. James Krueger: Nicely, perhaps he took a head plant down the steps. I don’t know. I wasn’t there.
Kasey Klemm: The detective stated … I feel we’re achieved right here.
Alison stayed on the hospital. However again residence, all that blood wanted to be cleaned up.
Kasey Klemm: You don’t take into consideration that proper? … Like, who cleans it up?
Steve Krause: I stated properly, I’ll go do it.
Peter Van Sant: You had permission to do that?
Steve Krause: Right.
Peter Van Sant: Permission from the lead detective on this case?
Steve Krause: Right.
Peter Van Sant: How upsetting was this means of cleansing?
Steve Krause: Nicely it’s very upsetting. … typically I’d get — turn out to be overwhelmed and want to assemble myself, um, to complete, um, what I’d come to do.
Together with tending to Willow, who had been left upstairs of their bed room with the door closed.
Steve Krause: Alison was involved that this canine hadn’t been overlooked … That they had no kids, so the canine was … like a baby.
All through that frantic morning, Alison and her household quietly prayed.
Steve Krause: I’m praying can we simply, , get up, , get up. You appear to be you’re sleeping, simply get up.
Kevin and Alison have been part of a good group of associates who have been regulars on the East Haven Tavern the place Jodi Espy and Jessica Eakright handle the gang.
Jessica Eakright: Our clients turn out to be our household round right here.
Jodi Espy: All people was simply speaking like, “Oh my gosh, he was just here. That’s so sad.”
Kevin and Alison had been on the Tavern simply hours earlier.
Jessica Eakright: It was laborious to not be a good friend of Alison’s as a result of she simply made all people really feel such as you mattered.
Kevin, a talented landscaper, had an enormous persona that matched his large coronary heart.
Todd Spessert: Kevin Davis was, uh, only a good man … all the time laborious working … prepared to assist anyone out at any time.
Shut associates Todd Spessert and Jason Younger scrambled to see Kevin.
Jason Younger: All of us met on the hospital.
Todd Spessert: Yeah.
Jason Younger: We talked to Alison and her mother and father.
Jason Younger: … undoubtedly she had been crying, however she was holding again.
Todd Spessert: She was — she was a large number.
Peter Van Sant: She was devastated?
Jason Younger and Todd Spessert: Sure.
The scene was overwhelming.
Todd Spessert: Yeah, he … he’s uh mind lifeless, there’s nothing left in there.
Peter Van Sant: God, only a few hours earlier he was sitting proper over right here, proper?
Todd Spessert: Right.
Peter Van Sant: Do you say something to Kevin?
Jason Younger: Oh yeah, yup. … I advised him it’s like … I really feel actually unhealthy about this. And it shouldn’t have occurred, and want you have been nonetheless right here.
Peter Van Sant: And did you have got an opportunity to say goodbye to your good friend?
Jason Younger: Yeah. I stated goodbye there. Yep.
Todd Spessert: They have been — yeah, then they have been speaking about, , donating his organs and stuff. And I used to be like — I used to be like, wow.
Peter Van Sant: He was an organ donor?
Kasey Klemm: Sure, sure. She was very happy with him for that, too.
His life assist can be disconnected. Quickly, 40-year-old Kevin Davis was gone. At 33, Alison was a widow.
Kasey Klemm: They have been simply completely happy sort of couple that may dance within the kitchen to music collectively, simply the 2 of them. Like that’s simply who they have been. They have been nice collectively.
It shook their good friend Deontae Bristol.
Deontae Bristol: I used to be simply holding again tears as a result of we have been simply hanging out. Like I used to be simply hanging out with this man.
Jessica Eakright: It’s devastating. Not simply because he’s now not right here, however as a result of the circumstances surrounding it are traumatic.
Deontae Bristol: It needed to be an accident.
Jodi Espy: No person ever thought it was something however a fall.
Police initially believed Kevin Davis’ dying was from a fall down the steps, an accident.
New Haven, Indiana, Police Division
And that’s what Krueger concluded, too.
Det. James Krueger: I simply didn’t see any want in a small division to tie up all our sources and maintain the home for an accident scene.
