00:00:00
[Music] I wake up every single day and I cry and I miss her. It's so frustrating because you just you
00:00:19
can look back and you you wish you did more. Maybe my sister was scared to go to the
00:00:27
law because her husband was a police officer. >> Jones County District Attorney's Office.
00:00:37
>> I believe Seth Peralt was an individual that had a lot of people fooled. >> Say hi, buddy.
00:00:43
>> Hi. >> He doesn't want to say hi. >> I think he hid behind a badge and wore a
00:00:48
mask every day. Nice house, nice car, law enforcement. But behind that door to that house, he was pretty abusive.
00:01:00
>> Stop the camera. >> No, let's not. Let's tell the truth. >> Stop the camera. >> No.
00:01:04
>> Maybe she was scared to get out. >> It's February 3rd, 2020. Set the scene for me. What happened?
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>> I'm sitting at my desk at my office. >> That was it. >> And the phone rings and it's the police
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chief. He said, "I got Seth Peralt on the phone. He's told me his wife had killed herself
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and I knew that we need to get there and get this matter investigated and do it right.
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>> Describe what you saw when you got to the scene. >> Seth Peralt sitting on the front steps.
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He's sitting there, hands holding over his face. I asked her to go inside, search the house, and he gave consent
00:01:44
for that. Had you ever seen a suicide that looked like that? >> I never seen anything like that.
00:01:53
>> Her body is flat on her back. Her legs are almost together and her arms are tucked against her side with her hands
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cut. This wasn't right. >> He's worked a lot of cases. >> He told me, he said, "The scene is not
00:02:08
right. There's something not adding up." >> And the more we investigated, the odder
00:02:13
it got. Obviously, we have a death investigation here. >> I asked him would he come downtown to
00:02:20
talk to us further. >> I don't know how this happened. >> He said that they were in bed and they
00:02:25
were arguing. >> All I know is my wife was upset. She looked at me and said, "I can't do it no
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more." >> He loved her. She was his world. He'd never done anything to harm her ever.
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>> My wife looked at me and executed herself. And if you look at the logistics of it, you're going to see
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that I had nothing to do with it. >> We all called Sheriff Sills that night and said, "We know our sister didn't do
00:02:52
this. We know she didn't take her own life, that he had something to do with this."
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>> I'll look you in your face as as a law enforcement officer. I did not do I had
00:03:03
nothing to do with it. 7 months later, the medical examiner's report comes out and what does it say?
00:03:13
>> Suicide. >> Well, I was astounded. >> Dr. Darasau is a renowned medical examiner. So, her certification of
00:03:23
suicide we thought was basically openshot. You have to remember she works for the state. I'm Justin Kenny, an
00:03:30
attorney for Seth Peralt. It all came down to the forensics. Could the state actually prove that Seth had pulled the
00:03:37
trigger and shot his wife in the That [Music] heat. [Music] [Music] Just an hour and a half after Seth
00:04:28
Peralt said his 44year-old wife Amanda shot herself right in front of him, he was struggling to tell his story. in
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shock. My wife of 8 years that I love more than anything in this world. I don't know anywhere to start, sir. I've
00:04:47
lost everything in my life. 44year-old Peralt, then a police officer for the city of Eaton, Georgia, told the
00:04:58
county sheriff Howard Sills that his wife Amanda had shot herself in the head. >> What did he say happened? He said that
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they were in bed and they were arguing and then all of a sudden she just produced the gun out of thin air and
00:05:15
executed herself. >> I just sat there and watched my wife execute herself. >> In all my years of questioning anybody
00:05:24
for suicide, I have never heard anybody use the term executed. [Music] >> I knew she hadn't. I knew that he was
00:05:35
lying. >> From the very beginning, Angie and Alicia Johnson say they had questions
00:05:41
about what happened to their sister, Amanda. >> We knew better. We knew our sister.
00:05:46
Amanda loved life. She wouldn't put us through this. >> About 8 years earlier, in the fall of
00:05:56
2011, a recently divorced Amanda met Seth Perult online. I remember her being kind of excited about it. He treated her
00:06:05
differently from some of the past relationships she had been in where, you know, she wasn't respected.
00:06:13
>> Seth battling cancer and unemployed at the time seemed to fall for Amanda fast
00:06:19
and hard. >> And they moved in fairly quick. Like he had her move in within 6 months of them
00:06:24
meeting. >> Seth was living an hour away with his mother who was caring for him. But Angie
00:06:30
says Amanda would quickly take over the role of Seth's caretaker. >> When she moved out there, he didn't want
00:06:36
her to work. >> They say Seth's parents were paying all of the couple's bills and helping with
00:06:42
expenses for Seth's daughter from a previous relationship. >> So Seth was basically dependent on his
00:06:48
family. >> Very much. >> Very much. >> And Amanda was dependent on Seth >> for the longest time. Like he wouldn't
00:06:55
let her have any kind of phone, cell phone, or anything like that. It would be his phone or a landline. She didn't
00:06:59
even have a car to drive. He monitored her constantly. >> As time went on, Alicia and Angie say
00:07:08
they saw less and less of their sister. >> He kept us from being able to see her.
00:07:14
So, >> she didn't come to like any of our Christmas events or like any of our events because she had to host for his
00:07:21
family and cook for all of them. >> Amanda lived with Seth for 5 years. Then on June 23rd, 2017, the couple surprised
00:07:32
everyone when they quietly went to the local courthouse and got married. Angie and Alicia believe the only reason
00:07:41
Seth married their sister was to help him get custody of his daughter. >> That's why I feel like he asked her to
00:07:48
marry him. >> Seth's custody battle had been going on for almost exactly a year at that point.
00:07:55
Do you think Seth marrying Amanda helped him gain custody? >> Absolutely. >> Seth's attorney, Justin Kenny.
00:08:02
>> If Amanda was going to be present in his daughter's life, they had to get married. I think that was one of the
00:08:08
paramount issues for him to gain custody. >> Kenny says Seth did love Amanda and his
00:08:14
daughter and was just trying to do what he thought was best for everyone. >> This was a guy that doted on his
00:08:20
daughter. He was a family man. He would do on his wife. I I just thought he was a a stand-up individual.
00:08:27
>> A few months after Amanda and Seth were married, he was granted custody of his
00:08:32
daughter. A little over a year later, he was hired by the Eaton Police Department
00:08:38
and his father bought him this house near Lake Aone. >> She loved their new home.
00:08:43
>> This should have been everything she hoped for. >> Yeah, it was, you know, except for the
00:08:50
relationship. Alicia and Angie say they didn't know just how bad things had gotten, but
00:08:57
we're hearing more and more stories of fighting fueled by alcohol. >> Heard stories in interviews that, you
00:09:04
know, when they were sober, they were loving toward one another. But it's when alcohol came into the mix, that's when
00:09:09
it became toxic. >> A little over a year after joining the police force, Seth fell down some stairs
00:09:17
at the couple's home and had to go on medical leave. Now, along with the alcohol, there were pain pills and the
00:09:24
sisters say the fighting seemed to be escalating. >> You could hear it like on phone calls.
00:09:30
His tone and demeanor around her. I would ask, "You want me to call 911? Can I call 911?"
00:09:35
>> She would tell you, "No, no, don't call." You know, we've just been drinking. We'll be everything will be
00:09:40
okay later on. Maybe she knew her situation would become even worse. You know, >> then things did get worse.
00:09:49
On January 28th, 2020, just days before her death, Amanda called 911. >> Public County Sheriff's Office. Could
00:09:57
you help, please? >> Yes. Thank you. >> She called me. She had barricaded herself in a back bedroom.
00:10:05
>> It's my husband. He's putting his hands on me. >> She ended up having to run next door.
00:10:10
>> He locked me out of the house and I'm just trying to get my things out of the
00:10:13
house, please. >> She's at the neighbor's house right now. Another sheriff's dispatcher was alerted
00:10:20
>> and she said her husband is an officer with the Eaton Police Department. >> That second dispatcher said he knew Seth
00:10:27
Peralt and said he had a reputation. >> I ain't supposed to know this, but he's been out of work with his back and
00:10:34
apparently he's over there whipping up on her ass. >> Seth made local headlines when he was
00:10:41
arrested on charges of simple battery and family violence. She told me, "Would I come get her the next morning?" And I
00:10:48
told her yes, to make sure to pack everything, have it ready. >> Instead, Amanda decided to attend Seth's
00:10:56
bond hearing. When the judge agreed to release Seth on bail, he asked Amanda if she wanted a stayway order added. Amanda
00:11:04
said no and then let Seth come home >> cuz she was scared. She knew he was mad. She knew that it was public that he had
00:11:14
been arrested. He's a police officer. You know, I have to bring him home and make this right.
00:11:19
>> I talked to her the day he got out and I said, "How are things?" And she said,
00:11:23
"He's being unusually nice." Alicia says she doubted Seth's new attitude and felt that underneath he
00:11:32
must be seething, knowing that if he was convicted on abuse charges, he was in danger of losing custody of his daughter
00:11:41
and his job. He knew he was going to embarrass his family and he had already put himself up here on this pedestal
00:11:47
like he was king. And then to be humiliated in front of people, I think it made him very angry.
00:11:56
>> Alicia says Amanda was terrified and looking for a way out. >> We were all on a chain message. And we
00:12:03
were telling her just get out, divorce him, tell his father that you don't want anything but a vehicle. And she said,
00:12:12
"I'm not trying to get killed." >> Just 5 days later, Amanda was dead. [Music] Sheriff Howard Sills says that from the
00:12:42
very start of his investigation into the death of Amanda Paralt, he wasn't buying
00:12:47
her husband's story. I knew something was wrong the day I walked in the house. >> For starters, the position of Amanda's
00:12:57
body, depicted in this 48 hours animation based on the crime scene photos, left Sills certain that Amanda
00:13:05
could not have shot herself. >> Okay, this is the actual gun. Also of concern to Sills was the way this Smith
00:13:14
and Wesson 380, which belonged to Seth, was found lying next to Amanda's body with its magazine ejected.
00:13:22
>> The magazine, it was near her right side, and the pistol itself was way down here
00:13:33
below her left foot. What made the ejected magazine even more curious, says Sills, is the fact that
00:13:41
there was a bullet found inside the gun's chamber. >> It's a semi-automatic gun, so when it
00:13:47
fires, the slide comes back. The spent cartridge casing is ejected and it picks up the next round.
00:13:54
>> Because of that bullet in the chamber, the magazine had to be ejected after the
00:14:00
gun was fired, says Sills. And unless the gun is defective, the only way to eject the magazine is to push this
00:14:08
button. >> Now, don't do this at home, but when you do this, how you going to get your hand,
00:14:14
your second hand around there to do it. >> There was also no blood on Amanda's hands or the long sleeves of her shirt.
00:14:21
And something else caught the sheriff's eye. >> In the middle of the closet on the floor
00:14:26
was a damp green towel. Somebody had dried off with it. No doubt about that. >> One of the first deputies on the scene
00:14:37
said Seth smelled like shampoo. Also alarming, the bedroom was littered with 20 miniature bottles of Fireball
00:14:46
whiskey, all of them empty. Sills says he didn't have the manpower to process the scene, so he called in
00:14:55
agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. While they collected physical evidence and Amanda's body was
00:15:02
transported to the state medical examiner, Sills focused on Seth. >> He came in and sat right in this blue
00:15:12
leather chair. >> Seth spoke to Sills in his office for over an hour without an attorney
00:15:18
present. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm I have no reason to lie to you. >> I wanted to know what had happened that
00:15:24
day. How did the magazine get out of the gun? How did the gun get where it was? >> Did you touch that gun today?
00:15:32
>> The 380? >> Yeah. >> I mean, it's been No. Today? >> No, sir. >> How does her body get into that
00:15:40
position? >> No answer. >> Cuz you never touched her. >> No, never touched her. But Sills says
00:15:46
that didn't make any sense. So he kept pressing and then Seth changed his story.
