A Death in the Stairwell | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[ Siren wailing ] -I was at the New Haven Police Department when I heard our dispatch taking a call from a frantic caller.
I immediately got in my car, alerted Officer Shanebrook. We activated our lights and sirens
and proceeded to the scene. -It was a little after 4:00 in the morning. -As we approached the house...
...I see who I later found to be Alison Davis out in the front yard, waving me down.
I asked where the victim was. She directed me in through the kitchen. By the front door, I could see a male laying facedown
with a large pool of blood around his head. -Did Alison attempt to talk to Kevin?
-No, sir. Not that I ever saw. [ Helicopter blades whirring ] After I got the prognosis from the paramedics...
...I went up and let her know that he is extremely critical. -[ Laughs ] I inform her that at this point,
she cannot go back into the house. The crime-scene part really surprised her. I had Detective Krueger paged out.
-I get the call. It's about 5:00 in the morning. So I get dressed, show up on scene.
Alison's standing outside, relatively very calm. She says they're out drinking at East Haven Tavern.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] And she said that she had slept on the couch. She said he had fallen down the stairs
and there was blood everywhere. I asked her if I could search the home. She said that she wanted to cooperate,
signed my consent to search paper. And I go into the home, I verify. There's a blanket and a pillow on the couch.
The TV's on. Someone was just sleeping there. Checks out. She said that they had a couple of beers when they got home.
There's beer cans lined up. Everything seemed to be normal. -My alarm had just gone off for work,
and I get a phone call from Alison. My name is Kasey Klemm, and Alison Davis is my best friend.
There was an accident, and Kevin had fallen, and he was on his way to the hospital.
I said, "say no more. I'm on my way." She, like, just fell apart in my arms and just started hysterically crying.
They had pronounced him brain-dead. When I was sitting next to Alison at the hospital,
Detective Krueger called. -And I said the scene is released. You can return home,
get clothes, whatever you need to do. -And he suggested that we have someone come clean this up
and that there was a lot of blood. -In hindsight, I would have held the scene for longer.
After the autopsy -- that's when it started to change. This is no accident. -She didn't do this. She never would have done this.
-It's a homicide. -Did Alison Davis murder her husband, Kevin? ♪♪ [ Dramatic music plays ]
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Suspenseful music plays ] -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.
♪♪ -The amount of blood was -- It was alarming. It was -- It was everywhere. -Alison had already given Detective James Krueger
permission to search the house. -But she warned them about the bedroom where their pit bull, Willow,
would sometimes growl at strangers who approach. Kevin had been rushed to Parkview Regional Medical Center.
After speaking with first responders and breaking the tragic news to her loved ones,
Alison also headed to Parkview. So you go to the hospital? -Yes. -Steve Krause watched his daughter
try to will Kevin back to consciousness. -Their favorite phrase for one another was babe.
And Alison's up there, "Hey, babe, you're gonna be okay. Hey, babe, you know, I'm here with you.
Hey, babe, I love you." ♪♪ -She had, like, blood on her fingernail cuticles and on her phone.
I could tell she had been crying, but she kind of just looked, like, in shock. -Her best friend, 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, Detective Krueger lifted restrictions
and cleared the bloody scene. It was horrific. But at this point, he believed it was an accident.
-Maybe he took a head plant down the stairs. I don't know. I wasn't there. -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.
-You don't think about that, right, like, who cleans it up? -I said, "Well, I will go do it."
-You had permission to do this? -Correct. -Permission from the lead detective in this case?
-Correct. -How upsetting was this process of cleaning? -Well, it's very upsetting.
Sometimes I'd become overwhelmed and need to gather myself to finish what I'd come to do.
-Including tending to Willow, who had been left upstairs in their bedroom with the door closed.
-Alison was concerned that the 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. -I'm praying, "Kevin, just, you know, wake up.
You know, wake up. You look like you're sleeping. Just wake up." -Kevin and Alison were 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. -Our customers become our family around here. -The news that Kevin was in critical condition hit hard.
-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. -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. -Kevin Davis was just a nice guy.
Always hardworking, ready to help anybody out at any time. -Close friends Todd Spessert and Jason Young
scrambled to see Kevin. -We all met at the hospital. -Yeah. We talked to Alison and her parents.