However the scene did elevate questions. Regardless of an enormous quantity of blood, first responders didn’t see any lacerations on Kevin’s head.
Det. James Krueger: I used to be simply advised that he was bleeding out of his … nostril and mouth … there was no apparent wound on the aspect of his head.
That very same day, a health care provider at Parkview treating Kevin felt compelled to talk up.
Det. James Krueger: One of many docs of the ER employees … had some issues with these accidents.
The CT scans confirmed inner wounds — a number of cranium fractures. She additionally famous bruising to his face and scalp and concluded, “Kevin’s injuries were not consistent with a fall down a stairway.”
Det. James Krueger: That … undoubtedly raised some purple flags in my thoughts.
She alerted the coroner’s workplace, who ordered an post-mortem.
Peter Van Sant: When did this accident scene turn out to be a criminal offense scene?
Det. James Krueger: After the post-mortem. … As soon as they advised me that he had a crushed-in cranium … undoubtedly just isn’t per a fall from the steps. … that’s once I began … to dig quite a bit … deeper into this case.
KEVIN DAVIS’ AUTOPSY RESULTS RAISE SUSPICIONS
Three days after Kevin’s dying, the post-mortem was accomplished and the provocative findings have been turned over to police.
Det. James Krueger: I get the post-mortem report … saying that his cranium is crushed in, undoubtedly just isn’t per a fall from the steps.
However Krueger says it’s per a violent bodily beating.
Peter Van Sant: And also you now are going … we could have a murder on our arms.
James Krueger: Proper.
Peter Van Sant: Do you have got a suspect on this case?
James Krueger: Yeah, Alison’s undoubtedly our suspect. … You’ve two folks in a home. One is murdered.
It appeared a routine step to launch the homicide investigation of Alison Davis. However the New Haven Police Division had an enormous problem — created by its personal determination.
Peter Van Sant: By releasing the scene that meant that members of the family may –
Det. James Krueger: That meant that anyone —
Peter Van Sant: — reenter the home …
Det. James Krueger: — yeah, the home is again to her.
Peter Van Sant: However when folks apart from legislation enforcement enter a home as soon as it’s been launched there’s an issue proper?
Det. James Krueger: There may be.
Peter Van Sant: There might be contamination of a criminal offense scene.
Det. James Krueger: Yeah.
The day after police acquired the post-mortem, 4 days after Kevin’s dying, Krueger bought a search warrant. That very same day and the subsequent he returned to the home, a bodycam rolling.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): I’ve a pair extra search warrants right here, OK? First one is I gotta take your telephone from ya.
ALISON DAVIS: OK.
Police had been in search of extra proof — together with a doable homicide weapon or traces of blood. However by then, Alison’s dad had already straightened up as greatest he may.
Steve Krause: I mainly cleaned up the world that I may visually see blood. And it was round the place Kevin was on the ground. … It’s proper there on the backside of the steps.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): So if I may collect the telephone first?
ALISON DAVIS: Sure, let me seize that.
Alison shared with Klemm a rising unease she couldn’t shake.
Kasey Klemm: She was actually upset that they took their telephones …
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): Is that password protected?
ALISON DAVIS: Sure.
Kasey Klemm: … trigger that was a number of their recollections. … footage to … look again on.
Alison would say she initially spoke willingly to investigators, doing all police requested of her.
Peter Van Sant: She would discuss to whomever wished to talk together with her, is that proper?
Kasey Klemm: Yeah. She had nothing to cover. Why would she?
Steve Krause: There’s … nothing that implies there was something apart from a fall down the steps.
Peter Van Sant: And for you this was a tragic accident.
Steve Krause: After all … It was!
And because the highlight turned to Alison Davis, on the East Haven Tavern, there have been loads who voiced their assist.
Jodi Espy: There’s no method.
Peter Van Sant: There’s no method what?
Jodi Epsy: That she may’ve achieved that, she may’ve killed him. There’s no method.
Jessica Eakright: I couldn’t think about in any world the place she can be wished for homicide.
The tavern crowd tells the story of that evening. Alison was working retail at Victoria’s Secret. When she completed, she headed over. As traditional, Kevin was ready for her.
