August 12, 2023, New Haven, Indiana. Shortly before morning broke in the home he rented with his wife Alison, at the base of a steep stairway, Kevin Davis‘ blood seeped onto the floor.
OFFICER GARRETT SHANEBROOK | New Haven Police Department (bodycam video): Where’s that blood coming from?
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK | New Haven Police Department: His face and his nose.
Det. James Krueger: The amount of blood, it was alarming. It was — it was everywhere.
Alison Davis had already given lead Detective James Krueger of the New Haven Police Department permission to search the house.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): If you do agree to that, I need you to sign there saying that you understand …
But she warned them about the bedroom, where their pit bull mix, Willow, would sometimes growl at strangers who approached.
ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): She’s up in the bedroom, and she’s a guard dog.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER: OK.
ALISON DAVIS: And I don’t know if she’d do anything, and I don’t want anything to happen to her.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER: Right now, what I won’t do is, I won’t go in that room.
ALISON DAVIS: OK.
AN ACCIDENTAL FALL?
Kevin had been rushed to Parkview Regional Medical Center in critical condition. After speaking with first responders and breaking the tragic news to her loved ones, Alison also headed to Parkview.
Peter Van Sant: So you go to the hospital?
Steve Krause: Yes.
Steve Krause watched his daughter try to will Kevin back to consciousness.
Steve Krause: Their favorite phrase for one another was “babe.” … And Alison’s up there, “Hey babe you’re gonna be OK. Hey babe, you know, I’m here with you. Hey babe, I love you.”
Kasey Klemm: She had like blood on her fingernail, cuticles, and on her phone. I could tell that she had been crying but she kind of just looked like in shock.
Alison’s best friend Kasey Klemm.
Kasey Klemm: They had her in like a little small waiting room with a chaplain. And I was trying to calm her down to ask questions, you know, like what was going on?
Back at the house, Krueger lifted restrictions and cleared the bloody scene. It was horrific. But at this point, he believed it was an accident.
Det. James Krueger: Well, maybe he took a head plant down the stairs. I don’t know. I wasn’t there.
Kasey Klemm: The detective said … I think we’re done here.
Alison stayed at the hospital. But back home, all that blood needed to be cleaned up.
Kasey Klemm: You don’t think about that right? … Like, who cleans it up?
Steve Krause: I said well, I will go do it.
Peter Van Sant: You had permission to do this?
Steve Krause: Correct.
Peter Van Sant: Permission from the lead detective in this case?
Steve Krause: Correct.
Peter Van Sant: How upsetting was this process of cleaning?
Steve Krause: Well it’s very upsetting. … sometimes I’d get — become overwhelmed and need to gather myself, um, to finish, um, what I’d come to do.
Including tending to Willow, who had been left upstairs in their bedroom with the door closed.
Steve Krause: Alison was concerned that this dog hadn’t been left out … They had no children, so the dog was … like a child.
Throughout that frantic morning, Alison and her family quietly prayed.
Steve Krause: I’m praying can we just, you know, wake up, you know, wake up. You look like you’re sleeping, just wake up.
Kevin and Alison were a part of a tight group of friends who were regulars at the East Haven Tavern where Jodi Espy and Jessica Eakright take care of the crowd.
Jessica Eakright: Our customers become our family around here.
The news that Kevin was in critical condition hit hard.
Jodi Espy: Everybody was just talking like, “Oh my gosh, he was just here. That’s so sad.”
Kevin and Alison had been at the Tavern just hours earlier.
Jessica Eakright: It was hard not to be a friend of Alison’s because she just made everybody feel like you mattered.
Kevin, a skilled landscaper, had a big personality that matched his big heart.
Todd Spessert: Kevin Davis was, uh, just a nice guy … always hard working … ready to help anybody out at any time.
Close friends Todd Spessert and Jason Young scrambled to see Kevin.
Jason Young: We all met at the hospital.
Todd Spessert: Yeah.
Jason Young: We talked to Alison and her parents.
Jason Young: … definitely she had been crying, but she was holding back.