00:15:55
>> Maybe I I don't know. I probably did touch her. I was probably hugging the out of her and I was probably like I'm
00:16:01
so like, "Honey, what the hell's going on?" >> Sheriff Sills says Seth tried several
00:16:07
times to deflect questions with his badge. >> I take pride in being a good law enforcement agent. And I can't remember
00:16:15
how many times he looked me in the eye and said, "I'm a good police officer. >> I'm a good officer. I'm a good police
00:16:23
officer. I'm a good police officer. I'm a good officer. I'm a good police officer."
00:16:28
>> Amanda, he said, also knew what a good cop he was and how assault charges would
00:16:34
ruin both their lives. >> She hated to see my reputation destroyed on the news cuz she knows what a good
00:16:41
police officer I am. and she was so worried I'd lose my daughter. She wanted to come down here and tell you
00:16:51
that it was a lie. >> Seth insisted that Amanda had lied the day she called 911 and felt so bad about
00:16:59
it that she wanted to confess to perjury. >> He said that she had written something
00:17:04
that she intended to bring to me recanting what she had told the deputies and he told me where it was. This
00:17:11
handwritten letter was found in Amanda's nightstand. It reads in part, "I, Amanda
00:17:18
Perole, would like to retract my statement. My husband never put his hands on me ever. I feel horrible for
00:17:26
the humiliation I put my husband and my family through. I am willing to take any
00:17:32
punishment I may deserve for what I have done." >> I don't deny she wrote it, but look at
00:17:38
the penmanship. There's not the slightest error of any kind. What we've got here is a inexperienced
00:17:47
police officer dictating what's to be written. >> Like Sills, Amanda's sisters are certain
00:17:53
Seth was behind the letter. >> She wrote it, but she was coached. I think he was telling her, "I need you to
00:17:59
write this to get me out of trouble." >> But Seth told Sills he was not about to
00:18:05
let Amanda confess to lying to authorities. I knew if she came down here, it was a false statement and a
00:18:12
felony. I knew it. >> But according to Seth, Amanda couldn't take the guilt anymore. So, she put his
00:18:19
gun to her head and pulled the trigger. >> She looked at me and said, "I'm sorry.
00:18:27
I'm sorry I put you through this." Boom. I couldn't even say a word, Sheriff. It
00:18:34
was done. Seth tried to convince Sills that Amanda killed herself because her call to 911
00:18:41
had potentially ruined their lives. But the sheriff didn't see that as a reason for suicide. Instead, he saw a motive
00:18:50
for murder. Believing that Amanda would never take her own life, this made sense to her
00:18:58
sisters as well. He had to make it look like she took her life so that he could be cleared of all this wrongdoing.
00:19:09
>> Sheriff Sills says he was convinced that Seth Barol was somehow involved in his
00:19:14
wife's death, but that day he felt he didn't have enough to arrest him. >> I wanted to see if I could get some more
00:19:21
evidence, and I did. One of the clues that convinced Sheriff Sills that Seth Peralt wasn't telling
00:19:43
the truth were his actions just 20 minutes before he reported his wife Amanda was dead.
00:19:51
That's when Sil's deputy, Terrell Abernathy, arrived at his front door trying to deliver paperwork on an
00:19:58
upcoming case. They had one of those video doorbell things and I rang that. >> The scene was captured in this video.
00:20:09
>> I expected him to answer the door and I expected to hand him his copy of the subpoena.
00:20:14
I mean, you're a policeman. You know how this works. Abernathy says he could tell someone was
00:20:21
home. And what'd you hear? >> I heard footsteps or footfalls, heavy ones. I'm announcing myself who I am,
00:20:29
what it is. I even turned my back to the door. I don't care if you're in your underwear. Just answer the door and take
00:20:35
the paper. >> He waited seven minutes and then left. Subpoena still in hand. In my heart, I
00:20:44
believe that Amanda Peralt had already been shot when Abernathy rang the doorbell. I think he was concerned that
00:20:51
somebody heard the gunshot and that's why he didn't go to the door. >> District Attorney Wright Barksdale
00:20:59
believes Seth was trying to figure out what to do next. >> Think about this. He's in the process of
00:21:06
staging this scene and he hears the doorbell ring. Can you imagine what was going through his mind?
00:21:13
>> But attorney Justin Kenny says that is not what happened. Why didn't they come
00:21:18
to the door when Deputy Abernathy rang that bell? >> Fear of what he's bringing. Seth is
00:21:26
afraid that his ex is about to serve him with custody modification paperwork. >> What does that say happened after that?
00:21:34
>> So, believe it there is a heated discussion that takes place. He lays down, diffuse a situation. He lays down
00:21:40
to take a nap. He awoke to Amanda mumbling something, whispering something, and her pulling
00:21:47
the trigger and and shooting herself. >> Kenny points out that Amanda was impaired by alcohol, three times the
00:21:54
legal limit when tested by the medical examiner. That and the escalating tension in her marriage, became a deadly
00:22:02
combination. the nice house, the daughter, the financial security. All of this was
00:22:08
crumbling around Amanda. And then you tack on a 23 blood alcohol content. She thought that that was the only way to to
00:22:17
fix it to to end it. >> She was really drunk. >> Absolutely. >> Maybe she accidentally shot the gun.
00:22:24
>> How'd she accidentally get the magazine out of it? How'd she accidentally get
00:22:28
posed as she was? Sills was also very troubled because Seth didn't call 911 when his wife
00:22:37
allegedly shot herself. Instead, Herald called his boss, the Edon Chief of Police on his cell phone. 48 hours made
00:22:48
several unsuccessful attempts to reach the former chief for comment. >> Obviously, we're not going to have a
00:22:54
recording of that. and they have at least a 20minute conversation before I'm caught.
00:23:02
>> Hoping the Parole's neighbors had heard something the day Amanda died, Sills had
00:23:07
Deputy Abernathy go back to the parole house to question them. What he learned made Sills even more suspicious about
00:23:15
Seth's involvement in Amanda's death. We found out that there had been a true pattern of domestic violence for years
00:23:27
and years. >> Neighbors said the couple could be heard fighting nearly every day. And in their
00:23:34
eyes, Seth was almost always the aggressor. They told stories about a physical altercation between Seth and
00:23:43
Amanda where he actually grabbed her by the back of the hair and pulled her down
00:23:47
and pushed her into the driveway. >> One neighbor told Abernathy that he would often stand by in case things got
00:23:55
really violent. >> He talked about how at times he would just stand in the yard and just wait to
00:24:00
see if he needed to call 911 because it was so violent over there. Another neighbor said that Amanda had twice made
00:24:08
this chilling comment >> that if she were to wind up dead that Peralt is the one that did it and she
00:24:16
made this neighbor promise that she would insist that her death be investigated as homicide.
00:24:22
>> Did anyone call the police? >> No. >> Why not? >> Well, one of the answers was that well
00:24:28
we were scared to call because he was the police. >> It's hurtful. It's hurtful. And this is
00:24:36
why I wanted to do this show is to make sure that people know to speak up. >> The day Amanda died, the neighbors said
00:24:45
they didn't hear a thing. The only witness to what happened was Seth Perol, and Sills was sure he couldn't trust him
00:24:54
after the interview in his office. According to Seth, they take the child to school,
00:25:00
they come back home, and they go nowhere at all other than down the street to the
00:25:06
convenience store. Well, that didn't happen. He lied. Sills says the proof was on this
00:25:15
surveillance camera footage of the couple found 12 miles away at this drive-thru liquor store where Amanda
00:25:23
bought those 20 miniature bottles of Fireball whiskey. >> She drives up this drive-in window.
00:25:29
Right there's the camera that catches the truck. >> I see it. >> Simultaneously, Seth was captured on a
00:25:37
camera next door at this convenience store. You see him walk and he actually comes down I believe it's this aisle and
00:25:48
he walks and he gets something to drink. >> This video says Barksdale would become a
00:25:55
crucial piece of evidence. Not because of what was purchased, but because of what Seth was wearing. This Pink Floyd
00:26:04
t-shirt. These black athletic pants. Nearly 4 hours later, when sheriff's deputies
00:26:11
arrived at the parole home to investigate Amanda's death, Seth was wearing something else.
00:26:18
>> When we get there, he is dressed in shorts and a dark t-shirt. >> And the clothing Seth was wearing in the
00:26:26
video. >> We found those in the washing machine. >> The clothing was dry and had clearly not been laundered. But
00:26:36
there was that deputy who had reported that Seth smelled freshly washed and there was that damp towel that was
00:26:44
found on the closet floor. >> Seth says he took a bath. >> Seth's attorney, Justin Kenny, says Seth
00:26:51
did wash up at some point. >> After you take a bath, you're going to change clothes. There was no evidence
00:26:57
that the washing machine had actually been turned on. It looked like the washing machine was being used as a a
00:27:03
laundry basket. Only a tiny speck of blood was found on the backside of Perold's pants, and a
00:27:10
trace amount of gunpowder residue was found on his left hand when tested. >> They did it 3 hours later after
00:27:18
potential contamination from being the police station. >> Amanda's hands were never tested, and
00:27:24
the gun was never dusted for fingerprints. But Sills felt he now had enough evidence to make an arrest. Just 2 days
00:27:33
after Amanda's shooting, now former Eaton police officer Seth Perolt was taken into custody. Sheriff Sills called
00:27:42
me and let me know that they were going to arrest him for her murder. And I my whole family just was so relieved and
00:27:51
and happy that that >> she was getting justice. >> Yes. But before a grand jury could hear the
00:27:59
evidence and decide if there was enough to go to trial, co shut down the courts.
00:28:05
Seth would sit in this jail for nearly 9 months until that autopsy report was released by the medical examiner,
00:28:15
declaring Amanda's death a suicide. Her decision was based primarily on the lack
00:28:21
of gunpowder around the wound, which meant the gun would have to have been right up against Amanda's head when it
00:28:28
went off. And there were no signs of a struggle. >> Nobody is just going to allow somebody
00:28:34
to put a gun to their head and pull the trigger without putting up some sort of fight. The
00:28:39
>> first thing I just called the DA. I said, "You're not going to believe this."
00:28:42
>> Did you think maybe you made a mistake? >> Absolutely not. We're going to take
00:28:46
every bit of the evidence and try to piece this thing together. >> But Justin Kenny did think the
00:28:53
prosecution was making a mistake and that the autopsy report was all the evidence needed to defend Seth Perol.
00:29:02
>> I mean, it was it seemed pretty openshot to me. [Music] It was November 3rd, 2020, and Seth
00:29:26
Perult, still unindicted, had been in jail for nearly 9 months. When CO restrictions finally eased, a grand jury
00:29:35
was set to decide if there was enough evidence against him to go to trial. >> And you know the first thing I put up
00:29:43
for that grand jury to see >> the crime scene pictures? >> No, ma'am. The autopsy report that said
00:29:49
suicide. Ladies and gentlemen, State Crime Lab medical examiner says this was a suicide. Now I'm going to show you the
00:29:58
evidence I found. Members of the grand jury did see the crime scene photos and heard evidence of domestic abuse and
00:30:07
quickly decided that despite the medical examiner's report, Seth Perult should face a jury of his peers.
00:30:15
>> What were the charges? >> Malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.
00:30:20
>> Peralt pled not guilty to all charges. At his trial in February of 2022, he decided not to testify, leaving defense
00:30:31
attorney Justin Kenny to tell his story. >> I think there was a complete absence of
00:30:37
sufficient evidence that Seth killed his wife. >> The prosecution showed a jury of eight
00:30:43
women and four men. The crime scene photos, including the way Amanda's body and the gun were found. They also heard
00:30:52
testimony from that sheriff's deputy who thought Seth smelled freshly showered. They watched the footage of Deputy
00:30:59
Abernathy at the Parolt's front door and listened to all 60 minutes of Herald's interview with Sheriff Sills.