Peter Van Sant: On that evening … the place was he sitting?
Jodi Espy: He was sitting over right here on the bar.
Peter Van Sant: And his temper that evening was?
Jodi Espy: Was good, he was completely happy, he was pleasant.
Jason Younger: I used to be right here with him.
Peter Van Sant: You have been right here?
Jason Younger: Mm-hmm.
It was round 9 p.m. when Alison walked in.
Jodi Espy: Typical evening.
Jessica Eakright: There was nothing out of the extraordinary in — within the slightest.
Kevin had a second, then a 3rd beer and a few vodka pictures. Alison sipped on her traditional — a candy cocktail.
Jessica Eakright: It didn’t appear that she was consuming excessively in any respect.
The East Haven Tavern regulars carried on. Kevin may get just a little loud, his associates say, however they knew, that was simply Kevin being Kevin.
Jodi Espy: I imply, he was — he was simply “a lot.”
Peter Van Sant: What does “a lot” imply?
Jodi Espy: He was very opinionated.
Jessica Eakright: However she — she cherished him by way of it.
Quickly it was after midnight; time to show in.
Jessica Eakright: They have been calling it an evening, winding down.
Alison left the tavern first, with Kevin following shortly after.
Jessica Eakright: I feel it was about one.
Kevin and his buddy Jason Younger began texting.
Peter Van Sant: Now these texts, do you continue to have them?
Jason Younger: Mm-hmm.
Peter Van Sant: Are you able to present them to me?
Jason Younger: Yeah. … You possibly can simply begin right here. You simply begin scrolling by way of. …
Peter Van Sant: So this begins at 1:11 a.m. …
Younger requested, “You guys make it back?” Kevin responding, “Oh ya sry…. L O L.” A second later Kevin confides, “Ya we are good bro… I’m just listening to music… L O L.”
Jason Younger: … simply being humorous, … all that was mainly happening til … about 2:31.
However Klemm says, Alison advised her it was late, and he or she had advised Kevin to cool down. She was drained, and all she wished was to get some sleep.
Kasey Klemm: She stated, Kevin, I’ve to rise up early for work. … I’m gonna go downstairs and sleep when you don’t cease. I have to sleep.
Kevin despatched Jason a seemingly harmless textual content.
Jason Younger: He says … “I’m placing my telephone on silent, snicker my ass off, gotta go to mattress. The spouse.“
“The Wife.” After the post-mortem outcomes got here again, and Krueger bought Alison and Kevin’s telephones. He studied that textual content and those earlier than it. He thought they didn’t appear harmless in any respect.
Det. James Krueger: He was clearly irritated at her about one thing.
Keep in mind, Alison had advised first responders that they’d had a struggle.
ALISON DAVIS (police bodycam): Simply now, I wakened, I — we bought in a struggle final evening …
Det. James Krueger: Who is aware of what was stated. It clearly aggravated her.
Det. James Krueger: It is a spouse that misplaced it and beat her husband to dying.
Steve Krause: There’s nothing to recommend that Alison did something. … That is simply strictly an accident.
THE INVESTIGATION FOCUSES ON ALISON DAVIS
With proof exhibiting that Kevin Davis’s cranium had a number of fractures, every little thing was being reexamined to find out if these accidents have been unintended —or intentional.
911 DISPATCHER: 911. What’s the deal with of your emergency?
ALISON DAVIS: My husband simply fell down the steps and there’s blood in every single place …
ALISON DAVIS: … I don’t know if he’s alive or lifeless.
Detective Krueger’s workforce analyzed that 911 name and concluded Alison was performing.
Det. James Krueger: … that is rehearsed. … As a result of she wished to hearken to what the 911 dispatcher needed to say after which she went into her entire rehearsal.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, and what occurred to your husband?
ALISON DAVIS: Um, he fell down the steps, simply now. I used to be sleeping downstairs. All I heard — abruptly, I heard a loud noise.
Det. James Krueger: She by no means requested them to rush up. Virtually each 911 name you listened to, hey, hurry up, I would like you now, ?
Det. James Krueger: This name is about her. It’s not about Kevin.