Todd Spessert: She was — she was a mess.
Peter Van Sant: She was devastated?
Jason Young and Todd Spessert: Yes.
The scene was overwhelming.
Todd Spessert: Yeah, he … he’s uh brain dead, there’s nothing left in there.
Peter Van Sant: God, just a few hours earlier he was sitting right over here, right?
Todd Spessert: Correct.
Peter Van Sant: Do you say anything to Kevin?
Jason Young: Oh yeah, yup. … I told him it’s like … I feel really bad about this. And it shouldn’t have happened, and wish you were still here.
Peter Van Sant: And did you have a chance to say goodbye to your friend?
Jason Young: Yeah. I said goodbye there. Yep.
Todd Spessert: They were — yeah, then they were talking about, you know, donating his organs and stuff. And I was like — I was like, wow.
Peter Van Sant: He was an organ donor?
Kasey Klemm: Yes, yes. She was very proud of him for that, too.
His life support would be disconnected. Soon, 40-year-old Kevin Davis was gone. At 33, Alison was a widow.
Kasey Klemm: They were just happy type of couple that would dance in the kitchen to music together, just the two of them. Like that’s just who they were. They were great together.
It shook their friend Deontae Bristol.
Deontae Bristol: I was just holding back tears because we were just hanging out. Like I was just hanging out with this guy.
Jessica Eakright: It’s devastating. Not just because he’s no longer here, but because the circumstances surrounding it are traumatic.
Deontae Bristol: It had to be an accident.
Jodi Espy: Nobody ever thought it was anything but a fall.
And that’s what Krueger concluded, too.
Det. James Krueger: I just didn’t see any need in a small department to tie up all our resources and hold the house for an accident scene.
But the scene did raise questions. Despite a huge amount of blood, first responders didn’t see any lacerations on Kevin’s head.
Det. James Krueger: I was just told that he was bleeding out of his … nose and mouth … there was no obvious wound on the side of his head.
That same day, a doctor at Parkview treating Kevin felt compelled to speak up.
Det. James Krueger: One of the doctors of the ER staff … had some concerns with those injuries.
The CT scans showed internal wounds — multiple skull fractures. She also noted bruising to his face and scalp and concluded, “Kevin’s injuries were not consistent with a fall down a stairway.”
Det. James Krueger: That … definitely raised some red flags in my mind.
She alerted the coroner’s office, who ordered an autopsy.
Peter Van Sant: When did this accident scene become a crime scene?
Det. James Krueger: After the autopsy. … Once they told me that he had a crushed-in skull … definitely is not consistent with a fall from the stairs. … that’s when I started … to dig a lot … deeper into this case.
KEVIN DAVIS’ AUTOPSY RESULTS RAISE SUSPICIONS
Three days after Kevin’s death, the autopsy was completed and the provocative findings were turned over to police.
Det. James Krueger: I get the autopsy report … saying that his skull is crushed in, definitely is not consistent with a fall from the stairs.
But Krueger says it is consistent with a violent physical beating.
Peter Van Sant: And you now are going … we may have a homicide on our hands.
James Krueger: Right.
Peter Van Sant: Do you have a suspect in this case?
James Krueger: Yeah, Alison’s definitely our suspect. … You have two people in a house. One is murdered.
It seemed a routine step to launch the murder investigation of Alison Davis. But the New Haven Police Department had a huge challenge — created by its own decision.
Peter Van Sant: By releasing the scene that meant that family members could –
Det. James Krueger: That meant that anybody —
Peter Van Sant: — reenter the house …
Det. James Krueger: — yeah, the house is back to her.
Peter Van Sant: But when people other than law enforcement enter a house once it’s been released there’s a problem right?
Det. James Krueger: There is.
Peter Van Sant: There can be contamination of a crime scene.
Det. James Krueger: Yeah.
The day after police received the autopsy, four days after Kevin’s death, Krueger got a search warrant. That same day and the next he returned to the house, a bodycam rolling.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): I have a couple more search warrants here, OK? First one is I gotta take your phone from ya.
ALISON DAVIS: OK.