00:31:07
>> I don't know how this happened. District Attorney Barksdale says that some of the
00:31:12
most compelling evidence was found on Amanda's cell phone. Like this video she recorded seven months prior to her
00:31:20
death. >> It's sad. It's sad because you know what? I married you and I'm I'm not
00:31:25
going to I'm Dude, you're done. >> I'm done. >> Amanda's sisters were seeing the video
00:31:31
for the first time. >> It made me angry. >> I want to have a good weekend. >> You burn that up when you try to put
00:31:37
that phone in my face. slip phone in your face. >> Oh, right there. Oh, you're you're
00:31:40
videaping. >> Yeah, because you're beating and I'm going to show you tomorrow. >> You didn't videotape all the you when
00:31:45
you hit me and smack >> hit you. >> You [ __ ] choked me eight times. >> The video was problematic, but it it
00:31:52
doesn't show everything that took place. Seth also states that she had acted violently toward him as well.
00:31:59
>> He doesn't want to say hi. There was no evidence of Seth having been abused introduced at trial, but Amanda's phone
00:32:07
also contained photos of her with bruises, a black eye, and a split lip along with texts like this one to her
00:32:16
sisters. Seth just choked me till I nearly passed out, busted my lip wide open. >> I was scared that um one of them might
00:32:26
get hurt. This is Seth's then 8-year-old daughter being interviewed by a forensic
00:32:33
child psychologist. Remember, she was a witness to what happened the day Amanda called 911.
00:32:40
>> They were cussing at each other. Miss Amanda was cussing, too, but she didn't
00:32:45
touch daddy at all. Daddy was like touching her nose like this, like, "Get out of my house right now."
00:32:51
>> The jury was shown most of the interview. >> She was on the floor like this. Yeah.
00:32:56
trying to get her stuff. Then all of a sudden, daddy just started grabbing her arms and daddy just pushed her over the
00:33:03
laundry table and then um opened the door and pushed her out the door. >> While her father spent the night in
00:33:10
jail, she said Amanda begged her not to tell anyone what happened or there could
00:33:16
be deadly consequences. >> Amanda tells her that night, "If your daddy loses custody of you, he's going
00:33:24
to shoot me dead." your daddy would come shoot me dead. >> But when Barksdale called the now
00:33:31
10year-old to the witness stand, she said she couldn't recall what happened that day or what she said in the
00:33:37
interview. >> She, I think, felt really torn. I seen her look at her dad a couple times. I
00:33:43
felt like she was more careful about what she was saying, like somebody had been coaching her. In cross-examination,
00:33:51
the defense asked if anyone had coached her on what to say. She said no. But Justin Kenny says he believes another
00:34:00
prosecution witness may have been coached, a jailhouse informant named Jack Faulk, who had shared a dorm block
00:34:08
with Seth Perolt. >> Jack Faulk has a criminal history, I believe 28 pages long, numerous contacts
00:34:14
with the police, and he had every incentive to lie and make up a story. Folk had come forward three weeks before
00:34:21
the medical examiner's report was released, claiming he had valuable information about Amanda's death.
00:34:28
>> He knew things that only Seth Peralt could have told him. >> In these two handwritten letters, Vault
00:34:34
claimed that Seth told him the camera catching him with the clothes on was his biggest concern. He also claimed that
00:34:42
Seth said he had been giving Amanda painkillers all day and that she was passed out at the time of her death.
00:34:49
>> I think he was in the bed with her after she was passed out and held the gun against her head. Thank
00:34:55
>> he was behind her. >> Behind her or slightly to the side. >> The defense argued that Amanda shot
00:35:01
herself because her lies about Seth assaulting her had potentially ruined their lives.
00:35:08
Furthermore, only that tiny trace of gunshot residue was found on Perold's left hand. And there was just that one
00:35:17
speck of blood found on his clothing. Justin Kenny says the hardest thing for the defense to explain was the way
00:35:25
Amanda's body was found. >> We knew that it was going to be a problem. The body had to be moved in
00:35:30
some way. Had to be touched in some way. >> Kenny says there is one explanation that
00:35:35
makes sense to him. Something Parole said in his interview with Sheriff Sills. >> I probably did touch her. I was probably
00:35:42
hugging the out of her >> and that would potentially account for her arms being uh by her sides.
00:35:49
>> As for the way Set's gun was found beside Amanda's body with the ejected magazine by her side. The defense hired
00:35:57
an expert who testified he fired the gun six times and after one of those firings, the magazine spontaneously
00:36:05
ejected. It shows that that firearm can drop the magazine when it's fired. >> Howard Sills took that very gun out and
00:36:14
shot it several times. The GBI examined that gun, didn't notate in their report any malfunctions whatsoever.
00:36:23
>> Dr. Laura, L O R A Dasaw. >> Then there was the medical examiner, Laura Darasaw. BSdale called her to the
00:36:32
stand and asked her to explain how she came to her conclusion of suicide as the manner of death.
00:36:39
>> What I wanted the jury and for her to see, she did not consider all the evidence. She had not considered Seth's
00:36:49
daughter's interview. She had not considered the cell phone data, the prior domestic abuse.
00:36:56
>> You didn't videape all this. >> But Dr. Darasaw defended her conclusion and in this statement to 48 hours, the
00:37:04
Georgia Bureau of Investigation backed her up. Our agency stands behind the original expert opinion of Perult's
00:37:12
death. >> Were you worried at all about the verdict? >> What I try to remind myself, it is my
00:37:19
job to pursue justice and to present a case for the jury to consider. And if they were to walk him out the door, I
00:37:29
would be able to look to Amanda Peralt's family and say, "We did everything we could."
00:37:37
Go inside the case and see more of the evidence at 48 hours.com. [Music] When they called us all back in, we all
00:37:53
just held hands and dropped our head. >> It had been just under 2 and 1/2 hours when the jury in the murder trial of
00:38:02
Seth Palt announced that they had reached a verdict. >> I just remember praying saying, "God,
00:38:10
you know, just please, you know, please do this for our family. let us have justice for
00:38:16
our sisters. >> And justice is what they feel. They got the verdict. Guilty of murder.
00:38:26
>> It was bittersweet because we got justice, but it didn't bring her back. It didn't bring our best friend
00:38:34
back. That same day, Perolds was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
00:38:46
>> I want many years of him praying to God and being on his knees that he would have took his own life instead of my
00:38:51
sisters. >> Justin Kenny says he believes an innocent man is now behind bars for
00:38:58
life. >> My heart sank. >> I've known Seth for almost a decade now, and I don't think he did it.
00:39:10
[Music] Every August on her birthday, Amanda's sisters honor her memory by releasing
00:39:19
love letters tied to purple balloons. >> I love you, Amanda. I hope you're having
00:39:26
a beautiful birthday in heaven. >> Happy birthday, dear Amanda. Happy birthday to you.
00:39:39
[Music] In 2022, the notes also included the National Domestic Abuse Hotline number.
00:39:50
>> And hopefully this will find somebody that really needs it. >> We just want to create awareness around
00:39:55
domestic abuse and for people to don't sit back and just let it happen, no matter what the the victim is telling
00:40:05
you. fight for them, you know, help them. Help them any way you can. There's so many things I wish I could go back now
00:40:15
and do different. I wish I could go back and save her. Are you going to save somebody with
00:40:24
this? >> I hope so. [Music] taken from her friends and family too soon. >> She was artistic. She was creative. She
00:40:59
was smart. She was feisty. >> A murderer roams free for too long. >> There was that constant fear. Is this
00:41:05
going to happen again? >> You will never forget Sarah Yaro. 48 hours. Next on CBS, streaming on
00:41:12
Paramount Plus. [Music] [Music] [Music] You start dealing with a series of shootings that's a little out of the
00:41:52
ordinary. Take me through that. The first shooting occurs on December 11th, 2020 at Huntington Street in New
00:42:00
Haven. There's report of five gunshots in the area. The residents were struck multiple times. The house was occupied,
00:42:08
but nobody was hit. When police responded, they located multiple 45 caliber shell casings at the scene.
00:42:15
There's a second shooting that occurs January 15th, 2021. The third shooting occurred February 5th. A fourth incident
00:42:23
occurred on February 6th. It's another residence. It was occupied, but nobody was hurt inside.
00:42:29
There were five rounds that were shot into was occupied. Fortunately, nobody was hit. The residents were struck
00:42:35
multiple times by gunfire. Nobody was injured. Patrol officers located one 45 caliber located in multiple casings. 45
00:42:42
caliber 45 caliber shell casings were located at the scene. >> Four shootings over a few months. Do
00:42:51
they have anything in common? >> The common down there was the caliber of the gun that was used. 45 caliber
00:42:57
casings that were located at all four of those scenes. And in the last two shootings, there was a description of a
00:43:02
dark-colored SUV. >> Are officers concerned that at some point someone is going to get hurt?
00:43:08
>> Yes. >> 8:30 Saturday night, residents in the East Rock neighborhood heard the
00:43:14
distinct sound of gunfire. On February 6th at around 8:30 p.m., we get the report of a person shot at
00:43:26
Lawrence and Nickel Street in New Haven. That person was later identified as Kevin Jong and was pronounced deceased
00:43:34
on the scene. We located 845 caliber shell casings. There were a few 911 callers that saw a
00:43:44
dark colored SUV flee the area. A sense of shock and sadness has settled on the Yale University community after
00:43:52
the Saturday night shooting death of grad student Kevin Gian. What's up everyone? Welcome to another episode of
00:43:58
Fitness with Kevin. I'm Kevin. >> It still doesn't feel real, you know, like it still doesn't feel real.
00:44:05
>> You're such a cutie. >> He was just very happy person, a very genuine soul. >> The victim was a student at Yale's
00:44:13
School of the Environment, originally from Chicago. He was an army vet who posted on Facebook just a week ago his
00:44:20
joy in getting engaged. [Music] >> He was so in love with Zion. He was just like, "Oh, Zion this and Zion that."
00:44:29
Like everything was about Zion. He really loved her. >> So you guys walk up to the scene. What
00:44:41
do you see? >> Kevin's body. He was laying on his right side. His feet were on the stop line
00:44:46
here and his head was towards the first line of the crosswalk. And then we see the casings. There's a shell casing by
00:44:53
the bottom of the S and a few feet from the P. And then there were six more spread out by the first crosswalk line.
00:45:01
We could see gunshot wounds to his upper body and to his head. There were some shots that were at close range.
00:45:08
>> There was something personal about this. >> Yes. We'll use Facebook as a tool to try and
00:45:14
get a little background on an individual who they're friends with. >> And so you're going down the list of
00:45:19
names, nothing, nothing, nothing. And then you're like, whoa, >> there's our connection.
00:45:27
[Music] [Music] It was a cold night in February 2021 when lead detective David Zoeski and his
00:46:17
colleague Steven Cunningham arrived at the crime scene. >> The patrol officers had already been out
00:46:23
there canvasing the area. They were knocking on doors looking for anyone that might have seen anything or heard
00:46:28
anything. The crime scene detectives were starting to locate all the shell casings.
00:46:35
>> 26-year-old Yale graduate student Kevin Jong was lying in the street, shot eight
00:46:42
times. >> His body was still on scene, covered in a white sheet. >> When you saw the body, what did you see?
00:46:52
>> What we could see were gunshot wounds to his upper body and to his head. And you
00:46:58
can see stippling on the left side of his head. >> Stippling is a burn pattern caused by
00:47:03
gunpowder exploding from a weapon fired at close range. About a 100 ft down the street.
00:47:12
>> There was a Prius just parked in the middle of the road with his hazards on. >> They quickly discovered the Prius
00:47:18
belonged to Kevin. Crime scene detectives noticed a peculiar bit of damage that suggested it had been hit
00:47:25
from behind. There was an impression that was left on the back bumper that looked like a license plate holder.
00:47:33
>> So, this is like a fender mener. It's not a violent crash. >> No, there's not much damage.
00:47:42
>> One witness told detectives she heard the sound of an accident and went to the
00:47:46
window to look. When they look out, they see a Prius come to a stop. and put his hazards on.