She had been crying, but she was holding back. -She was a mess. -She was devastated? -Yes.
-The scene was overwhelming. -Yeah. He's brain-dead. There's nothing left in there.
-God. Just a few hours earlier... he was sitting right over here, right? -Correct.
-Do you say anything to Kevin? -Oh, yeah. I told him -- I was like, "I feel really bad about this,
and it shouldn't have happened, and wish you were still here." -And did you have a chance to say goodbye to your friend?
-Yeah. I said goodbye there. Yep. -Yeah. Then they were talking about, you know, donating his organs and stuff.
I was like, "Wow." -He was an organ donor, correct? -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. -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. -I was just holding back tears, because we were just hanging out.
Like, I was just hanging out with this guy. -It's devastating, not just because he's no longer here,
but the circumstances surrounding it are traumatic. -It had to be an accident. -Nobody ever thought it was anything but a fall.
-And that's what Detective Krueger concluded too. -I just didn't see any need in a small department
to tie up all our resources in holding 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.
-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 here at Parkview treating Kevin felt compelled to speak up.
-One of the doctors or the E.R. staff had some concerns with his injuries. -The C.T. scans showed internal wounds,
multiple skull fractures. She also noted bruising to his face and scalp and concluded...
-That definitely raised some red flags in my mind. -She alerted the coroner's office, who ordered an autopsy.
When did this accident scene become a crime scene? -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 digging a lot deeper into this case.
[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -Three days after Kevin's death, the autopsy was completed
and the provocative findings turned over to police. -I get the autopsy report saying that his skull was crushed in.
Definitely is not consistent with a fall from the stairs. -But Krueger says it is consistent
with a violent physical beating. And you now are going, "We may have a homicide on our hands," right?
-Right. -You have a suspect in this case? -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.
By releasing the scene, that meant family members could re-enter the house. -That meant anybody. Yeah.
The house is back to her. -But when people other than law enforcement enter a house once it's been released,
there's a problem, right? -There is. -There can be contamination of a crime scene.
-Yeah. -The day after police received the autopsy, four days after Kevin's death,
Detective Krueger got a search warrant. That same day and the next, he returned to the house, a body cam rolling.
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. -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. -Alison shared with Kasey a growing unease she couldn't shake.
-She was really upset that they took their phones. 'Cause that was a lot of their memories --
pictures to look back on. [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -Alison would say she initially spoke willingly to investigators...
...doing all police asked of her. She would talk to whomever wanted to speak with her.
Is that right? -Yeah. She had nothing to hide. Why would she? -There's nothing that suggests
there was anything other than a fall down the stairs. -And for you, this was a tragic accident.
-Of course. It was. -And as the spotlight turned to Alison Davis, here at the East Haven Tavern,
there were plenty who voiced their support. -There's no way. -There's no way what?
-That she could have done that, she could have killed him. There's no way. -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. On that night, where was he sitting? -He was sitting over here at the bar.
-And his mood that night was? -Was good. He was happy. He was friendly. -I was here with him. -You were here?
It was around 9:00 p.m. when Alison walked in. -Typical night. -There was nothing out of the ordinary
in the slightest. -Kevin had a second, then a third beer and some vodka shots. Alison sipped on her usual -- a sweet cocktail.
-It didn't seem like she was drinking excessively at all. -The East Haven regulars carried on.
Kevin could get a little loud, his friends say, but they knew that was just Kevin being Kevin.
-I mean, he was just a lot. -What does "a lot" mean? -He was very opinionated. -But she loved him through it.
-Soon, it was after midnight. Time to turn in. -They were calling it a night, winding down.
-Alison left the tavern first, with Kevin following shortly after. -I think it was about 1:00.
-Kevin and his buddy Jason started texting. -Now, those texts, do you still have them?
-Mm-hmm. -Can you show them to me? -Yeah. You can just start here. You can just start scrolling through.
-So this starts at 1:11 a.m. Jason asked... Kevin responding... A moment later, Kevin confides...
-Just being funny, you know? All that was basically going on till about 2:31. -But Kasey 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.
-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." -Like this one emoji here. -Kevin sent Jason a seemingly innocent text.