Police had been looking for more evidence — including a possible murder weapon or traces of blood. But by then, Alison’s dad had already straightened up as best he could.
Steve Krause: I basically cleaned up the area that I could visually see blood. And it was around where Kevin was on the floor. … It’s right there at the bottom of the steps.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): So if I could gather the phone first?
ALISON DAVIS: Yes, let me grab that.
Alison shared with Klemm a growing unease she couldn’t shake.
Kasey Klemm: She was really upset that they took their phones …
DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video): Is that password protected?
ALISON DAVIS: Yes.
Kasey Klemm: … cause that was a lot of their memories. … pictures to … look back on.
Alison would say she initially spoke willingly to investigators, doing all police asked of her.
Peter Van Sant: She would talk to whomever wanted to speak with her, is that right?
Kasey Klemm: Yeah. She had nothing to hide. Why would she?
Steve Krause: There’s … nothing that suggests there was anything other than a fall down the stairs.
Peter Van Sant: And for you this was a tragic accident.
Steve Krause: Of course … It was!
And as the spotlight turned to Alison Davis, at the East Haven Tavern, there were plenty who voiced their support.
Jodi Espy: There’s no way.
Peter Van Sant: There’s no way what?
Jodi Epsy: That she could’ve done that, she could’ve killed him. There’s no way.
Jessica Eakright: I could not imagine in any world where she would be wanted for murder.
The tavern crowd tells the story of that night. Alison was working retail at Victoria’s Secret. When she finished, she headed over. As usual, Kevin was waiting for her.
Peter Van Sant: On that night … where was he sitting?
Jodi Espy: He was sitting over here at the bar.
Peter Van Sant: And his mood that night was?
Jodi Espy: Was good, he was happy, he was friendly.
Jason Young: I was here with him.
Peter Van Sant: You were here?
Jason Young: Mm-hmm.
It was around 9 p.m. when Alison walked in.
Jodi Espy: Typical night.
Jessica Eakright: There was nothing out of the ordinary in — in the slightest.
Kevin had a second, then a third beer and some vodka shots. Alison sipped on her usual — a sweet cocktail.
Jessica Eakright: It didn’t seem that she was drinking excessively at all.
The East Haven Tavern regulars carried on. Kevin could get a little loud, his friends say, but they knew, that was just Kevin being Kevin.
Jodi Espy: I mean, he was — he was just “a lot.”
Peter Van Sant: What does “a lot” mean?
Jodi Espy: He was very opinionated.
Jessica Eakright: But she — she loved him through it.
Soon it was after midnight; time to turn in.
Jessica Eakright: They were calling it a night, winding down.
Alison left the tavern first, with Kevin following shortly after.
Jessica Eakright: I think it was about one.
Kevin and his buddy Jason Young started texting.
Peter Van Sant: Now those texts, do you still have them?
Jason Young: Mm-hmm.
Peter Van Sant: Can you show them to me?
Jason Young: Yeah. … You can just start here. You just start scrolling through. …
Peter Van Sant: So this starts at 1:11 a.m. …
Young asked, “You guys make it back?” Kevin responding, “Oh ya sry…. L O L.” A moment later Kevin confides, “Ya we are good bro… I’m just listening to music… L O L.”
Jason Young: … just being funny, you know … all that was basically going on til … about 2:31.
But Klemm says, Alison told her it was late, and she had told Kevin to quiet down. She was tired, and all she wanted was to get some sleep.
Kasey Klemm: She said, Kevin, I have to get up early for work. … I’m gonna go downstairs and sleep if you don’t stop. I need to sleep.
Kevin sent Jason a seemingly innocent text.
Jason Young: He says … “I’m putting my phone on silent, laugh my ass off, gotta go to bed. The wife.“
“The Wife.” After the autopsy results came back, and Krueger got Alison and Kevin’s phones. He studied that text and the ones before it. He thought they didn’t seem innocent at all.
Det. James Krueger: He was obviously annoyed at her about something.
Remember, Alison had told first responders that they’d had a fight.