00:47:58
They see a dark-coled SUV pull up behind it and then reverse back towards the intersection.
00:48:05
They see the operator of the Prius walk out and approach the SUV, most likely to
00:48:11
see how they were, exchange insurance information. When the operator gets to the black SUV,
00:48:18
they hear a round of gunshots and they see the muzzle flash from the gun from the driver's side of the SUV. Another
00:48:28
witness heard the first round of gunshots and went to her window. >> When she looks outside, she sees a
00:48:36
subject wearing all black standing over another individual who's laying on the ground. She hears another round of
00:48:43
gunshots and she can see the muzzle flash from the gun as he's firing. She sees someone standing over another
00:48:50
person, which means the victim is already down and they're still shooting. >> Yes.
00:48:56
>> What did you think? >> There's a little bit more to it. It seems a little bit more personal when
00:49:01
you have a someone that's laying on the ground and and not moving. What would cause someone to continue firing at
00:49:06
them? >> The detectives were able to confirm these accounts when they got a look at
00:49:11
video from a neighbor's security system. It was located on the inside of a window
00:49:16
facing outward. >> Because most of the frame is a reflection of the interior of the house,
00:49:22
we've zoomed in to focus on what's happening on the street. A warning, this may be difficult to listen to.
00:49:29
>> We hear the collision between the two cars. And then that's when you see Kevin's Prius pull into frame and the
00:49:37
SUV pulls up behind him and then reverses out of frame. You see Kevin exit his vehicle and then
00:49:46
walk out of frame to approach the SUV. You then hear two gunshots, a scream and then six more gunshots.
00:50:05
[Music] Moments later, the video shows the SUV driving off into the night. Can you make
00:50:15
out any details when it comes to the SUV? >> Unfortunately, not. You could kind of
00:50:20
get the idea of the potential making model of it with the tail lights, but you couldn't discern any identifying
00:50:28
features. Investigators soon felt the dark SUV and the 45 caliber shells recovered at the scene pointed to a
00:50:36
potential link to those earlier shootings around the area that police had been investigating. Four times over
00:50:43
a two-month span, someone fired shots into family homes. The fourth incident occurred just one hour before Kevin
00:50:52
Jong's murder. We had detectives in the bureau looking into each of the incidents to see if there's any more of
00:50:59
a connection to link them. >> Two bullets came in through this window and ended up in this wall.
00:51:09
>> Paul and Nyrie White's home was the target of the third shooting. >> We had just finished dinner. I had a
00:51:16
fire going. >> Nyrie, a school teacher, headed upstairs to take a shower. Paul, an educator with
00:51:23
degrees from Yale, Harvard, and Columbia University, was sitting downstairs. >> All of a sudden, something comes through
00:51:32
this window. Then a second bullet came through. You heard the pop and the glass going
00:51:38
everywhere with that one. >> Paul shouted a warning to Naine. >> Get down. Someone's shooting.
00:51:45
>> And then I heard bang pop again. And I turned and I literally saw the frame of
00:51:50
the door just splintered. >> And then she yells back at you, >> right? That that that's someone shooting
00:51:55
upstairs. >> It was over in a matter of moments and no one was injured. >> Do you feel lucky?
00:52:06
>> Yes. >> Absolutely. >> Absolutely. >> Absolutely. >> Detectives interviewed the whites and
00:52:13
the occupants of the other houses. There didn't seem to be any connection between
00:52:17
them. >> And none of them, investigators say, had any connection to Kevin Jong, but the shell casings from all the
00:52:26
shootings would later tell a different story. >> When the casings are sent to the lab,
00:52:32
they all came back as matches to the casings found at the homicide. >> The casings matched, but Kevin was the
00:52:40
only person murdered, and detectives didn't know why. It could have been a road rage incident
00:52:48
that turned a little too violent. >> Or was Kevin Jong targeted? >> The car accident was a deliberate to get
00:52:56
him out of the vehicle possibly seem like it was planned. >> And if he was specifically targeted,
00:53:02
what could have happened in his life to drive someone to do this? [Music] [Music]
00:53:24
It was late when detectives Zoeski and Cunningham left the crime scene on February 6th.
00:53:31
They went to Kevin Jang's home looking to find a family member to notify about what had happened. His mother, Linda
00:53:39
Lou, came to the door. It's got to be the hardest conversation. >> It is. They always are.
00:53:46
>> Hi, Mom. >> Happy birthday. >> You want to be direct and upfront and make it clear, as horrific as it is for
00:53:54
them. So, we explained to her that he was shot and killed in the area of Lawrence and Nickel Street in New Haven.
00:54:01
>> Can she even comprehend that? >> She's absolutely devastated. She falls to the ground crying.
00:54:09
>> The detectives wanted to know everything about Kevin and why he may have been
00:54:13
targeted that night. Linda began to tell them about her son. >> It was just the two of them and he was
00:54:21
actually supporting her. She told us that he was a grad student at Yale University and was in the Army National
00:54:28
Guard. >> Kevin was deeply religious. He and his mother were part of the congregation at
00:54:33
Trinity Baptist Church. Pastor Gregory Hendrickson knew them both and says that Linda, a divorced single parent, got
00:54:41
Kevin through a tough childhood where he was often bullied. >> She was very committed to sort of seeing
00:54:48
him come through and eventually he thrived on the other side of that. I think he had a sense of honoring his mom
00:54:54
by as she had cared for him when he was a child, caring for her as she was getting older. Kevin bought this house
00:55:01
in 2019 and Hendrickson says he invited his mother to come live with him. >> She was living alone. She was living on
00:55:08
the other side of the country. She didn't have a lot of family support around her and he wanted her to come and
00:55:14
be with him during his studies at Yale. >> Police also learned that Kevin had recently gotten engaged to his
00:55:22
girlfriend of a year, Zion Perry. She posted the proposal on Facebook. [Music] This was just one week before he was
00:55:36
murdered. [Music] >> He was so in love with Zion. You could tell he didn't even have to really say
00:55:49
too much. >> Na Hubard, who served with Kevin in the Army National Guard. >> Oh my gosh. So, I remember one time he
00:55:56
was on the phone with her and I was like, "Wow." like you could hear the genuiness and his love towards her and I
00:56:02
was like, "Wow, I hope I find someone like that." >> Zion Perry grew up in Pennsylvania where
00:56:08
she was an honors high school student. The couple met in January of 2020 when Zion was still an undergraduate at the
00:56:16
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. >> He said, "You know, I met her at a
00:56:21
Christian retreat and she's very kind and we enjoy talking and just have great conversations together." Then she uh
00:56:29
came to do her PhD at Yale. They clearly shared a lot in common. They both love nature. I mean, Zion's a scientist.
00:56:35
She's studying molecular biohysics and biochemistry. So, you know, he was studying the in the school of the
00:56:40
environment. They're both brilliant and hardworking students. And yet, they didn't feel like their accomplishments
00:56:46
were what defined them at the deepest level. >> Zoeski and Cunningham then interviewed
00:56:53
an emotional Zion. She told them she and Kevin had spent the day together. >> They had gone ice fishing and had dinner
00:57:03
at her house and then he left her house around 8:30 that night. >> Kevin didn't get far. His Prius was
00:57:13
struck by the dark SUV just two blocks from Zion's house. Close enough for Zion to hear the
00:57:20
gunshots that followed. She remembers hearing the gunshots, but she thought there was a good 5 or 10
00:57:27
minutes after he'd left to when she heard the gunshots. So, she didn't think he was anywhere near the area and didn't
00:57:36
think twice about him potentially being involved in any way. >> Did she have any idea who would have
00:57:41
done something like this? >> At that point, I no nothing that she told us that she she could think of.
00:57:48
After speaking with Zion, detectives were no closer to figuring out why Kevin would be a target.
00:57:55
>> Seemed like just an innocent innocent guy. >> Did you think this was going to be a
00:58:02
tough case though >> that night? >> Yes. >> We had a little bit, but there wasn't a
00:58:06
lot to go on. >> I just had somebody drive through my yard here. >> How you doing?
00:58:10
>> But just 15 hours after the shooting. >> What are you doing back here? >> They got a huge break. Little did we
00:58:17
know that we'd get the phone call the next day. >> I just got in here accidentally and I
00:58:21
got stuck. >> And it was like, >> okay. >> Wow. [Music] News of Kevin's murder spread among his
00:58:45
loved ones and closest friends. I was at home and I actually got a phone call from another soldier and she was saying,
00:58:55
"I know you guys were closed." And her voice cracked and she told me that he had passed away and I was like not
00:59:01
comprehending what was going on. And so I text him and I was like, "Answer your phone, please." And obviously he never
00:59:07
answered me. >> Lieutenant Hubard reached out to Captain Jamila Aay. And if sharing the news
00:59:14
about Kevin wasn't tragic enough, someone posted the chilling video of his murder online and his fellow soldiers
00:59:22
now saw and heard Kevin's final moments alive. >> To this day, I can still hear him.
00:59:30
>> Yeah. Him screaming. Mhm. Yeah. >> I was like, why did I listen to that? >> Detectives Zoeski and Cunningham were
00:59:42
back at their desks in headquarters, struggling for answers and leads to pursue.
00:59:48
>> Day two, you get a phone call. >> Yes. >> The call from a sergeant at nearby North
00:59:54
Haven Police Department was urgent. two incidents that happened in North Haven the night before and then earlier that
01:00:01
morning. >> It began with a 911 call from a local scrap metal yard around 9:00 p.m. less
01:00:08
than a half hour after Kevin was killed. >> I'm a security guard at uh Simmons Metal
01:00:17
Management. I just had somebody drive through my yard here. They didn't know where they were going, so I had them
01:00:23
chasing them around the yard and they just pulled way in the back off the property. Like a black minivan, SUV
01:00:33
type of thing. >> Police body cameras were rolling when Sergeant Jeffrey Mills and Officer
01:00:41
Marcus Artis spotted that vehicle stuck on snowcovered railroad tracks. How >> you doing? Not far from the rear exit of
01:00:48
the Sims scrap metal yard, they approach the driver. >> What are you doing back here, though?
01:00:55
>> I just got in here accidentally and I got stuck. Is there any way to get as stuck here?
01:01:02
>> Uh, the only thing I can do is call your tow truck. >> Okay, cool. Thanks. >> The motorist was 29year-old Kinshin Pan
01:01:09
from Molden, Massachusetts. >> Okay. Do you have your driver's license on you? Yes. Registration. His driver's
01:01:14
license and criminal background were clean. During the encounter, Sergeant Mills noticed a yellow jacket on the
01:01:21
passenger seat. He also saw a blue bag and a briefcase in the back seat, but not much else.
01:01:28
>> He took a wrong turn. He got lost and he thought the jeep was probably chasing
01:01:32
him, the security guy. >> Because Sergeant Mills hadn't heard about Kevin's murder, he wasn't
01:01:38
particularly concerned. >> So, it's nothing, you think? Yeah, he's >> he doesn't look like he's trying to
01:01:44
scrap anything. I mean, >> no, I've been on the tracks I don't know how many times with vehicles that were,
01:01:50
you know, called in suspicious or whatever, but kids go back there. People always come down there according to the
01:01:55
security guard and they turn around in the front lot and they leave cuz they missed the highway or something.
01:01:58
>> Did he look nervous? >> He wasn't nervous at all. He was perfectly calm. >> So, what what do you recommend I do? I
01:02:05
mean, if I can get it off the track, I prefer to drive drive it myself. It was just like, "Oh, sorry. I got stuck on
01:02:12
the tracks. Can you help me get off?" >> So, how about you get a hotel for the night? We'll have the tow truck drop you
01:02:17
off the hotel. You pay for a credit card, and you can arrange picking up a car in the morning.
01:02:22
>> Okay, let's let's get the hotel then. >> Yeah, let's do that. >> If it is difficult,
01:02:26
>> that's probably the safest thing to do. >> Okay. Okay. >> The tow truck came. Uh, it took a little
01:02:30
work, but it got it off the tracks. He gave uh Mr. Pan a ride back to Best Western, and I cleared the call like any
01:02:38
other call. But hours later, there was another call to 911. >> February 7th around 11:00 a.m.
