The Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] Greenwood I lived here half my life everyone knows everyone and their business I have decided to set the story
straight it's still real I still think maybe I'll wake up we were out from our bird day 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 Mar to her and Davis they would going away weekends a lot I liked
them his smile was so contagious and he's just such a sweet guy I would have never expected this to happen ever GRE
County 911 but is the one person 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 start looking at the carore noticed that his front tire was smashed in and I remember looking and I notic
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 SL 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
was 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 know it was 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 can 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] 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 McLendon'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 inial 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 durkin's job was to freeze it in time First Responders had thought Davis McLendon'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 think of a normal fender bender it
would just kind of be pressed into it this was torn back like a tuna can in a sense it had made authorities wonder if
it was a hidden 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' 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 mer 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 Saw Grass 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 was crushing Davis McLendon was the ultimate people person without an enemy in the World say his friends chip
Thunder buunk everybody loved Davis he was just awesome Zack Calhoun he he loved big int 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 know know each other you know it 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 residence 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 22 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 Akerman 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 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 I 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 stand and what did that tell you when you saw it what 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 bread clums basically in a manner of 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 poell says by the time authorities started following that oil trail from the crash site they had a
solid hunch where it might lead Davis McLendon'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 estranged husband butd
akur and it turns out the oily evidence LED right to AC'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 kind of walked up um and almost was expecting us bud arrian and his father were both standing near the garage are
there some kids here yeah y 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 know 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 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 but from speaking with Meredith they learned she had a
contentious relationship with her soon Tobe ex-husband and came to suspect a jealous Bud akur had mowed Davis
McLendon 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 budd's pickup
truck sideswiped the sedan and hit Davis carrying him on the vehicle's Grill and
depositing his body across the road meridi 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 feeling 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 and 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 McLendon 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 acrian had been at the crash site Oly Footprints oily Footprints at about 6 30 a.m. on May 7th
2023 Bud acrian was arrested he would be charged with the murder of Davis McLendon 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 but AR 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 arrian's truck had hit and
killed Davis McLendon but they knew proving aurman had done it on purpose might be harder building a case starts
from that night and when investigators looked at that night they learned but acrian 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 buds 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 them where you were I
feel like 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 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 acrian 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 aurman had left Key West about a half
hour later cameras show Bud's truck cir 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 if he's looking for them Lieutenant wac
says before long investigators would learn just how far but acrian had gone that night to find Meredith and Davis
though acrian 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 back side of the dash wac says in some cars and trucks the infotainment systems
as they're known store detailed information about how the vehicles are being driven we're in a similar model to
buds 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 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 McLendon 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 he was gone did he think he could bring the
temperature down mhm record 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 wac says other infotainment system
data show that at a bit past 1 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 acrian 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 arrian's truck had
stopped at that point in time buds opening the door uh he opens the door before he shifts it to park wac thinks
acur 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 aurman 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 acr's attorney Jack swirling paints a different picture I don't think
he intended to run Davis McLendon 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 you this can
I get you to step with me over here for please none of the cops who arrested him
reported he seemed Tipsy the only one that 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
whirling Meredith and Davis had betrayed McLendon's promise to Bud to stand down
until the arrian'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 arrian'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 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 a half a mile from that location swirling says arrian'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 I'm 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 insy Bud acrian meant no harm that night and Bud is about to tell that story to a jury your name William grey
Akerman Junior um also go by Bud good morning everybody we are on the record in the
state versus William Bud acan prosecutors are determined to prove it was no accident that bud arrian hit
David McLendon the night he died so in September of 2024 assistant Attorneys General John
Conrad and John Mets he intentionally drove his car into the body of Davis mclin start the case off with a bang bam
and that's what this case is about they'll argue acrian couldn't stand the fact that his estranged wife was seeing
someone and Bud was searching for Meredith and David all over town but aaman was not going to let Davis