ALISON DAVIS (police bodycam): Just now, I woke up, I — we got in a fight last night …
Det. James Krueger: Who knows what was said. It obviously aggravated her.
Det. James Krueger: This is a wife that lost it and beat her husband to death.
Steve Krause: There’s nothing to suggest that Alison did anything. … This is just strictly an accident.
THE INVESTIGATION FOCUSES ON ALISON DAVIS
With evidence showing that Kevin Davis’s skull had multiple fractures, everything was being reexamined to determine if those injuries were accidental —or intentional.
911 DISPATCHER: 911. What’s the address of your emergency?
ALISON DAVIS: My husband just fell down the stairs and there’s blood everywhere …
ALISON DAVIS: … I don’t know if he’s alive or dead.
Detective Krueger’s team analyzed that 911 call and concluded Alison was acting.
Det. James Krueger: … this is rehearsed. … Because she wanted to listen to what the 911 dispatcher had to say and then she went into her whole rehearsal.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, and what happened to your husband?
ALISON DAVIS: Um, he fell down the stairs, just now. I was sleeping downstairs. All I heard — all of a sudden, I heard a loud noise.
Det. James Krueger: She never asked them to hurry up. Almost every 911 call you listened to, hey, hurry up, I need you now, you know?
Det. James Krueger: This call is about her. It’s not about Kevin.
And even as their bodycams rolled, police officers Hetrick and Shanebrook questioned if Alison was genuinely concerned, as Kevin lay dying.
Peter Van Sant: Typically, based on your experience, how is the spouse reacting in a situation like this?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: Usually just absolute panic.
And when EMT’s lifted Kevin, brain-dead, into an emergency vehicle —
Peter Van Sant: Did she attempt to get into the ambulance?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: Not once.
Peter Van Sant: Not once. Was she crying?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: I — I don’t ever recall witnessing her cry.
But they say they did hear her laughing.
Officer Garrett Shanebrook: Uh, we both noticed it.
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: When she was also talking to the paramedics, my body camera captured her kinda laughing … with the paramedics.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK (bodycam video): Is there somewhere we can get clothes for ya?
ALISON DAVIS: Um, cause you can’t. I’m not sure.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK: Yeah. That’s the problem right now, like I said.
ALISON DAVIS: I mean, it is what it is at this point.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK: OK. OK.
Also strange, to these police officers, is what they observed at the bottom of the stairs.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK (bodycam video): This just doesn’t look like a fall to me.
OFFICER GARRETT SHANEBROOK: No.
Officer Garrett Shanebrook: If he fell down the stairs why wasn’t he more either wedged up against the doorway … not laying perfectly flat in a horizontal position?
Det. James Krueger: It’s almost like he was laid down at that base of the stairs. It didn’t make sense.
Police would come to think they knew why.
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: It didn’t add up to a tumble down the stairs.
Peter Van Sant: What did it add up to you?
Cpl. Cade Hetrick: Blunt force trauma …
A beating, police say — several severe blows to the head until Kevin’s skull caved in.
CORPORAL CADE HETRICK (bodycam video): Right now, we’re treating this as a crime scene due to his condition, OK? Alright?
Police uncovered something else. Alison told different stories as to where she and Kevin were sleeping. Remember, first responders heard this story:
ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): We got in a fight last night. And I was sleeping on the couch, and he was sleeping upstairs.
But that’s not what investigators say Alison told Kevin’s mother, Alta Beers.
Det. James Krueger: Alta tells me that, um, Alison told her that … they were in bed together … I said, OK, that’s interesting.
Peter Van Sant: But she had told you she was on a couch.
Det. James Krueger: Yeah. Completely different.
Krueger says Alison didn’t share with Kevin’s family just how critically he was hurt.
Det. James Krueger: She is minimizing this entire situation, especially to Kevin’s family.
Peter Van Sant: Why do you suppose Alison minimized his injuries –
Det. James Krueger: Because she caused the injuries. That’s why she minimized them. … She’s caught lying …
The detective’s theories: the 911 call — faked.