01:02:48
>> Hello. Can I help you? This is the police department. >> Uh, hello. I work at Arby's here in
01:02:52
North Haven. >> Mhm. >> We found a gun um and probably like uh 10 boxes of um >> bullets.
01:03:01
>> An employee found a couple of bags on the grass at the north entrance here. When they brought them in,
01:03:07
>> there were three bags. This one, that one, and this. Got it. >> Took a better look at the bags that it
01:03:12
came in. And here's a blue retail bag with a Massachusetts logo on it. And a small leather black briefcase. And it
01:03:21
instantly hit me. These are the bags that were in Mr. Pan's car the night before.
01:03:28
>> The Arby's was right next door to the Best Western where Penn was dropped off.
01:03:34
And by then, Mills had heard about the murder in New Haven. >> What's going through your brain
01:03:40
>> at that point? Knowing that New Haven had a homicide, they were looking for a
01:03:44
dark color GMC SUV. Um, now we've got a firearm. And then Officer Bianke shows me a yellow jacket that was in it and
01:03:52
the suspect was wearing a yellow jacket. >> Jacket. So he must be best >> this morning.
01:04:01
>> 15 of them. >> And when we got here, I went in to the front desk and spoke with the attendant
01:04:06
there and asked if Pan had checked in, which they checked it and said yes, he did. And he hasn't checked out yet.
01:04:14
>> That's when Mills alerted New Haven Homicide about Pan. Do you immediately think there might be a connection with
01:04:20
the homicide? There's a very good chance the vehicle matched. And the items that
01:04:26
were left behind at the Arby's restaurant, it included a 45 caliber handgun power
01:04:33
and that matched the casings that were at the scene. >> Zoeski immediately sent detectives to
01:04:41
meet Mills at the Best Western. >> Uh, so we got a key, went to room 276. We knocked on the door, we entered the
01:04:49
room, the room was clean. M >> nothing in it. Didn't appear that anybody stayed in it for the night.
01:04:54
>> At first we were like, "Oh, we lost him." >> New Haven police sent investigators,
01:05:00
including Detective Joe Galvin, to track down Pan. Galvin went to Malden, Massachusetts, where Pan lived with his
01:05:07
parents and was a graduate student at MIT. >> Right outside of Boston, very affluent
01:05:13
homes. There was no one there when we knocked on the door. So the day after the homicide, we were unsure if maybe
01:05:21
the family um was on vacation, out of state, out of the country. >> But police were also worried.
01:05:31
>> Were they given the heinous act that occurred in New Haven the day before? Were they potentially kidnapped by their
01:05:38
own son? Were they victims of another hor, horrible crime? [Applause] With Kenshin Pan and his parents missing
01:06:04
from their home, Detective David Zoeski turned to his computer searching for Pan.
01:06:11
>> The first thing I want to know is who he is and if there's any connection between
01:06:15
him and Kevin. I see that he has a Facebook page. >> What was his page like? There was not much activity at all. His
01:06:24
last uh post was back in 2016 and he had a few photos with some other students, but that was it.
01:06:31
>> Is that when you first found out that he's an MIT grad student? >> Yes, that was the first time we got the
01:06:37
connection between him and MIT. So, I check his friends list to see if Kevin is in there.
01:06:44
>> Is he? >> Kevin is not listed, but I do notice that Zion Perry is listed. Zion Perry, Kevin's fiance, who also
01:06:54
went to MIT. >> Now, we have a connection. I got in contact with her. She explained that
01:07:00
they had met at MIT back in uh 2019 and they were more associates than friends. >> Nothing romantic?
01:07:09
>> No. She said that they never dated. They never had any romantic relationship.
01:07:15
The last time she spoke with him was May of 2020. He reached out to her through Facebook Messenger to congratulate her
01:07:23
on graduating. He asked to FaceTime with her and she politely declined it. >> She must have been wondering why you
01:07:31
asking me so many questions about this guy. What'd you say to her? >> She was. And that's when I told her that
01:07:37
he was a person of interest in this. And she was completely shocked. He was barely a part of her life. and why he
01:07:44
would have been involved with this in any way. >> What did she have posted on her page?
01:07:50
>> The last things that she had posted were the engagement between her and Kevin.
01:07:55
>> Oh, yes. This is so pretty. >> Are you starting to formulate a theory about the case
01:08:08
that goes a little beyond possible road rage? >> Yes. It did seem like there was a secret
01:08:17
obsession of pans going on behind the scenes that Kevin wasn't aware of and that Zion wasn't aware of.
01:08:28
The next day, Zion Perry joined Kevin's mother, Linda Louu, and father, Ming Shen Jang, and nearly 700 people on a
01:08:38
virtual vigil for Kevin. Zion addressed the mourers. >> One day I I will get to see Kevin again.
01:08:45
Yeah. In heaven and when everything is made right. I thank Miss Lou and Mr. Jang for raising such a fine young man
01:08:53
and for yeah bringing him into the world. >> He g me a lot of joy. He's a very thoughtful warmer boy taking care of me
01:09:05
and uh I miss him. He's a nice boy. Everybody likes him. Thank you. Thank you all.
01:09:23
>> That week, Pastor Hendrickson eulogized Kevin at his funeral. >> We come to you today remembering Kevin,
01:09:32
grateful for his life, grieving over his loss. Zion read a poem Kevin wrote to her. It
01:09:41
began, >> "If this world falls apart, it will be all right because we have each other's
01:09:46
hearts." A medical officer also trained to operate tanks. Kevin was buried with full military honors just 2 days before
01:09:58
his 27th birthday on Valentine's Day. Meanwhile, Detective Galvin, a member of the US Marshall's Fugitive Task Force in
01:10:09
Connecticut, along with Supervisor Matthew Duffy and Deputy Marshall Kevin Perole were utilizing their vast
01:10:16
resources to urgently gather intelligence on PAN. MIT graduate, not socially active,
01:10:25
degree in computer science, >> grad student in artificial intelligence. >> Lawyer William Der,
01:10:32
>> very smart, >> genius, >> genius, socially not a genius. >> The marshals discovered Pan had three
01:10:40
active phones and they noticed that in the months before Kevin was killed, Pan was using one of those phones to contact
01:10:47
car dealerships. He would tell them all the same thing. Um, he said he's going for a test drive.
01:10:52
I believe he said he's going on a camping trip. >> Investigators were able to match the
01:10:59
date of Pan's test drives with each of the 45 caliber shootings in New Haven, including Kevin's murder.
01:11:08
It was all part of a plan. Investigators say they believe that Pan likely fired shots into those homes to ultimately
01:11:17
mislead them, hoping they would think Kevin's murder was just another random shooting.
01:11:24
>> He planned it and he knew we'd be looking at these other things. >> Yeah. He did his best to
01:11:29
>> Yeah. >> to mislead us. And now we knew that yes, this wasn't a random incident out there
01:11:35
that he was targeted. They also discovered that not long after Kevin's murder, Pan called his parents
01:11:44
and they made a cash withdrawal of about $1,000. >> They had tremendous assets somehow from
01:11:52
Shanghai. >> Access to large sums of money, several million dollars. >> The marshals zeroed in on Pan's parents
01:12:01
and picked up a ping on their phone at this North Carolina gas station. Our task force found it on on the on the
01:12:09
ground. >> The cell phone was crushed. >> Yeah. Like a car ran over it. >> 3 days later, investigators caught up
01:12:17
with Pan's parents driving near Atlanta, Georgia. >> Georgia State Police pulled him over.
01:12:23
>> He's not in the vehicle. >> Nope. >> Police told them they suspected their son had killed someone.
01:12:31
>> Were they shocked? No, >> they weren't shocked that their son was being investigated and connected with a
01:12:39
cold-blooded murder. >> They may have been, but they didn't they didn't lead on to us at all. They didn't
01:12:43
lead on to us at all. The father said our son called, said he was in Connecticut and needed help. He asked us
01:12:50
to bring cash. Then once we picked him up in Connecticut, he took the wheel and then they take this very long drive down
01:12:59
south. Van's father didn't say why his son was heading in that direction >> and he says he's quiet acting weird.
01:13:08
Doesn't really say what's going on. They make it down to Georgia. He pulls over and he gets out of the car and walks
01:13:15
away. He said no words to them. Just walked away from the car. That was their story.
01:13:21
>> Pan's parents agreed to be photographed. Pan's mother declined to answer any questions without an attorney, but she
01:13:28
later volunteered that her son walked away from her and his father and likely killed himself. The marshalss were
01:13:36
skeptical. >> We knew after talking to the parents that they would go to jail for him.
01:13:42
Knowing the degree that the parents were helping him and his resources, his intelligence,
01:13:50
we had to take a different approach on it. We needed to focus in on the parents because they probably would lead us to
01:13:59
him. >> They would go to the ends of the earth to help support and hide him. >> And what does that mean?
01:14:06
>> Patience. >> And they would need plenty of it. Weeks went by without an arrest. They wondered
01:14:13
if they missed something and if their murder suspect had outmaneuvered them. What do you think of Pan's plan to
01:14:23
mislead investigators? See more of the evidence at 48 hours.com. Five weeks pass without a solid lead on
01:14:43
the MIT student wanted for Kevin Jang's murder. US marshalss are leading a nationwide
01:14:50
manhunt this morning for the man charged in the murder of a Yale grad student. >> You give me a real sense of the
01:14:55
pressure. >> Yeah, because this became so high profile so fast. It was it was just
01:15:01
heightened. Then the manhunt for Pan suddenly heated up. Police said his mom told them she suspected her son killed
01:15:09
himself, but they noticed his parents had a lot of banking activity. we start to see large sums of cash being
01:15:17
withdrawn. >> How much >> at that time it was about 5,000 10,000. >> That's a large sum of money that someone
01:15:24
could use to get out of the country. >> They still have family in China. >> And then Pan's parents rented a car.
01:15:31
>> They stopped traveling south again. >> But the vehicle's GPS system the marshals were tracking went dark.
01:15:38
>> Did they turn it off? >> It was disabled. By then, investigators said they knew that their son had
01:15:44
disabled GPS systems in several cars he drove in the run-up to Kevin's murder. >> Counter tactics.
01:15:51
>> Counter tactics. >> At one point, surveillance cameras at this Georgia mall recorded Pan's father
01:15:58
purchasing a computer. >> Now, this is during CO, so everybody has their masks on. We see the father walk
01:16:06
in and probably about 10 minutes later we see an individual fitting the description of the son. So the story of
01:16:14
the suicide out in the woods that's that's not true. So from there the parents end up traveling back north.
01:16:22
Once they're in Connecticut the GPS comes back on. We felt we felt the clock was really ticking
01:16:29
>> and it ticked away for nearly two more months until May 4th, 2021 when Pan's parents drove off for a third
01:16:39
time. But there was a difference. >> They were traveling with another couple. >> What do you think the deal was with the
01:16:45
other couple? >> Yeah. Make it appear that it's a regular trip. It's no big deal. We're just going
01:16:49
on a trip to meet some friends. We're not here to help our son. Pan's parents and their unwitting
01:16:55
companions were eventually placed under surveillance at a North Carolina hotel where marshals interviewed a clerk after
01:17:02
the Pans checked out. >> At one point, Kinchin Pan's mother >> came to the clerk's desk late at night
01:17:10
and asked to borrow his phone. >> Here is a picture of Pan's mother making the call that broke the case wide open.
01:17:18
After she used his phone, she deleted the number from his phone. >> Were you able to find that number?
01:17:25
>> Yes, they were. >> The marshals tracked the phone to this boarding house near Alabama State
01:17:30
University in Montgomery. >> So, you guys are closing in. >> Yeah. They went out there with a small
01:17:37
army, around 20 guys. They ended up finding his room and they knocked on it and he just came out and said, "I'm who
01:17:45
you're looking for." He had uh approximately $20,000 cash on him. He had his father's passport.
