Anne-Marie Green’s true-crime investigations | "48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

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

“48 Hours" correspondent Anne-Marie Green compiles some of her best crime investigations. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, which includes "The Death of an Officer's Wife," "The Ivy League Murder" and "The Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon."

00:00 The Death of an Officer's Wife 41:24 The Ivy League Murder 1:23:14 The Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "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

Amanda Peralt's suspicious death leads to her husband Seth's murder conviction amid evidence of domestic abuse.

Key points

A Tragic Morning. Seth Peralt claims his wife Amanda shot herself, but the scene raises questions.
A Disturbing Discovery. Evidence at the scene contradicts the suicide narrative, leading to deeper investigation.
Surveillance Footage Evidence. Footage shows Seth Perolt's suspicious behavior after Amanda's death.
Verdict of Guilty. Seth Perolt is found guilty of murder after a long trial.
Witness to a Shooting. A witness sees a shooter standing over a victim, continuing to fire.
Heartbreaking News. Detectives inform Kevin's mother about his murder, leading to her devastation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I knew something was wrong the day I walked in the house.

12:44WatchAug 16, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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