ALISON DAVIS (to 911): My husband just fell down the stairs and there’s blood everywhere, and I can’t flip him over.
Alison’s behavior — unnatural. Kevin’s body — it had been moved.
Tesa Helge: It looks to me like he’s been positioned in a way that does not consistent with falling down the stairs.
Prosecutor Tesa Helge teamed with Krueger and the doctors who had treated and examined Kevin.
Peter Van Sant: So your experts are looking at a man they believed basically was beaten to death.
Tesa Helge: That’s exactly what they believe.
Peter Van Sant: Beaten by someone.
Tesa Helge: Right.
Peter Van Sant: And that someone you believe was?
Tesa Helge: Alison Davis.
But the prosecutor sensed the investigation faced some serious challenges.
Peter Van Sant: Where’s the murder weapon?
Tesa Helge: It’s a great question.
Peter Van Sant: And what triggered this?
Tesa Helge: Between them? I don’t know. I wish I knew.
But Helge and Krueger became convinced, they had learned something important about Alison and Kevin’s marriage that could suggest a motive.
Det. James Krueger: I spoke with Kevin’s mother, Alta, and she had informed me that there were having some marital issues.
Tesa Helge: You know a domestic relationship that has gone bad … It is on the rocks.
And remember these texts from the final hours of his life between Kevin and his friend Jason Young?
Jason Young: He said, “I’m putting my phone on silent, laughin’ my ass off, gotta go to bed. The wife.”
Peter Van Sant: Gotta go, the wife.
Det. James Krueger: The wife.
Investigators suggested that message reflected tensions in the marriage. Young believes that’s ridiculous.
Peter Van Sant: Did he ever say to you my marriage is in trouble.
Jason Young: No.
Kasey Klemm: She would’ve told me if there was something going on and never was that hinted.
Alison’s supporters say she was just being honest with investigators when she mentioned the argument. But, with detectives bearing down on her, Alison had stopped talking to them about her marriage or anything else.
Det. James Krueger: She went completely silent after that and uh.
Peter Van Sant: The cooperation stopped.
Det. James Krueger: Over with, yep, yep.
On Oct. 17, 2023, after two months of investigation, police declared Kevin’s death a homicide. And two months after that, a warrant was issued for Alison’s arrest for the murder of her husband.
Steve Krause: I mean that — this is unbelievable … So we get a recommendation for criminal defense team in Indianapolis.
Steve Krause: Andrew Baldwin and Max Wiley.
Andrew Baldwin: I spent quite a bit of time with her, and she’s just a wonderful person …
Three days before Christmas, Alison Davis walked into the Allen County Jail with her parents.
Steve Krause: She said … I’m Alison Davis, and I’m here to turn myself in.
Peter Van Sant: Did they handcuff her right in front of you?
Steve Krause: Yes.
Peter Van Sant: Do you believe Alison Davis had anything to do with her husband’s death?
Max Wiley: No.
Wiley and Baldwin thought they knew exactly why cops hadn’t found a murder weapon: because there was no murder.
Peter Van Sant: What was the instrument that you believe caused Kevin’s death?
Max Wiley: The banister at the bottom of the stairs.
ALISON DAVIS ARRESTED
Indiana rarely allows bail on a murder charge. Alison Davis was locked up in the Allen County Jail. She pleaded not guilty.
Steve Krause: We know Alison. … and we know she isn’t capable of what they accused her of.
Peter Van Sant: Does she have a temper?
Steve Krause: No, she’s never has a temper.
Peter Van Sant: Does she have a criminal record?
Steve Krause: No, she does not have a criminal record.
Her father, Steve, hoped he’d given Alison tools to survive behind bars and face the anxious wait until her trial.
Steve Krause: Our family is faith-based, and Alison leaned on that faith.
Kasey Klemm: It was so hard.
Kasey Klemm searched desperately for a way to help her friend.
Kasey Klemm: It’s like there’s nothing I can do for her, except pretend to be strong and remind her that I’m here.
While loved ones missed Alison, she told them that she missed Kevin.