01:17:53
Father's passport. And he had multiple communication devices on them. So, >> seven SIM cards.
01:17:58
>> Seven SIM cards and um and a computer. >> Pan was arrested for the murder of Kevin
01:18:07
Jong and brought back to Connecticut. He maintained his innocence, but a judge ordered him held on a $20 million bond.
01:18:16
>> Huge relief. >> His case was delayed by the pandemic, but investigators had amassed a trove of
01:18:23
evidence. Remember that license plate imprint on Kevin's car? Police say it matched the plate on the bumper of the
01:18:31
SUV Pan was driving when Kevin was rearended. And forensic tests revealed that Pan's
01:18:38
DNA was on the gun and ammo found outside Arby's. And Kevin's blood was also on Pan's hat and the gear shift of
01:18:47
the SUV Pan was driving the night Kevin was murdered. >> Was there anything missing?
01:18:53
>> The murder weapon. >> Turns out the gun recovered at the Arby's was not the gun that was used to
01:18:59
kill Kevin. Supervisory Assistant States Attorney Stacy Miranda. Who knows where
01:19:05
that murder weapon ended up? >> But there was so much other evidence that Pan's lawyer, William Derice,
01:19:12
recommended he cut a deal. >> Overwhelming evidence. Overwhelming evidence. >> On February 29th, 2024,
01:19:23
3 years after Kevin's killing, Pan plead guilty to his murder in exchange for serving 35 years in prison without
01:19:31
parole. And had he not been stuck on the railroad tracks, this still might not be
01:19:37
a solid case. We might not know who did this. >> Bring out Pan, please. >> At his sentencing in April, Pan sat
01:19:44
silently as Kevin's loved ones and friends described their loss. By court order, the camera was fixed on him. Some
01:19:53
of Kevin's mother's remarks were read by a family friend. I was dreaming that Kevin will have a
01:20:01
few beautiful children after getting married. This beautiful and joyful dream is destroyed.
01:20:09
I am left alone by myself. I will never see Kevin smile again. >> Then Kevin's mother decided to speak.
01:20:19
>> To charge the metal pen 35 years in prison is too short and too light. Pan never explained why he killed Kevin,
01:20:31
but the only time he looked up was when Zion Perry rose to speak. I wanted to address Pan specifically.
01:20:41
Although your sentence is far less than you deserve, there is also mercy. May God have mercy on you and may he have
01:20:49
mercy on all of us. >> Then Pan briefly addressed the court. What I'm thinking about is my actions
01:21:02
and the horrible consequences. I feel sorry for what my action has caused and for everyone affected.
01:21:13
I fully accept my penalties. >> Court is going to impose the agreed upon sentence of 35 years. Finally, Judge
01:21:21
Harmon passed sentence and Pan was led away in handcuffs. >> Did you ever consider charging his
01:21:29
parents? >> We couldn't charge him because we couldn't prove that they knew when they
01:21:33
picked him up that he was had committed a murder. >> So, they might be lucky that they didn't
01:21:39
find themselves charged as well. >> 100%. >> We reached out to Pan's parents for
01:21:44
comment, but did not hear back. Now Kevin's friends are left to wonder what Kevin, a man of deep faith, might
01:21:53
have thought about his killer. Do you think Kevin would have forgiven Pan? >> Yes,
01:21:59
>> I do. >> Without a doubt. >> Yeah, I >> The officers visited Kevin's grave after
01:22:06
they spoke to 48 hours. Lieutenant Hubard recalled her first time there when she says she felt Kevin's presence
01:22:17
and did something happen. >> It's just like wind blew, you know? >> Did you feel like it was him?
01:22:25
>> Um, I felt like it was definitely different as it's like a piece kind of like I want you to carry on. Don't be
01:22:32
don't be sad that I'm gone. Just keep going. [Music] CBS next Saturday. A mother vanishes
01:22:54
without a trace. >> She never would have left like this. >> Do you think D Warner was murdered?
01:22:59
>> Yes. >> Can it be proved without a body? >> You don't get to get away with murder
01:23:04
because you're good at disposing of bodies. 48 Hours is all new CBS next Saturday 10:9 central and streaming on
01:23:11
Paramount Plus Greenwood. I lived here half my life. Everyone knows everyone and their
01:23:27
business. I have decided to set the story straight. It's still surreal. I still think maybe
01:23:36
I'll wake up. We were out for my birthday. I remember I was just sitting at the bar and he sat
01:23:47
down beside me and we just talked the rest of the night. >> You were there the night she met Davis?
01:23:53
>> I was. I was there that night. >> Did it seem like there was chemistry? >> Immediately. I would immediately.
01:24:00
Davis, he was so kind and I mean his heart was huge. We enjoyed each other so much. It was an
01:24:09
amazing 6 months. Meredith, her and Davis, they would go on away weekends a lot. I liked him.
01:24:18
>> His smile was so contagious and he's just such a sweet guy. I would have never expected this to happen ever.
01:24:26
Greenwood County 911, >> which is a oneperson car wreck. >> Okay. It was a car wreck and somebody is
01:24:32
hurt. >> I pull up right beside Davis's car and he wasn't in his car and that's when I
01:24:38
noticed his airbags were out. So then also that's when I kind of started looking at the car more and noticed that
01:24:43
his front tire was smashed in. And I remember looking and I noticed there's a body. Mer just started like screaming
01:24:51
like, "Who is it? Who is it?" >> And you look over. Mhm. >> What do you think you were looking at,
01:24:58
>> Davis? >> He was laying there and his head was rested on the side like a pillow and he
01:25:04
was shirtless and his face was covered in blood. Was there anything about the scene that struck you as odd?
01:25:11
>> Davis being all the way on the other side of the road, the car being wrecked.
01:25:15
Like none of that, I couldn't piece anything together. >> Davis's car was way over there and his
01:25:22
body was way down here. And I was like, "Well, how'd he end up down here?" >> That's quite a distance.
01:25:26
>> Yeah. >> To here. >> It is quite a distance. >> Originally, it came out as a as a
01:25:31
possible traffic accident. And then once officers arrived on scene, they realized
01:25:36
it was more than that. >> A lot of people think it was an auto accident. Well, no, it wasn't.
01:25:41
>> I do believe that this was an accident and not an intentional killing. >> It was a murder.
01:25:46
>> I was in shock. I was like, it doesn't even make sense. The photographs of the
01:25:50
crime scene, the text messages from Davis's phone, the ring videos, looking at everything in the totality of the
01:25:57
case was very powerful. How could any of this possibly happen? >> There's so many things missing from the
01:26:05
story. And once I kind of get that out there, then I can close the chapter. [Music]
01:26:47
[Music] Romeo 974 and 1028 Whiskey Echo Victor 253. It was May 7th, 2023, just after 1:00 a.m. when
01:27:06
authorities responded to a reported road accident on a secluded deadend street in
01:27:12
Greenwood, South Carolina. >> Start roping this off, cuz this is going to be a crime scene.
01:27:17
>> At the edge of the nearby woods, they would find 46-year-old Davis McClendon's
01:27:22
body. But what they saw at first was on the road itself, a shirt, a shoe, and a mangled sedan. and there was significant
01:27:32
damage to the fender. >> It was a BMW 5 Series similar to this one. We're using to demonstrate the
01:27:39
position of the vehicle that night. After first responders had locked everything down, Greenwood County
01:27:46
Sheriff's Office investigator Patrick Durkin arrived to photograph the scene. >> The front driver side wheel was turned
01:27:54
slightly. Whatever had transpired at this deserted crossroads, Durkit's job was to freeze
01:28:01
it in time. First responders had thought Davis McClendon's injuries seemed consistent with having been hit by a
01:28:08
vehicle, though no other vehicle relating to the collision was there. They'd found Davis's body about 50 ft
01:28:16
away from the BMW, leading them to suspect he'd been outside his car when he was hit. There was no rain or
01:28:24
anything that would potentially wash anything away. So, um, the main thing I focused on was the vehicle.
01:28:31
>> Durkin says he noticed some strange damage to the BMW. >> Usually when we would you would think of
01:28:38
a normal fender bender, it would just kind of be pressed into it and this was torn back like a tuna can in a sense.
01:28:45
>> It had made authorities wonder if it was a hit and run or something more sinister. Those airbags were out and a
01:28:53
phone was on the front passenger seat. Durkin saw more debris in the road, but nothing particularly telling.
01:29:01
>> The assumption was that he was struck by a vehicle. >> Investigator Ronnie Pal from the
01:29:07
Greenwood County Sheriff's Office says authorities had learned more by speaking to two women at the scene, Meredith
01:29:14
Haney and Megan McGovern, who'd called 911. Megan often babysat for Meredith's three children.
01:29:22
>> They provided statements of what they saw and what had occurred all night long.
01:29:27
>> What did Meredith say? >> She pretty much gave a summary of the whole backstory that she had been dating
01:29:34
Davis. Meredith had told authorities that Davis left a club they'd been in that night,
01:29:40
calling her minutes later from the road, saying he was parked at the intersection
01:29:44
of Avid Road and Sawrass Place. When he'd put her on hold and then failed to come back on the line, Meredith was
01:29:52
worried and got a ride there from Megan. It was Megan, the babysitter, who'd gotten out of her car and was the first
01:30:00
to see Davis's body. >> That news must have been stunning. Yeah, it was devastating. It was It was
01:30:06
crushing. >> Davis McClendon was the ultimate people person without an enemy in the world.
01:30:12
Say his friends Chip Thunderbunk. >> Everybody loved Davis. He was just awesome.
01:30:18
>> Zack Calhoun. >> He he loved Big >> and Johnny Coats. >> And what Zach said, he was everyone's
01:30:25
best friend. >> He was >> he loved everyone. >> But none of them could remember Davis
01:30:30
ever mentioning the specifics of his love life. Not until he met Meredith Haney.
01:30:36
>> He told me that he had met somebody and they had just kind of been chatting and
01:30:40
um you know enjoying getting to know each other. You know, it seemed uh seemed like a good thing, seemed like a
01:30:45
positive thing for sure. >> Calhoun says Davis had gone through a divorce, but the end of his marriage
01:30:52
hadn't done anything to weaken his devotion as a father and a friend, even to the residents of the retirement home
01:30:59
where he worked. He was the most empathetic person I've ever met. >> More than 4 months before Davis died, on
01:31:09
the night of December 23rd, 2022, Meredith was at that club celebrating her 39th birthday with her best friends.
01:31:19
She says they were wearing their worst Christmas sweaters when the handsome stranger struck up a conversation. Then
01:31:27
I think he text on Christmas day and then the next day and then the next >> and you just kept on talking
01:31:39
>> until meeting Davis. She says she'd been keeping her head down. Just about 6 months earlier, she had left her husband
01:31:46
of 10 years, a local auto body shop owner named Bud Acur, and she was struggling to balance parenting their
01:31:54
three kids and her job as a grammar school teacher. She says she knew getting involved with someone new would
01:32:01
not be easy. >> Was there any hesitancy about moving forward with this >> there? I mean, there was. She says first
01:32:10
Davis wanted to make sure she had no intention of reconciling her marriage. >> He didn't want to be the reason that,
01:32:18
you know, we didn't get our family back together. So, we made sure from the get-go that that wasn't going
01:32:25
to be an issue. And it just it just happened. They would have less than 6 months
01:32:36
together. Could you start to guess what may have happened? How it was hit? >> The night of Davis's death at the site,
01:32:46
investigator Patrick Durkin noticed something beyond the strangeness of the crashed car and Davis's distance from
01:32:53
it. There was an oil slick in the road. >> It's still here. >> Uh just over a year later, it's it's
01:33:00
still here. Uh, but there was a number of footprints and and some tire tracks that were leading away from this oil
01:33:08
stain. >> And what did that tell you when you saw it? >> Well, we knew that there was some type
01:33:13
of impact to the vehicle and then we knew there was uh oil and and tire marks that left from here.