And whilst their bodycams rolled, cops Hetrick and Shanebrook questioned if Alison was genuinely involved, as Kevin lay dying.
Peter Van Sant: Sometimes, primarily based in your expertise, how is the partner reacting in a state of affairs like this?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: Normally simply absolute panic.
And when EMT’s lifted Kevin, brain-dead, into an emergency automobile —
Peter Van Sant: Did she try and get into the ambulance?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: Not as soon as.
Peter Van Sant: Not as soon as. Was she crying?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: I — I don’t ever recall witnessing her cry.
However they are saying they did hear her laughing.
Officer Garrett Shanebrook: Uh, we each observed it.
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: When she was additionally speaking to the paramedics, my physique digital camera captured her kinda laughing … with the paramedics.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK (bodycam video): Is there someplace we are able to get garments for ya?
ALISON DAVIS: Um, trigger you possibly can’t. I’m unsure.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK: Yeah. That’s the issue proper now, like I stated.
ALISON DAVIS: I imply, it’s what it’s at this level.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK: OK. OK.
Additionally unusual, to those cops, is what they noticed on the backside of the steps.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK (bodycam video): This simply doesn’t appear to be a fall to me.
OFFICER GARRETT SHANEBROOK: No.
Officer Garrett Shanebrook: If he fell down the steps why wasn’t he extra both wedged up towards the doorway … not laying completely flat in a horizontal place?
Det. James Krueger: It’s nearly like he was laid down at that base of the steps. It didn’t make sense.
Police would come to assume they knew why.
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: It didn’t add as much as a tumble down the steps.
Peter Van Sant: What did it add as much as you?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: Blunt pressure trauma …
A beating, police say — a number of extreme blows to the pinnacle till Kevin’s cranium caved in.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK (bodycam video): Proper now, we’re treating this as a criminal offense scene because of his situation, OK? Alright?
Police uncovered one thing else. Alison advised totally different tales as to the place she and Kevin have been sleeping. Keep in mind, first responders heard this story:
Alison Davis, seen on police bodycam video, telling first responders she and Kevin “got in a fight last night.”
New Haven, Indiana, Police Division
ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): We bought in a struggle final evening. And I used to be sleeping on the sofa, and he was sleeping upstairs.
However that’s not what investigators say Alison advised Kevin’s mom, Alta Beers.
Det. James Krueger: Alta tells me that, um, Alison advised her that … they have been in mattress collectively … I stated, OK, that’s attention-grabbing.
Peter Van Sant: However she had advised you she was on a sofa.
Det. James Krueger: Yeah. Utterly totally different.
Krueger says Alison didn’t share with Kevin’s household simply how critically he was harm.
Det. James Krueger: She is minimizing this complete state of affairs, particularly to Kevin’s household.
Peter Van Sant: Why do you suppose Alison minimized his accidents –
Det. James Krueger: As a result of she triggered the accidents. That’s why she minimized them. … She’s caught mendacity …
The detective’s theories: the 911 name — faked.
ALISON DAVIS (to 911): My husband simply fell down the steps and there’s blood in every single place, and I can’t flip him over.
Alison’s conduct — unnatural. Kevin’s physique — it had been moved.
Tesa Helge: It appears to me like he’s been positioned in a method that doesn’t per falling down the steps.
Prosecutor Tesa Helge teamed with Krueger and the docs who had handled and examined Kevin.
Peter Van Sant: So your specialists are a person they believed mainly was overwhelmed to dying.
Tesa Helge: That’s precisely what they imagine.
Peter Van Sant: Overwhelmed by somebody.
Tesa Helge: Proper.
Peter Van Sant: And that somebody you imagine was?
Tesa Helge: Alison Davis.
However the prosecutor sensed the investigation confronted some critical challenges.
Peter Van Sant: The place’s the homicide weapon?
Tesa Helge: It’s a terrific query.
Peter Van Sant: And what triggered this?
Tesa Helge: Between them? I don’t know. I want I knew.
However Helge and Krueger grew to become satisfied, that they had realized one thing essential about Alison and Kevin’s marriage that might recommend a motive.