Kasey Klemm: You know she would say, I haven’t been sleeping because I just keep seeing it in my head and … I just miss him and I want him. … and you know she would just talk about how all she wants more than anything in the world is just to hear him call her babe again and hold her.
Friends and family were denied any direct contact.
Steve Krause: No visitation.
Peter Van Sant: Were you able to see her on a video, Facetime kind of situation?
Steve Krause: No, we were not.
Only her attorneys, Max Wiley and Andrew Baldwin, could see Alison. Through plexiglass, they got to know their client and developed a sense of her relationship with Kevin.
Peter Van Sant: Do you buy into this notion that it was a troubled marriage, headed toward a cliff?
Max Wiley: Not at all. … No one is coming to the detectives, you know, right after this happened and saying there was a problem in the marriage, you need to investigate this. Nobody.
But remember, four weeks after Kevin died, Krueger spoke with Kevin’s mother, Alta. He says she told him Kevin and Alison were having marital problems.
Det. James Krueger: It was looking like it was leaning towards a separation.
Tesa Helge: I think it’s fair to say that he was concerned about the marriage, and that he had shared those concerns with his family.
As Helge prepared, she believed she had a compelling story to share with a jury. It wasn’t about love and marriage —
Tesa Helge: This case is going to boil down to a lot of science …
Dr. Bill Smock: I’m Dr. Bill Smock. I’m a consultant to the Allen County District Attorney’s Office in the death of Mister Davis.
Tesa Helge: When I brought Dr. Smock in, and I provided him all our materials … I did not tell him what anyone else thought.
The defense retained a medical expert of its own: Dr. L. J. Dragovic, a forensic pathologist and neuropathologist.
Max Wiley: He studies brains. He studies brain injuries. He’s passionate about it.
The two experts would come to radically different conclusions.
Dr. Bill Smock: Mr. Davis was beaten to death.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Kevin Davis died as a result of falling and striking his head … on a bottom post of the stairway banister …
They worked to make sense of a tragedy that started with a phone call.
Steve Krause: I have not heard the call.
Peter Van Sant: Would you like to hear it?
Steve Krause: Sure.
Peter Van Sant: You ready?
Steve Krause: I’m ready.
ALISON DAVIS (to 911): My husband just fell down the stairs and there’s blood everywhere, and I can’t flip him over. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead.
Steve Krause: Listen to her.
Steve Krause: And I can’t believe they did this to her. It’s unbelievable. Such injustice!
At the East Haven Tavern, the regulars were torn.
Jodi Espy: A lot of people think she’s guilty. A lot of people think she’s innocent.
Jessica Eakright: There’s just not a bone in my body that thinks she could have done this.
Jodi Espy: I believe that she’s not guilty.
Peter Van Sant: What do you believe happened that night?
Todd Spessert: I have no idea.
Peter Van Sant: In your mind, is Alison Davis a killer?
Todd Spessert: I don’t know.
May 5, 2025. Alison has been locked up for 17 months.
Jessica Eakright: The, um, trial starts tomorrow.
On the morning of May 6, former Det. James Krueger — now Police Chief Krueger after a promotion — heads to court.
Chief James Krueger (driving to court): I’m anxious. … What’s at stake today is either Kevin Davis gets justice for what was done to him, or we let a — a murderer walk free.
Max Wiley: I just, you know, kept thinking … what evidence do they have to say that Alison murdered him and there just … wasn’t anything.
Krueger admits the investigation was flawed, but he isn’t making any excuses.
James Krueger: So, I was responsible for gathering the evidence, making sure everything was completed … if something got messed up or if I missed something, that — that falls on my responsibility … That’s my baby.
He knows there are challenges — starting with a most basic issue.
Chief James Krueger: He was a big guy. You know, the jurors may have a hard time believing that she was even capable of causing this injury to him.
And if the chief was a betting man?
Chief James Krueger: I give this one a 50-50 … I believe there’s a very good possibility that this jury will hang and there won’t be a verdict.
At the Allen County Courthouse, both sides are set to go.