01:33:20
>> It looked like evidence from the vehicle that hit Davis. You guys are looking
01:33:25
around and you realize the oil continues. You could see it was very obvious that there was tire marks that
01:33:33
had had gone back down the road and kind of turned around >> back where the tire track seemed to show
01:33:40
a vehicle had turned around. Investigators had found oil spatters on a street light post.
01:33:46
>> It was about maybe this high. >> And from there there was a trail of oil that had led down the road into the
01:33:56
distance. It's breadcrumbs basically >> and a man are speaking. >> You know, we just have to do the
01:34:04
investigation and and see what evidence is there and see where it leads us to. [Music]
01:34:20
[Music] There was a trail uh that led from from the incident location. >> Investigator Ronnie Pal says by the time
01:34:34
authorities started following that oil trail from the crash site, they had a solid hunch where it might lead. Davis
01:34:42
McClendon's girlfriend, Meredith Haney, had told them she'd suspected where he had been going when he left her at the
01:34:49
bar that night to meet her aranged husband, but Arian, and it turns out the oily evidence led
01:34:58
right to Acriman's parents' house. >> Garage is open. >> He'd been living there since separating
01:35:03
from Meredith about a year earlier. >> Sheriff's office. >> Yes, sir. >> Authorities body cameras were rolling.
01:35:11
He Kana walked up um and almost was expecting us. >> Bud Acing near the garage. >> Are there some kids here?
01:35:23
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Whose kids are they? >> Mine. >> Yours and who? >> Uh my wife.
01:35:28
>> Okay. >> Bud had spent the day with his three kids at a local festival. He and his
01:35:34
wife Meredith had a custody arrangement and it was his night with the kids. But in the driveway, authorities noticed his
01:35:41
white Ford F250 pickup. >> That's wild. >> With oil leaking from the undercarriage.
01:35:48
They also noticed a crack in the grill and other evidence that suggested the vehicle had hit someone.
01:35:55
>> That's a palm mark. >> Investigators turned to Bud. >> Do you have your ID on you? Uh,
01:36:02
>> I do not. >> Okay, just step over here for me. Authorities say Bud told them he would
01:36:08
not answer questions without his lawyer present. But from speaking with Meredith, they learned she had a
01:36:14
contentious relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband and came to suspect a jealous Bud Acur had mowed
01:36:21
Davis McClendon down. Looking at the scene, they deduced Davis had been standing outside his BMW, as
01:36:29
shown in this CBS News animation. Based on their investigation, they suspect Bud's pickup truck sideswiped the sedan
01:36:37
and hit Davis, carrying him on the vehicle's grill and depositing his body across the road.
01:36:46
Meredith says Bud had been upset since reaching out to her days earlier when he found out she was dating Davis.
01:36:54
>> He text me. What did he text you? >> He said something about Meredith, how could you?
01:37:03
>> What was your reaction to that text? >> I think it was hurt. Like I was I felt
01:37:09
bad because I just don't like to hurt people's people. I don't like people to be hurt. So I felt bad.
01:37:18
>> What had begun years earlier as a promising marriage that would bear three kids had fallen apart.
01:37:26
>> He was a good father. He was a really good dad. Bud was from a prominent local family
01:37:33
and he was a business owner, but Meredith says his work had become stressful. I started to notice like some depression
01:37:41
and things like that um that I've never seen before. >> She says he started drinking a lot and
01:37:50
the more he drank, she says the more unpredictable he became. There was screaming, cursing. You felt
01:38:00
threatened. >> Absolutely. >> Meredith says he never laid a hand on her, but destroyed her sense of self.
01:38:09
>> The house was never clean enough. There were never enough groceries. It was so
01:38:14
loud and vulgar. It was very degrading. Then she says she noticed her husband was starting to become paranoid.
01:38:27
She remembers being in her closet one day and noticing a strange pillow. They had cut a hole in it.
01:38:35
>> According to Meredith, there was a hidden camera inside >> and then I started finding more of them.
01:38:42
>> What other places did you find cameras? Oh. Um, there was one hidden in our dresser that faced the bed. Found
01:38:52
one in a bush in the front yard. He put them in all the kids' rooms. She says that was the last straw. They
01:39:02
separated in the spring of 2022. >> I could breathe. I could be me again. Meredith says the separation seemed to
01:39:15
help Bud, too. That he'd stopped drinking and kept going to church with her and the kids. But by then, she
01:39:22
decided it was too late. When I was done, I was done. And starting again with someone new
01:39:32
seemed like a distant dream, Meredith says. Until that night, Davis McClendon sauntered up and sat down in her life.
01:39:41
They tried to keep things low-key at first. Meredith says she never wanted to rub Bud's nose in it.
01:39:48
>> So, what did you all do? We would go out of town. >> But Meredith says they knew they
01:39:56
couldn't sneak around forever. And it had started seeming like her new relationship with Davis was a forever
01:40:03
kind of thing. We talked about sitting on the porch rocking chairs at 80 and it was just a different kind of
01:40:13
relationship. >> But after Bud found out, there were new complications. >> He accused you of cheating.
01:40:21
>> Yeah. Even though you were weeks away from your divorce, >> right? >> Meredith says Bud actually called Davis
01:40:28
and asked him to back off until the divorce was official. What was Davis's reaction to that request?
01:40:36
>> I think he agreed, but then we talked about it and decided that was just giving him another
01:40:46
little piece of control. And on the night Davis died, she says Bud seemed out of control.
01:40:56
Back at his parents' house, investigators now had a warrant and were finding more clues that Acriman had been
01:41:03
at the crash site. >> Oily footprints. >> Oily footprints. >> At about 6:30 a.m. on May 7th, 2023,
01:41:14
but Acriman was arrested. He would be charged with the murder of Davis McClendon.
01:41:21
We think there's enough evidence at the scene to to prove of what occurred. >> So, by the end of the night, you already
01:41:30
have someone in custody. >> Yes. >> What's left to do? >> Well, that's just the beginning.
01:41:38
>> Because it turns out Bud Aki did have a story to tell. He says Davis was standing near the middle of a dark road
01:41:48
approximately shown in this CBS News animation. Bud says he didn't see Davis until it was too late, that hitting him
01:41:56
had been an accident. And Bud's team says they can prove it. [Music] Investigators are confident they could
01:42:21
prove Bud Acriman's truck had hit and killed Davis McClendon, but they knew proving Acriman had done it on purpose
01:42:30
might be harder. >> Building a case starts from that night. And when investigators looked at that
01:42:36
night, they learned Bud Acriman had been tracking Davis and Meredith's whereabouts for hours.
01:42:43
>> He was trying to find them that night, and he was was not happy about this whole situation.
01:42:49
>> Using security video, phone records, and even data from Bud's own truck, authorities built a timeline. They began
01:42:57
with Meredith's phone, Lieutenant Matthew WAC of the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office. We were able to
01:43:04
extract the information such as the calls and the texts. >> A slew of calls and text messages Bud
01:43:12
had made to Meredith leading up to the collision. At 8:54 p.m., Bud texts Meredith, "Why do you hate me? I just
01:43:21
don't understand." She doesn't respond to him. She's out with Davis at a local restaurant.
01:43:29
>> We went to dinner um at Break on the Lake. You see Davis and Meredith, you know,
01:43:36
having dinner >> and being interrupted by Bud's attempts to reach her. >> What was the FaceTime conversation like?
01:43:44
>> Where are you? Who are you with? Why are you doing this to me? Did you tell him
01:43:48
where you are? >> I feel like it at some point in the conversation, either he could tell where
01:43:52
I was because of what's around me or I finally did tell him it was one or the other.
01:43:58
>> So, at that point, he knows that you're out with Davis. While Meredith continued her date with
01:44:04
Davis, security cameras catch Bud Acriman at 10:40 p.m. Arriving at a popular Greenwood club called Key West.
01:44:14
>> You can see Bud, you know, he's talking to people, interacting, consuming alcohol.
01:44:18
>> The video shows Bud spent about an hour and a half at Key West, then called Meredith again.
01:44:26
>> How did he sound on the phone? Intoxicated. What's an intoxicated Bud sound like?
01:44:32
>> Vulgar. >> Soon after midnight, Acrian had left Key West. About a half hour later, cameras
01:44:39
show Bud's truck circling in front of Break on the Lake, but by then, Meredith and Davis were no longer at the
01:44:46
restaurant. >> You can see his vehicle drive through the parking lot as he's looking for him.
01:44:52
Lieutenant Womac says before long, investigators would learn just how far Bud Acur had gone that night to find
01:45:00
Meredith and Davis. Though Acriman himself wasn't talking, critical information would emerge from another
01:45:06
digital witness, his truck. >> It's a box about this big that goes into the backside of the dash.
01:45:14
WMAC says in some cars and trucks, the infotainment systems, as they're known, store detailed information about how the
01:45:22
vehicles are being driven, where in a similar model to Bud's Ford F250 pickup. >> So on Bud's vehicle, they were able to
01:45:32
pull a significant amount of information. This is just a little snippet. You're talking just in in a
01:45:41
24-hour time period, it's over 3,000 events. >> Events including snap measurements of
01:45:47
speed, acceleration, and brake pressure. Bud's onboard computer even pinged public Wi-Fi it passed. Investigators
01:45:57
learned that Bud had actually driven by Meredith's house and onto Davis McClendon Street that night. But while
01:46:05
he was driving around looking for them, ironically, they had moved to the Key West club, he had just left.
01:46:13
When Davis decides to call Bud, he walked out the back of the bar. >> It was 12:51 a.m.
01:46:23
>> A few minutes passed and I went out there to check on him and he was gone. >> Did he think he could bring the
01:46:30
temperature down? >> Mhm. Records show Davis called her minutes later. >> And what was that conversation? Where
01:46:37
are you? And that's when he told me that he was going to meet Bud. >> Wax says other infotainment system data
01:46:46
show that at a bit past 1:00 in the morning, Davis and Bud had their fatal encounter.
01:46:52
>> And we can tell there was actually an event at 1:11 a.m. on May the 7th. They
01:46:58
say Acriman hit the brakes hard. >> We could narrow it down to t of seconds of when the collision occurred.
01:47:06
>> And according to the computer, seconds after the collision, Acriman's truck had
01:47:11
stopped. >> At that point in time, Bud's opening the door. Uh, he opens the door before he
01:47:17
shifts it to park. >> WAC thinks Acriman got out of his truck, which was probably leaking from the
01:47:24
collision. Remember that puddle of oil in the road near the victim. >> Then he closes the door. Then he gets
01:47:30
back in and then it's shifted to drive at that point in time. >> Then say authorities, Aur turns his
01:47:38
truck around near the lamp post, roughly as you see in this CBS News demonstration based on their
01:47:45
investigation. He then drives away, leaking an oil trail all the way to his parents' driveway. right here. His phone
01:47:54
becomes unavailable. The ignition turned off and it disconnected from his device.
01:47:58
>> What does that tell you? >> That's when he got home and got out. >> It started to paint a very clear
01:48:03
picture. >> But Acriman's attorney, Jack Swirling, paints a different picture. >> I don't think he intended to run Davis
01:48:12
McClendon over. There's no indication that he's aggressive or violent individual.
01:48:16
>> Sheriff's Office. >> Yes, sir. Nor says swirling is there much to indicate his client was drunk
01:48:22
that night. >> This can I get you to step with me over here for me, please? >> None of the cops who arrested him
01:48:27
reported he seemed tipsy. >> The only one who said he was intoxicated was Meredith.
01:48:32
>> Was he stalking them that night? >> I think he was trying to find out confirm that they were together. He
01:48:37
wanted to talk to her. According to Swirling, Meredith and Davis had betrayed McClendon's promise to Bud to
01:48:45
stand down until the Acriman's marriage was officially over. >> She couldn't wait another month and
01:48:52
she's out with this guy uh and she's cheating on her husband. They are still legally married. South Carolina law
01:49:00
calls out adultery. And Swirling says the night Davis died, he let Bud Acriman's repeated calls and
01:49:07
text messages to Meredith get under his skin. >> Davis got upset about it and that's what
01:49:12
led to them having this meeting. Bud was thought they were going to meet and talk.