McLendon be with Meredith that's your house right there yes sir Mets 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 buds 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 but aer's voice yelling at Davis McLendon after running him
down what it sounded like to me was what do you want to talk about now bud yelling un Heavenly EXP as he uh
said to Davis as he was lying on the ground I think he was glad he was dead but but arrian's defense attorney Jack
swirling argues the audio is too garbled to prove anything i' listened to it several times now and well I don't
believe you can conclude 100% that that exactly what he said the prosecutor then
calls Megan McGovern the arrian's babysitter and friend to describe the moment she'd seen Davis's body through
traumatized teenage dies 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 is that you yes yes sir she tells the jury Bud arrian 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 defender Bud aan yes sir
did you reject that call yes sir 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 it was getting scary and she says by the time Davis McLendon left her at the Key West Club after midnight and is that
Davis Mendon leaving the ball yes she was worried Bud might be volatile so when Davis later called to tell her he
was going to meet with acman 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 killed her boyfriend I do back into Mex car because I thought
that the only way that bud would have ever killed somebody would have been to shoot objection don't 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
cross examination all real question step down ma'am your honor a state call special agent Brian Hudak digital
forensics expert Brian Hudak tells the jury about data in the infotainment system of arrian's pickup including some
that show Bud was driving in exactly the right place in Greenwood at the inter of
such of avid and sress at exactly the right time between 11131 and 11132 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 Hudak says the evidence shows acrian was going 25
mph and the amount of detail that that truck had on what bud did that night is is simply breathtaking Ford vehicles on
the completely on the wrong side of the road when it strikes the BMW collision reconstruction expert Corporal
Christopher bratcher testifies the dent show buds speeding pickup sideswiped Davis's BMW sedan as shown in that CBS
News animation based on the prosecutions theory they said 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 acement did not act intentionally in this case he says Bud arriman had no idea Davis was
standing outside his car and calls Auto forensics expert Jonathan Nelson to testify that given acrian speed in the
dark over a slope in the road and into the parked BMW's headlight beams he wouldn't have seen Davis McLendon
standing in the road until at most 2 and 1/2 seconds before the Collision well would a person have sufficient
opportunity to avoid impact I think the most people would have little to no opportunity to begin to try to avoid and
swirling says David wasn't standing right next to his car when he was hit but further out towards the center of
the road and that acrian 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 bu I come
around to stand pleaser arrian'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 did not acrian 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 McLendon 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 met argues acrian is a murderer with a truck as his
weapon this might as well be a driveby shooting with a gun and he says the Ford pickups infotainment system proves
it this is Bud's brain this is malice this is intent that state has not proven that Mr
akan 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 aaman is entitled to a verdict of not guilty this is Judgment Day it's verdict Day you
never know what a jury's going to do you got 12 people making the decision have you reached a verdict in this case
[Music] ladies and gentlemen is my understanding that the uh Jury has reached a uh a
verdict for the acrian jury 6 days of testimony and evidence boiled down to a deliberation less than a half hour
long state of South Carolina versus William grey bud acran did you have a feeling about what that verdict might be
yes yeah a quick verdict like that is not good not good we the jury unanimously find the
defendant guilty but a is guilty of the murder of Davis McLendon it was a 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 but arrian's
attorney Jack swirling I don't think the jury considered everything that was presented
to him they a lot of time to Stew over the evidence the evidence was clear and obvious damning evidence of what bud
arriman did say Davis McLendon's friends and equally damning evidence they say of
what bud acrian never did our friend laid there in the road they still can't wrap their head around
why nobody in the acrian family ever called 911 somebody should have done the right
thing at sentencing right after the verdict Davis McLendon's son demands accountability from the
acement 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 akerman'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 judges sentence is devastating to the defendant Mr Amman if you please stand
answer sentence of the court is Mr Amman you be committed to State Department Corrections period of 45
years it looks like the end of the road for Bud Akerman 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 i' 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 more my kids looking back she believes bu acrian
really wanted to Target her that night and that she's only alive because he found Davis McLendon
first DAV has 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 109 Central and streaming on Paramount Plus

A romance is cut short when a man is found dead near his mangled car. His newfound love is convinced it was no accident. "48 Hours" correspondent Anne-Marie Green reports in this episode which aired on March 1, 2025. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

Editor's note: In this broadcast, Chip Funderburk is mispronounced as Chip Funderbunk.

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

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Brief Summary

Davis McLendon was murdered by his girlfriend's estranged husband Bud Akerman amid a tumultuous love triangle.

Key points

Davis McLendon's Tragic Death. Davis was found dead after a mysterious car accident, raising questions about foul play.
Meredith's New Beginning. After a difficult marriage, Meredith finds hope in a new relationship with Davis.
The Investigation Unfolds. Authorities uncover evidence suggesting Bud may have intentionally hit Davis.
Davis's Tragic Death. Witnesses describe the horrific scene of Davis McLendon's death, highlighting the emotional impact on those involved.
Meredith's Testimony. Meredith testifies about her fear of Bud's volatility and the events leading up to the confrontation.
Verdict Day. The jury delivers a quick verdict of guilty for Bud Acran, raising concerns about the deliberation process.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was in shock. It doesn't even make sense.

Reacting to the news of Davis's death.

2:34WatchMar 6, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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