Det. James Krueger: I spoke with Kevin’s mom, Alta, and he or she had knowledgeable me that there have been having some marital points.
Tesa Helge: You understand a home relationship that has gone unhealthy … It’s on the rocks.
And keep in mind these texts from the ultimate hours of his life between Kevin and his good friend Jason Younger?
Jason Younger: He stated, “I’m putting my phone on silent, laughin’ my ass off, gotta go to bed. The wife.”
Peter Van Sant: Gotta go, the spouse.
Det. James Krueger: The spouse.
Investigators prompt that message mirrored tensions within the marriage. Younger believes that’s ridiculous.
Peter Van Sant: Did he ever say to you my marriage is in hassle.
Jason Younger: No.
Kasey Klemm: She would’ve advised me if there was one thing happening and by no means was that hinted.
Alison’s supporters say she was simply being sincere with investigators when she talked about the argument. However, with detectives bearing down on her, Alison had stopped speaking to them about her marriage or anything.
Det. James Krueger: She went utterly silent after that and uh.
Peter Van Sant: The cooperation stopped.
Det. James Krueger: Over with, yep, yep.
On Oct. 17, 2023, after two months of investigation, police declared Kevin’s dying a murder. And two months after that, a warrant was issued for Alison’s arrest for the homicide of her husband.
Steve Krause: I imply that — that is unbelievable … So we get a advice for legal protection workforce in Indianapolis.
Steve Krause: Andrew Baldwin and Max Wiley.
Andrew Baldwin: I spent fairly a little bit of time together with her, and he or she’s only a fantastic individual …
Three days earlier than Christmas, Alison Davis walked into the Allen County Jail together with her mother and father.
Steve Krause: She stated … I’m Alison Davis, and I’m right here to show myself in.
Peter Van Sant: Did they handcuff her proper in entrance of you?
Steve Krause: Sure.
Peter Van Sant: Do you imagine Alison Davis had something to do together with her husband’s dying?
Max Wiley: No.
Wiley and Baldwin thought they knew precisely why cops hadn’t discovered a homicide weapon: as a result of there was no homicide.
Peter Van Sant: What was the instrument that you just imagine triggered Kevin’s dying?
Max Wiley: The banister on the backside of the steps.
ALISON DAVIS ARRESTED
Indiana hardly ever permits bail on a homicide cost. Alison Davis was locked up within the Allen County Jail. She pleaded not responsible.
Steve Krause: We all know Alison. … and we all know she isn’t able to what they accused her of.
Peter Van Sant: Does she have a mood?
Steve Krause: No, she’s by no means has a mood.
Peter Van Sant: Does she have a legal document?
Steve Krause: No, she doesn’t have a legal document.
Her father, Steve, hoped he’d given Alison instruments to outlive behind bars and face the anxious wait till her trial.
Steve Krause: Our household is faith-based, and Alison leaned on that religion.
Kasey Klemm: It was so laborious.
Kasey Klemm searched desperately for a method to assist her good friend.
Kasey Klemm: It’s like there’s nothing I can do for her, besides faux to be sturdy and remind her that I’m right here.
Kevin and Alison Davis
Krause Household
Whereas family members missed Alison, she advised them that she missed Kevin.
Kasey Klemm: You understand she would say, I haven’t been sleeping as a result of I simply maintain seeing it in my head and … I simply miss him and I would like him. … and she would simply discuss how all she needs greater than something on the planet is simply to listen to him name her babe once more and maintain her.
Family and friends have been denied any direct contact.
Steve Krause: No visitation.
Peter Van Sant: Have been you capable of see her on a video, Facetime form of state of affairs?
Steve Krause: No, we weren’t.
Solely her attorneys, Max Wiley and Andrew Baldwin, may see Alison. By plexiglass, they bought to know their shopper and developed a way of her relationship with Kevin.
Peter Van Sant: Do you purchase into this notion that it was a troubled marriage, headed towards a cliff?
Max Wiley: By no means. … Nobody is coming to the detectives, , proper after this occurred and saying there was an issue within the marriage, you must examine this. No person.
However keep in mind, 4 weeks after Kevin died, Krueger spoke with Kevin’s mom, Alta. He says she advised him Kevin and Alison have been having marital issues.