-And he says... -After the autopsy results came back and Detective 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.
-He was obviously annoyed at her about something. -Remember, Alison had told first responders
that they'd had a fight. -Who knows what was said. It obviously aggravated her. This is a wife that lost it and beat her husband to death.
-There's nothing to suggest that Alison did anything. This is just strictly an accident.
[ Siren wailing ] -With evidence showing that Kevin Davis' skull had multiple fractures...
everything was being re-examined to determine if those injuries were accidental or intentional.
-Detective Krueger's team analyzed that 911 call... ...and concluded Alison was acting.
-This is rehearsed, because she wanted to listen to what the 901 dispatcher had to say,
and then she went into her whole rehearsal. She never asked them to hurry up. Almost every 911 call you listen to,
"Hey, hurry up! I need you now!" You know, this call is about her. It's not about Kevin.
-And even as their body cams rolled, Hetrick and Shanebrook questioned if Alison was genuinely concerned
as Kevin lay dying. [ Suspenseful music plays ] Typically, based on your experience,
how is a spouse reacting in a situation like this? -Usually just absolute panic.
-And when EMTs lifted Kevin, brain-dead, into an emergency vehicle... Did she attempt to get into the ambulance?
-Not once. -Not once? -Was she crying? -I don't ever recall witnessing her cry. -But they say they did hear her laughing.
-We both noticed it. -When she was also talking to the paramedics, my body camera captured her kind of laughing with the paramedics.
-[ Laughs ] -Also strange to police was what they observed at the bottom of the stairs.
-This just doesn't look like a fall to me. -No. 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? -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. -It didn't add up to a tumble down the stairs.
-What did it add up to you? -Blunt force trauma. -A beating, police say -- several severe blows to the head,
until Kevin's skull caved in. -Police uncovered something else. Alison told different stories
as to where she and Kevin were sleeping. Remember, first responders heard this story.
-But that's not what investigators say Alison told Kevin's mother, Alta Beers. -Alta tells me that Alison told her
that they were in bed together. I said, "Okay. That's interesting." -But she had told you she was on a couch
-Yeah. Completely different. -Krueger says Alison didn't share with Kevin's family
just how critically he was hurt. -She's minimizing this entire situation, especially to Kevin's family.
-Why do you suppose Alison minimized his injuries? -Because she caused the injuries.
That's why she minimized them. She's caught lying. -The detective's theories -- the 911 call --
faked. Alison's behavior -- unnatural. Kevin's body -- it had been moved. -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. So your experts are looking at a man
that they believe basically was beaten to death. -That's exactly what they believe.
-Beaten by someone? -Right. -And that's someone, you believe, was? -Alison Davis.
-But the prosecutor sensed the investigation faced some serious challenges. Where's the murder weapon?
-That's a great question. -And what triggered this? -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. -I spoke with Kevin's mother, Alta, and she informed me that they were having some marital issues.
-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? -He said... -"Got to go. The wife." -"The wife."
-Investigators suggested that message reflected tensions in the marriage. Jason believes that's ridiculous.
-Did he ever say to you, "My marriage is in trouble?" -No. -She would have 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. -She went completely silent after that, and --
-The cooperation stopped? -Over with. Yep, yep. -On October 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. -I mean, this is unbelievable. So we get a recommendation
for a criminal-defense team in Indianapolis, Andrew Baldwin and Max Wiley. -I spent quite a bit of time with her,
and she's a wonderful person. -Three days before Christmas, Alison Davis walked into the Allen County jail
with her parents. -She said, "I'm Alison Davis, and I'm here to turn myself in."
-Did they handcuff her right in front of you? -Yes. -Do you believe Alison Davis
had anything to do with her husband's death? -No. -Wiley and Baldwin thought they knew exactly
why cops hadn't found a murder weapon. Because there was no murder. What was the instrument that you believe caused Kevin's death?
-The banister at the bottom of the stairs. [ Soft music plays ] ♪♪ -Indiana rarely allows bail on a murder charge.
Alison Davis was locked up in the Allen County jail. She pleaded not guilty. -We know Alison,
and we know she isn't capable of what they accused her of. -Does she have a temper?