01:49:18
>> He says Bud had suggested an innocent and safe place for it to happen. >> They were supposed to meet at Bud's
01:49:25
parents house, which is about half a mile from that location. Swirling says Acriman's children were
01:49:31
sleeping there that night, so attacking Davis would have been the last thing on his client's mind. You wouldn't meet at
01:49:39
your parents house if you were angry and threatening ready to kill somebody. >> He says it was Davis who selected the
01:49:46
deserted intersection as a new location. And remember how Davis was found without
01:49:51
his shirt on that night? Well, Swirling says he believes Davis took it off to prepare for a confrontation. He was
01:49:58
ready to fight. >> Swirling insists Bud Acriman meant no harm that night. And Bud is about to
01:50:05
tell that story to a jury. >> Your name? >> William Grey Acriman Jr. Um I also go by
01:50:12
Bud. Good morning everybody. >> We are on the record in the state versus William Bud Acriman.
01:50:34
>> Prosecutors are determined to prove it was no accident that Bud Acriman hit Davis McClendon the night he died. So in
01:50:42
September of 2024, Assistant Attorneys General John Conrad and John Meadows. >> He intentionally drove his car into the
01:50:53
body of Davis McClinton. start the case off with a bang. >> Bam. >> And that's what this case is about.
01:51:01
>> They'll argue Acriman couldn't stand the fact that his estranged wife was seeing
01:51:06
someone and Bud was searching for Meredith and Davis all over town. >> Bud Akerman was not going to let Davis
01:51:14
McClendon be with Meredith. >> That's your house right there. >> Yes, sir. >> Meet and Conrad lead with their
01:51:22
strongest evidence. There are actually timestamped videos from the neighbors doorbell cameras at the moment of the
01:51:29
crash that killed Davis. It shows what they say is Bud's Ford F250 driving through the frame. Seconds later on the
01:51:37
video, what sounds like a crash. And seconds after that, a series of muffled sounds.
01:51:48
>> What did you hear? >> I heard somebody yelling. >> Okay. Prosecutors argue it's Bud Acur's
01:51:54
voice yelling at Davis McClendon after running him down. >> What it sounded like to me was, "What do
01:52:02
you want to talk about now?" >> Bud yelling unheavenly exploit. He uh said to Davis as he was lying on the
01:52:13
ground, "I think he was glad he was dead." But but Acriman's defense attorney, Jack Swirling, argues the
01:52:20
audio is too garbled to prove anything. >> I've listened to it several times now,
01:52:25
and well, I don't believe you could conclude 100% that that exactly what he said.
01:52:31
>> The prosecutor then calls Megan McGovern, the Acriman's babysitter and friend, to describe the moment she'd
01:52:38
seen Davis's body through traumatized teenaged eyes. He had blood coming out of his ears and
01:52:47
his nose. And I couldn't I'm not exactly sure if it was coming out of his mouth or not cuz I mean there's just blood
01:52:52
everywhere from his nose and everything. >> But their star witness is the woman at
01:52:58
the center of both men's affection. Meredith Haney, who testifies with the date night security videos as a guide.
01:53:07
>> Yes, sir. >> Is that you? >> Yes, sir. She tells the jury Bud Acriman called her when she and Davis were at
01:53:15
Break on the Lake. >> Did you think he was trying to find you? >> I did worry. Yes.
01:53:19
>> And kept calling after they got to Key West Club. >> Is that a call from the defendant, Benn?
01:53:25
>> Yes, sir. >> Did you reject that call? >> Yes. >> It's 18 seconds later, you get another
01:53:30
call. >> Yes, sir. >> Well, what did you think about all these calls coming in? I was getting very
01:53:34
frustrated and angry and just it was getting obsessive. It was getting scary. >> And she says by the time Davis McClendon
01:53:43
left her at the Key West Club after midnight. >> And is that Davis McClendon leaving the
01:53:48
bar? >> Yes. >> She was worried Bud might be volatile. So, when Davis later called to tell her
01:53:54
he was going to meet with Acriman, she says she wanted to go check on the situation in person and makes clear to
01:54:01
the jury that when she saw the scene, she had little doubt who'd killed her boyfriend.
01:54:07
>> I dove back into Meg's car because I thought that the only way that Bud would
01:54:13
have ever killed somebody would have been to shoot. >> Objection. Don't go. >> The judge sustains the defense's
01:54:18
objection, but Meredith continues. I was scared that he was still out there. >> Okay, Mr. Swirling, any
01:54:26
crossexamination? >> All right, go for it. >> Step down, ma'am. >> Your honor, state call special agent
01:54:31
Brian Hudac. Digital forensics expert Brian Hudac tells the jury about data in the infotainment system of Acriman's
01:54:40
pickup, including some that show Bud was driving in exactly the right place >> in Greenwood at the intersection of Aid
01:54:47
and Saul >> at exactly the right time >> between >> 11131 and 1132 >> to be implicated in the deadly
01:54:55
collision. He suggests they can even tell the moment of impact. There's something that
01:55:02
causes this truck to de accelerate very quickly. Correct. >> Correct. >> And Hudac says the evidence shows
01:55:09
Acriman was going 25 miles hour. >> And the amount of detail that that truck had on what Bud did that night is is
01:55:18
simply breathtaking. >> Four vehicles on the completely on the wrong side of the road when it strikes
01:55:22
the BMW. Collision reconstruction expert Corporal Christopher Bratcher testifies
01:55:28
the dents show Bud's speeding pickup sideswiped Davis's BMW sedan as shown in that CBS News animation based on the
01:55:37
prosecution's theory. They say Bud was aiming at Davis who was standing near the driver's door when he was hit and
01:55:45
that the truck kept going with Davis on the grill until he fell off where authorities found him. But Jack Swirling
01:55:53
argues much of the same evidence shows hitting Davis was an accident. >> We maintain that Mr. Acriman did not act
01:56:02
intentionally in this case. He says Bud Acriman had no idea Davis was standing outside his car and calls
01:56:10
auto forensics expert Jonathan Nelson to testify that given Acuran's speed in the
01:56:16
dark over a slope in the road and into the parked BMW's headlight beams, he wouldn't have seen Davis McClendon
01:56:23
standing in the road until at most 2 and 1/2 seconds before the collision. >> Or would a person have sufficient
01:56:30
opportunity to avoid impact? I think most people would have little to no opportunity to begin to try to avoid.
01:56:38
>> And Swirling says Davis wasn't standing right next to his car when he was hit,
01:56:43
but further out towards the center of the road, and that Acriman swerved to his left into the BMW to get around him,
01:56:52
as shown in this CBS News animation based on the defenses theory. >> He's trying to avoid hitting him.
01:56:59
>> Wouldn't you swerve the other way? why he didn't go right. I can't answer that.
01:57:05
>> Swirling knows there may be only one person who can. >> Call a come around to stand, please,
01:57:12
sir. >> Acriman's attorney begins by trying to show the jury his client was Meredith's
01:57:19
long-suffering but devoted husband. >> Did you love her? >> I did very much. He admits he was angry at Meredith, but
01:57:29
says he only wanted to talk to her and agreed to meet Davis to talk to him, too.
01:57:36
>> Do you have any intention to hurt him? >> I deny. >> Acriman says he hadn't realized how fast
01:57:43
he was going and that he was only trying to pull up next to Davis to talk and didn't see McClendon standing in the
01:57:50
road until the last moment. What action did you take, if any, to avoid hitting the person?
01:57:58
>> I jerked my truck as hard as I could to the left to try to hit his car to stop
01:58:03
the motion of my truck from going forward. >> But on cross-examination, he admits
01:58:08
something that undercuts his claims of innocence that night. He had never called 911.
01:58:15
>> I panicked. He panicked. Instead, he left the scene and drove to his parents' house and told them what
01:58:23
had happened. But they never called authorities either. >> I've seen so many people react in
01:58:30
abnormal ways in all the cases I've handled that I've come to expect those kind of things.
01:58:37
>> In closings, prosecutor Meadows argues Acriman is a murderer with a truck as his weapon.
01:58:44
This might as well be a drive by shooting with a gun. >> Andy says the Ford pickup's infotainment
01:58:50
system proves it. >> This is Bud's frame. This is malice. This is intent. >> That the state has not proven that Mr.
01:59:04
Acrian acted with malice or with the intent. It's the highest possible bar and the defense insists the state has
01:59:12
not proven its case. >> That Mr. Arian is entitled to a verdict of not guilty. >> This is judgment day. It's verdict day.
01:59:23
>> You never know what a juryy's going to do. You got 12 people making the decision.
01:59:27
>> Have you reached a verdict in this case? [Music] Ladies and gentlemen, it's my
01:59:51
understanding that the uh jury has reached a uh a verdict. For the Acriman jury, 6 days of testimony and evidence
02:00:00
boil down to a deliberation less than a half hour long. >> State of South Carolina versus William
02:00:07
Gaybud Acriman. >> Did you have a feeling about what that verdict might be? >> Yeah. Quick verdict like that is not
02:00:14
good. Not good. >> We the jury unanimously find the defendant guilty. son. >> Bud Acur is guilty of the murder of
02:00:25
Davis McClendon. >> It was the right verdict. >> I mean, I I thought it would be fast.
02:00:33
Not that fast. >> Not just fast, but too fast to be thought through, says Bud Acriman's
02:00:41
attorney, Jack Swirling. >> I don't think the jury considered everything that was presented to him.
02:00:47
>> They didn't need a lot of time to stew over the evidence. Evidence was clear and obvious.
02:00:53
>> Damning evidence of what Bud Acur did, say Davis McClendon's friends. And equally damning evidence, they say, of
02:01:01
what Bud Acur never did. >> Our friend laid there in the road. >> They still can't wrap their head around
02:01:10
why nobody in the Acriman family ever called 911. >> Somebody should have done the right
02:01:17
thing. At sentencing right after the verdict, Davis McClendon's son demands accountability from the acrimans.
02:01:29
It is time for this spoiled evil individual and this spoiled evil family in Greenwood to finally gain some
02:01:37
repercussions for their actions. Thank you. A lot's been said about why we didn't
02:01:46
call 911. >> But Acriman's father tries to explain his own lack of action by saying he was
02:01:54
too disoriented to know what to do at that hour of the night when his son woke him with the news.
02:02:02
>> The judge's sentence is devastating to the defendant. >> Mr. Hman, if you please answer.
02:02:12
Sense of the court is Mr. Acriman, you be committed to the State Department corrections period of 45 years.
02:02:19
>> It looks like the end of the road for Bud Acur. >> I know that where he is is where he's supposed to
02:02:28
be, but it may allow for a new beginning for Meredith Haney. I was worried that if he only got five or 10 years that I'd
02:02:39
never get to start a new life because I'd be scared for when he got out. With their father unlikely to get out of
02:02:49
prison for decades, she's determined to spare her children from the impact of that horrible night. As a single mom,
02:02:56
she leans on friends and family. >> How are the kids doing? my kids. >> Looking back, she believes Bud Acon
02:03:15
first. >> Davis saved my life. You really feel that way? >> Absolutely. If true, Meredith Haney owes her life,
02:03:27
however challenging, to the new man she had once hoped to share it with. How would you like Davis to be
02:03:35
remembered as a hero? For the way he treated people, for his empathy, for his heart.
02:03:48
He was just a good person. [Music] CBS next Saturday. A soldier suspected of killing his young wife. He's been
02:04:21
trained on how to kill. Goes on the run. >> He just disappeared off the face of the
02:04:25
map >> with his 17-year-old girlfriend. >> If he was willing to kill his own wife,
02:04:28
there's no telling what kind of danger Hannah Thompson would have been in. >> 48 Hours is all new CBS next Saturday,
02:04:34
10:9 central and streaming on Paramount Plus.