Det. James Krueger: It was trying prefer it was leaning in the direction of a separation.
Tesa Helge: I feel it’s honest to say that he was involved concerning the marriage, and that he had shared these issues together with his household.
As Helge ready, she believed she had a compelling story to share with a jury. It wasn’t about love and marriage —
Tesa Helge: This case goes to boil all the way down to a number of science …
Dr. Invoice Smock: I’m Dr. Invoice Smock. I’m a advisor to the Allen County District Lawyer’s Workplace within the dying of Mister Davis.
Tesa Helge: Once I introduced Dr. Smock in, and I supplied him all our supplies … I didn’t inform him what anybody else thought.
The protection retained a medical knowledgeable of its personal: Dr. L. J. Dragovic, a forensic pathologist and neuropathologist.
Max Wiley: He research brains. He research mind accidents. He’s enthusiastic about it.
The 2 specialists would come to radically totally different conclusions.
Dr. Invoice Smock: Mr. Davis was overwhelmed to dying.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Kevin Davis died on account of falling and hanging his head … on a backside submit of the stairway banister …
They labored to make sense of a tragedy that began with a telephone name.
Steve Krause: I’ve not heard the decision.
Peter Van Sant: Would you want to listen to it?
Steve Krause: Positive.
Peter Van Sant: You prepared?
Steve Krause: I’m prepared.
ALISON DAVIS (to 911): My husband simply fell down the steps and there’s blood in every single place, and I can’t flip him over. I don’t know if he’s alive or lifeless.
Steve Krause: Take heed to her.
Steve Krause: And I can’t imagine they did this to her. It’s unbelievable. Such injustice!
On the East Haven Tavern, the regulars have been torn.
Jodi Espy: Lots of people assume she’s responsible. Lots of people assume she’s harmless.
Jessica Eakright: There’s simply not a bone in my physique that thinks she may have achieved this.
Jodi Espy: I imagine that she’s not responsible.
Peter Van Sant: What do you imagine occurred that evening?
Todd Spessert: I don’t know.
Peter Van Sant: In your thoughts, is Alison Davis a killer?
Todd Spessert: I don’t know.
Could 5, 2025. Alison has been locked up for 17 months.
Jessica Eakright: The, um, trial begins tomorrow.
On the morning of Could 6, former Det. James Krueger — now Police Chief Krueger after a promotion — heads to courtroom.
Chief James Krueger (driving to courtroom): I’m anxious. … What’s at stake at the moment is both Kevin Davis will get justice for what was achieved to him, or we let a — a assassin stroll free.
Max Wiley: I simply, , saved considering … what proof have they got to say that Alison murdered him and there simply … wasn’t something.
Krueger admits the investigation was flawed, however he isn’t making any excuses.
James Krueger: So, I used to be accountable for gathering the proof, ensuring every little thing was accomplished … if one thing bought tousled or if I missed one thing, that — that falls on my accountability … That’s my child.
He is aware of there are challenges — beginning with a most simple challenge.
Chief James Krueger: He was an enormous man. You understand, the jurors could have a tough time believing that she was even able to inflicting this damage to him.
And if the chief was a betting man?
Chief James Krueger: I give this one a 50-50 … I imagine there’s an excellent chance that this jury will dangle and there received’t be a verdict.
On the Allen County Courthouse, each side are set to go.
Andrew Baldwin: The prosecution has no homicide weapon. … The prosecution has nowhere to cover from the paltry proof that it’s about to current to you.
Tesa Helge: There’s little doubt that Kevin was murdered.
And like Krueger, Helge is aware of this case is a troublesome one. So many individuals assume Alison Davis merely couldn’t be a killer.
Deontae Bristol: That’s not Alison. That’s not who she is. … She had no motive … Kevin was her world.
Peter Van Sant: Are you satisfied that Alison Davis murdered her husband?
Chief James Krueger: I’m 100% satisfied. Sure.
A DRAMATIC VERDICT
Inside Fort Wayne’s historic courthouse, no cameras are allowed. “48 Hours” is allowed a sketch artist. Investigators, docs and family members testify. However all eyes are on Alison.