-No. She's never has a temper. -She had a criminal record? -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.
-Our family is faith-based, and Alison leaned on that faith. -It was so hard. -Kasey Klemm searched desperately
for a way to help her friend. -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. -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 talk about
how all she wants, more than anything in the world, is to just hear him call her babe again and hold her.
-Friends and family were denied any direct contact. -No visitation. -Were you able to see her on a video,
FaceTime kind of situation? -No, we were not. -Only her attorneys, Max Wiley and Andrew Baldwin,
could see Alison. Through Plexiglas, they got to know their client and developed a sense of her relationship with Kevin.
Do you buy into this notion that it was a troubled marriage headed toward a cliff?
-Not at all. No one's coming to the detectives, you know, right after this happened
and saying, "There were problems in their marriage. You need to investigate this." Nobody.
-But remember, four weeks after Kevin died, Detective Krueger spoke with Kevin's mother, Alta.
He says she told him Kevin and Alison were having marital problems. -It was looking like it was leading towards a separation.
-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.
And it wasn't about love and marriage. -This case is going to boil down to a lot of science.
-I'm Dr. Bill Smock. I am a consultant to the Allen County District Attorney's office
in the death of Mr. Davis. -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. -He studies brains. He studies brain injuries.
He's passionate about it. -The two experts would come to radically different conclusions.
-Mr. Davis was beaten to death. -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. -I have not heard the call. -Would you like to hear it? -Sure.
-Are you ready? -I'm ready. [ Voice breaking ] Listen to her. And I can't believe they did this to her.
It's unbelievable. [ Sobs ] Such injustice. [ Soft music plays ] ♪♪ -At the East Haven Tavern, the regulars were torn.
-A lot of people think she's guilty. A lot of people think she's innocent. -There's just not a bone in my body
that thinks she could have done this. -I believe that she's not guilty. -What do you believe happened that night?
-I have no idea. -In your mind, is Alison Davis a killer? -I don't know. ♪♪ -May 5, 2025.
Alison has been locked up for 17 months. -The trial starts tomorrow. -Morning, May 6.
Former Detective James Krueger, now Police Chief Krueger after a promotion, heads 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 murderer walk free. -And 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.
-I was responsible for gathering the evidence, making sure everything was completed.
Something got messed up or I missed something, then that falls on my responsibility.
That's my baby. -He knows there are challenges, starting with a most basic issue.
-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... -I give this one a 50/50. I believe that 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. -The prosecution has no murder weapon. The prosecution has nowhere to hide from this paltry evidence
that it's about to present to you. -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. -That's not Alison. That's not who she is.
She had no reason. Kevin was her world. -Are you convinced that Alison Davis murdered her husband?
-I'm 100% convinced, yes. -Fort Wayne's historic courthouse. -Alison Davis is on trial, charged with murder.
-No cameras inside. "48 Hours" is allowed a sketch artist. Investigators, doctors, loved ones testify.
But all eyes are on Alison. And what do you see on her face? -I see love. -But it isn't love,
it's forensics that define this trial -- Drs. Smock and Dragovic and their radically opposing theories.
-Mr. Davis sustained blows to the head -- not just on one side, but on the back and the left side, as well.
-At trial, Smock presents this C.T. scan highlighting Kevin's injuries -- the multiple fractures to his head.
-What that says is that Mr. Davis sustained multiple blows to multiple areas of his head.
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. -For example, a kettlebell, a weight.
It certainly could be the end of a baseball bat. -Kevin Davis was not killed as a result of impacts by baseball bat.
He suffered only one -- one impact to the head as his head slammed into 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.
-They claim that Kevin was beaten. They got it wrong. -I would say Dr. Dragovic got it wrong.
-Dr. Smock says just look at the police body cam video. The banister post appears clean.
There's no evidence Kevin's head struck it. -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.
-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. -According to the defense, his skull hit this.
And if you want to follow me down here, Peter... -Chief Krueger tells us what he believes happened to Kevin.
-I believe that he made some comments to Alison, who was laying down here on the couch.
-And he's walking away from her? -He's walking away from her. And Alison grabs an object.
He takes a blow to the back of the head. -Legally intoxicated and immobilized by more blows...