Andrew Baldwin: The prosecution has no murder weapon. … The prosecution has nowhere to hide from the paltry evidence that it’s about to present to you.
Tesa Helge: There’s no doubt that Kevin was murdered.
And like Krueger, Helge knows this case is a tough one. So many people think Alison Davis simply could not be a killer.
Deontae Bristol: That’s not Alison. That’s not who she is. … She had no reason … Kevin was her world.
Peter Van Sant: Are you convinced that Alison Davis murdered her husband?
Chief James Krueger: I’m 100 percent convinced. Yes.
A DRAMATIC VERDICT
Inside Fort Wayne’s historic courthouse, no cameras are allowed. “48 Hours” is allowed a sketch artist. Investigators, doctors and loved ones testify. But all eyes are on Alison.
Peter Van Sant: And what do you see on her face?
Steve Krause: I see love.
But it isn’t love, it’s forensics that define this trial. Doctors Smock and Dragovic, and their radically opposing theories.
Dr. Bill Smock: Mr. Davis sustained blows to the head … not just on one side, but on the back and on the left side as well.
At trial, Smock presents a CT scan highlighting Kevin’s injuries, the multiple fractures to his head.
Dr. Bill Smock: What that says is that Mr. Davis sustained multiple blows to multiple areas of his head.
Dr. Bill Smock: I told the jury that Mr. Davis was the victim of a homicide … He did not fall down those stairs.
He believes Alison wielded a weapon that was never found.
Dr. Bill Smock: For example, a kettle bell, a weight … It certainly could be the end of a baseball bat.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Kevin Davis was not killed as a result of impacts by baseball bat.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: He suffered only one — one impact to the head as his head slammed into that — that post of the banister.
That one impact, Dragovic says, led to multiple fractures. He says the same impact then caused Kevin’s brain to ricochet inside his skull.
The shattered bone fragments acted like shrapnel, tearing Kevin’s brain.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: They claim that Kevin was beaten. … they got it wrong.
Dr. Bill Smock: I would say Dr. Dragovic got it wrong.
Doctor Smock says just look at the police bodycam video. The banister post appears clean. There’s no evidence Kevin’s head struck it.
Dr. Bill Smock: There was no blood, no tissue, no hair on the top of that banister.
But remember, Dragovic argues the post is clean because Kevin’s injuries were internal.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Kevin never had any open wound anywhere on his body.
Blood that was found by first responders was on the floor, beneath Kevin’s body. It came from his nose and mouth.
Chief James Krueger (at staircase banister): According to the defense, his skull hit this.
Chief Krueger tells “48 Hours” what he believes happened to Kevin.
Chief. James Krueger: I believe that he made some comments to Alison who was laying down here on the couch.
Peter Van Sant: And he’s walking away from her?
Chief James Krueger: … he’s walking away from her … and Alison grabs an object … he takes that blow to the back of the head.
Legally intoxicated and immobilized by more blows –
Chief James Krueger: … and somewhere in this area is where he loses it and falls.
Investigators believe Alison dragged 219-pound Kevin across a portion of the floor.
Chief James Krueger: Mrs. Davis sees these stairs and says, well this is my scapegoat. I can make it look like this is an accident.
Chief James Krueger: And he was pulled just enough to make it look like he fell down the stairs.
And Krueger says there’s more evidence of Alison’s guilt: Kevin’s cold body temperature.
Chief James Krueger: Core body temperature was 91 degrees.
Doctor Smock says he knows why.
DR. BILL SMOCK: Kevin Davis was lying there for at least two hours before 911 was called.
But in his testimony, Dragovic counters Kevin’s low temperature is due to something else: the impact with the post destroyed a key part of Kevin’s brain called the hypothalamus.
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: … that part of the brain is the actual thermostat for the body.
The result:
Dr. L.J. Dragovic: Your body temperature is out of control. … It’s, uh, kaput.
Dr. Bill Smock: There are so many inconsistencies with that theory.
Krueger took “48 Hours” upstairs to that bedroom Willow the pit bull mix shared with Kevin and Alison. Alison had warned Krueger, Willow might attack.
ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): She’s up in the bedroom, and she’s a guard dog.
DET. JAMES KRUEGER: Right now, what I won’t do is I won’t go in that room.
ALISON DAVIS: OK.
Peter Van Sant: Did you ever get into this room?
Chief James Krueger: I never did. Not on that morning. … I 100 percent wish I would’ve gotten into this room on the morning of the 12th.
Peter Van Sant: Because?
Chief James Krueger: The murder weapon could have been in there.
Chief Krueger has been at the house several times. This is the first time Alison’s lawyers were able to get inside.
Andrew Baldwin: Wow.
Max Wiley: Oh my goodness.
Andrew Baldwin: That’s the staircase right there. … And there’s the post … So, you hit that and you —you end up, yeah your feet over here.
Max Wiley: Let’s see how steep these stairs are, they are really steep. Aren’t they?
Peter Van Sant: And narrow.
Max Wiley: Yeah. And narrow.
Andrew Baldwin: It’s powerful to be in this house.
And to picture what they believe were the final, fatal steps of Kevin Davis.
Andrew Baldwin: … it’s an intoxicated guy that fell down the stairs and hit his head on that post right there …
The trial lasts four days. Alison does not take the stand.
MARCUS TRUSCIO | WANE Reporter: The jury is now out … they just heard closing arguments for about two hours.
Which story will the jury believe?
The courthouse is dark except for the jury room. Some 21 grueling months have passed since the heartbreaking death of Kevin Davis. If convicted of his murder, Alison Davis could spend the rest of her life in prison. At 11 p.m., word comes of a verdict. Alison’s family and attorneys emerge.
Max Wiley: Not guilty.
Meghan Hodge | Family member: Oh my God she’s coming home! Oh my God! Oh!
Alison Davis is found not guilty.
Just moments before, Steve had locked eyes with his daughter as her verdict came down.
Steve Krause (outside courthouse): She was crying with joy, and it was a wonderful moment.
Andrew Baldwin (outside courthouse): That family over there — that’s why we do this work. That’s exactly why we do this work.
Kevin’s mother Alta doesn’t want Kevin to be forgotten.
Alta Beers: He’s my son. I’ve always loved him and always will.
She accepts the verdict.
Alta Beers: I’m OK. I’m dealing with it. She’s still my daughter-in-law, no matter what.
But where is Alison? Back in jail — waiting for her release paperwork. A cold but joyous crowd stands vigil. Then, at 2:12 a.m., the jailhouse door cracks open.
Steve Krause: Alison comes out and everybody just erupts with joy.
Peter Van Sant: It was the group hug of the ages.
Steve Krause: Yes … tears and saying Alison we missed you so much. It’s so good to have you in our arms again.
Alison Davis: It’s a lot of emotions, really.
There is no joy for those who believe the jury got it wrong.
Chief James Krueger: I was like ugh, unbelievable, unbelievable.
Peter Van Sant: You were stunned by that?
Chief James Krueger: I was, yeah.
“48 Hours” spoke with a juror who asked us not to show her face or use her name.
Juror: Well the prosecution didn’t have a strong case, like there was no weapon, there was no this is where she did it, and how she did it.
Juror: The — the prosecution’s theory had a lot of holes.
And the jury believed the theories of Dr. Dragovic.
Juror: He explained everything in very clear terms that we could understand, and it just made sense. It made sense to the injuries.
Peter Van Sant: And for Kevin’s family, what would you have to say them?
Jodi Espy: Just that I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s — it’s so devastating.
Peter Van Sant: What do you hope for her?
Jessica Eakright: I hope that she can … find her place … to get back to that smiling happy person that she was.
Jessica Eakright: She didn’t deserve a year and a half of her life taken away sitting in jail. … So, I was really happy for her.
Alison Davis has left New Haven and is living with her parents and her dog Willow.
Produced by James Stolz. Kat Teurfs is the field producer. Rebecca LaFlam is the associate producer. Michelle Sigona is the development producer. Richard Barber, Michael Vele and Gregory McLaughlin are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
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