Peter Van Sant: And what do you see on her face?
Steve Krause: I see love.
However it isn’t love, it’s forensics that outline this trial. Docs Smock and Dragovic, and their radically opposing theories.
Dr. Invoice Smock: Mr. Davis sustained blows to the pinnacle … not simply on one aspect, however on the again and on the left aspect as properly.
At trial, Smock presents a CT scan highlighting Kevin’s accidents, the a number of fractures to his head.
Dr. Invoice Smock: What that claims is that Mr. Davis sustained a number of blows to a number of areas of his head.
Dr. Invoice Smock: I advised the jury that Mr. Davis was the sufferer of a murder … He didn’t fall down these stairs.
He believes Alison wielded a weapon that was by no means discovered.
Dr. Invoice Smock: For instance, a kettle bell, a weight … It definitely may very well be the top of a baseball bat.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Kevin Davis was not killed on account of impacts by baseball bat.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: He suffered just one — one affect to the pinnacle as his head slammed into that — that submit of the banister.
That one affect, Dragovic says, led to a number of fractures. He says the identical affect then triggered Kevin’s mind to ricochet inside his cranium.
The shattered bone fragments acted like shrapnel, tearing Kevin’s mind.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: They declare that Kevin was overwhelmed. … they bought it flawed.
Dr. Invoice Smock: I might say Dr. Dragovic bought it flawed.
Physician Smock says simply take a look at the police bodycam video. The banister submit seems clear. There’s no proof Kevin’s head struck it.
Bodycam video exhibits New Haven, Indiana, cops inspecting the scene on the backside of the staircase within the Davis’ residence.
New Haven, Indiana, Police Division
Dr. Invoice Smock: There was no blood, no tissue, no hair on the highest of that banister.
However keep in mind, Dragovic argues the submit is clear as a result of Kevin’s accidents have been inner.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Kevin by no means had any open wound wherever on his physique.
Blood that was discovered by first responders was on the ground, beneath Kevin’s physique. It got here from his nostril and mouth.
Chief James Krueger (at staircase banister): In keeping with the protection, his cranium hit this.
Chief Krueger tells “48 Hours” what he believes occurred to Kevin.
Chief. James Krueger: I imagine that he made some feedback to Alison who was laying down right here on the sofa.
Peter Van Sant: And he’s strolling away from her?
Chief James Krueger: … he’s strolling away from her … and Alison grabs an object … he takes that blow to the again of the pinnacle.
Legally intoxicated and immobilized by extra blows –
Chief James Krueger: … and someplace on this space is the place he loses it and falls.
Investigators imagine Alison dragged 219-pound Kevin throughout a portion of the ground.
Chief James Krueger: Mrs. Davis sees these stairs and says, properly that is my scapegoat. I could make it appear to be that is an accident.
Chief James Krueger: And he was pulled simply sufficient to make it appear to be he fell down the steps.
And Krueger says there’s extra proof of Alison’s guilt: Kevin’s chilly physique temperature.
Chief James Krueger: Core physique temperature was 91 levels.
Physician Smock says he is aware of why.
DR. BILL SMOCK: Kevin Davis was mendacity there for not less than two hours earlier than 911 was referred to as.
However in his testimony, Dragovic counters Kevin’s low temperature is because of one thing else: the affect with the submit destroyed a key a part of Kevin’s mind referred to as the hypothalamus.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: … that a part of the mind is the precise thermostat for the physique.
The consequence:
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Your physique temperature is uncontrolled. … It’s, uh, kaput.
Dr. Invoice Smock: There are such a lot of inconsistencies with that principle.
Willow, a black and white feminine pit bull combine cherished by her house owners, didn’t appear destined to turn out to be a key determine in a homicide investigation.
Krause Household
Krueger took “48 Hours” upstairs to that bed room Willow the pit bull combine shared with Kevin and Alison. Alison had warned Krueger, Willow may assault.
ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): She’s up within the bed room, and he or she’s a guard canine.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER: Proper now, what I received’t do is I received’t go in that room.
ALISON DAVIS: OK.
Peter Van Sant: Did you ever get into this room?