-And somewhere in this area is where he loses it and falls. -...investigators believe Alison dragged 219-pound Kevin
across a portion of this floor. -Ms. Davis sees these stairs and says, "Well, this is my scapegoat.
I can make it look like this as an accident." 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.
-Core body temperature was 91 degrees. -Dr. Smock says he knows why. -Kevin Davis was lying there for at least two hours
before 911 was called. -But in his testimony, Dr. Dragovic counters Kevin's low temperature is due to something else.
The impact with the post destroyed a key part of Kevin's brain. It's called the hypothalamus.
-That part of the brain is the actual thermostat for the body. -The result? -Your body temperature is out of control.
It's kaput. -There are so many inconsistencies with that theory. -So, I came up the stairs.
-Krueger took us upstairs to that bedroom Willow the pitbull shared with Kevin and Alison.
-Alison had warned Krueger Willow might attack. -Did you ever get into this room?
-I never did, not on that morning. I 100% wish I would have gotten into this room
on the morning of the 12th. -Because? -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.
-Wow. -Oh, my goodness. -That's the staircase right there. And there's the post.
So you hit that, and you end up... Yeah. Your feet over here. -Let's see how steep these stairs are.
They are really steep, aren't they? -And narrow. -Yeah. And narrow. -It's powerful to be in this house.
-And to picture what they believe were the final, fatal steps of Kevin Davis. -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.
-The jury is now out. They just heard closing arguments for about two hours. -Which story will the jury believe?
[ Birds chirping ] [ Down-tempo music plays ] 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 11:00 p.m., word comes a verdict. ♪♪ Alison's family and attorneys emerge. -Not guilty. -Oh, my God, she's coming home!
-Alison Davis -- not guilty. Just moments before, Steve had locked eyes with his daughter
as her verdict came down. -She was crying with joy. And it was a wonderful moment.
-That family over there -- that's why we do this work. That's exactly why we do this work.
-[ Crying ] -Kevin's mother, Alta, doesn't want her son to be forgotten. -He's my son. I've always loved him and always will.
-She accepts the verdict. -I'm okay. 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. -Oh, my God! -Alison comes out, and everybody just erupts with joy.
-Oh, my gosh. -It was a group hug of the ages. -Yes. Tears, saying, "Alison, we missed you so much.
It's so good to have you in our arms again." -It's a lot of emotions, really. -There is no joy for those who believe the jury got it wrong.
-I was like, "Oh! Unbelievable. Unbelievable." -You were stunned by that? -I was, yeah.
-"48 Hours" spoke with this juror, who asked us not to show her face or use her name.
-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." The prosecution's theory had a lot of holes.
-And the jury believed the theories of Dr. Dragovic. -He explained everything in very clear terms that we could understand.
And it just made sense. It made sense to the injury. -For the family at East Haven Tavern...
-Here's to Kevin! -...a bittersweet celebration. And for Kevin's family, what would you have to say to them?
-I just I'm so sorry for your loss. It's so devastating. -What do you hope for her?
-I hope that she can find her place and to get back to that smiling, happy person that she was.
She didn't deserve a year and a half of her life taken away, sitting in jail. So I was I was really happy for her.
♪♪

After her husband is found dying at the foot of the stairs, a woman accused of murder fights to clear her name. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Alison Davis is acquitted of murdering her husband Kevin, whose death was initially ruled an accident but later deemed suspicious by investigators.

Key points

The Scene Unfolds. Officers arrive at the scene to find Kevin critically injured with a pool of blood.
A Frantic Call. Alison Davis calls Kasey Klemm, revealing a tragic accident involving her husband, Kevin.
A Shocking Discovery. The autopsy reveals Kevin's injuries are inconsistent with a simple fall.
Alison's Arrest. After months of investigation, police issue a warrant for Alison's arrest for murder.
Alison's Emotional Struggle. While in jail, Alison expresses her deep longing for Kevin, revealing her emotional turmoil.
Alison's Long Wait. Alison has been locked up for 17 months as her trial approaches.

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I said, "say no more. I'm on my way.".

Kasey Klemm's response to Alison's call about Kevin's accident.

3:31WatchOct 17, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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