Chief James Krueger: I by no means did. Not on that morning. … I 100% want I might’ve gotten into this room on the morning of the twelfth.
Peter Van Sant: As a result of?
Chief James Krueger: The homicide weapon may have been in there.
Chief Krueger has been on the home a number of instances. That is the primary time Alison’s attorneys have been capable of get inside.
Andrew Baldwin: Wow.
Max Wiley: Oh my goodness.
Andrew Baldwin: That’s the staircase proper there. … And there’s the submit … So, you hit that and also you —you find yourself, yeah your ft over right here.
Max Wiley: Let’s see how steep these stairs are, they’re actually steep. Aren’t they?
Peter Van Sant: And slender.
Max Wiley: Yeah. And slender.
Andrew Baldwin: It’s highly effective to be on this home.
And to image what they imagine have been the ultimate, deadly steps of Kevin Davis.
Andrew Baldwin: … it’s an intoxicated man that fell down the steps and hit his head on that submit proper there …
The trial lasts 4 days. Alison doesn’t take the stand.
MARCUS TRUSCIO | WANE Reporter: The jury is now out … they only heard closing arguments for about two hours.
Which story will the jury imagine?
The courthouse is darkish aside from the jury room. Some 21 grueling months have handed because the heartbreaking dying of Kevin Davis. If convicted of his homicide, Alison Davis may spend the remainder of her life in jail. At 11 p.m., phrase comes of a verdict. Alison’s household and attorneys emerge.
Max Wiley: Not responsible.
Meghan Hodge | Member of the family: Oh my God she’s coming residence! Oh my God! Oh!
Alison Davis is discovered not responsible.
Simply moments earlier than, Steve had locked eyes together with his daughter as her verdict got here down.
Steve Krause (outdoors courthouse): She was crying with pleasure, and it was an exquisite second.
Andrew Baldwin (outdoors courthouse): That household over there — that’s why we do that work. That’s precisely why we do that work.
Kevin’s mom Alta doesn’t need Kevin to be forgotten.
Alta Beers: He’s my son. I’ve all the time cherished him and all the time will.
She accepts the decision.
Alta Beers: I’m OK. I’m coping with it. She’s nonetheless my daughter-in-law, it doesn’t matter what.
However the place is Alison? Again in jail — ready for her launch paperwork. A chilly however joyous crowd stands vigil. Then, at 2:12 a.m., the jailhouse door cracks open.
Steve Krause: Alison comes out and all people simply erupts with pleasure.
Peter Van Sant: It was the group hug of the ages.
Steve Krause: Sure … tears and saying Alison we missed you a lot. It’s so good to have you ever in our arms once more.
Alison Davis: It’s a number of feelings, actually.
There isn’t any pleasure for many who imagine the jury bought it flawed.
Chief James Krueger: I used to be like ugh, unbelievable, unbelievable.
Peter Van Sant: You have been surprised by that?
Chief James Krueger: I used to be, yeah.
“48 Hours” spoke with a juror who requested us to not present her face or use her identify.
Juror: Nicely the prosecution didn’t have a powerful case, like there was no weapon, there was no that is the place she did it, and the way she did it.
Juror: The — the prosecution’s principle had a number of holes.
And the jury believed the theories of Dr. Dragovic.
Juror: He defined every little thing in very clear phrases that we may perceive, and it simply made sense. It made sense to the accidents.
Peter Van Sant: And for Kevin’s household, what would you must say them?
Jodi Espy: Simply that I’m so sorry on your loss. It’s — it’s so devastating.
Peter Van Sant: What do you hope for her?
Jessica Eakright: I hope that she will … discover her place … to get again to that smiling completely happy person who she was.
Jessica Eakright: She didn’t deserve a 12 months and a half of her life taken away sitting in jail. … So, I used to be actually completely happy for her.
Alison Davis has left New Haven and resides together with her mother and father and her canine Willow.
Produced by James Stolz. Kat Teurfs is the sphere producer. Rebecca LaFlam is the affiliate producer. Michelle Sigona is the event producer. Richard Barber, Michael Vele and Gregory McLaughlin are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
