A Fatality in the Stairwell

48 Hours

After her husband Kevin Davis is found dead at the bottom of the stairs with a large pool of blood around his head, Allison Davis is accused of murder. The

Key takeaways

The crime scene was initially treated as accidental due to critical injuries, but later reclassified as homicide based on forensic analysis.
Allison Davis cleaned up the blood at her home with police permission, which became a point of contention during the trial.

Main topics

Murder investigation
Crime scene analysis

Notable quotes

"He's not responding. OK, I'm going to have help on the way to you." – 911 call from Allison Davis

"I think we're done here." – Detective Kruger after initial scene assessment

Conclusion

After a lengthy trial and emotional journey, Allison Davis was acquitted of murder despite

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:10) I was at the New Haven Police Department when I heard our dispatch taking a call from a frantic caller. Speaker 8 (0:16) 911, what's the address of your emergency? My husband just fell down the stairs and I can't move all over. I Speaker 5 (0:23) immediately got in my car, alerted Officer Shanie Brooke. We activated our lights and sirens and proceeded to the scene. It was a little after 4 in the morning. Speaker 8 (0:33) He's not responding. OK, I'm going to have help on the way to you. They'll be there in just a few minutes, OK? Speaker 5 (0:40) As we approach the house, Speaker 1 (0:41) I see Speaker 5 (0:43) who I later found to be Allison Davis out in the front yard waving me down. Speaker 1 (0:51) I asked Speaker 5 (0:51) where the victim was. She directed me in through the kitchen. By the front door, I could see a male laying face down with a large pool of blood around his head. What's your Speaker 8 (1:04) name? Kevin Davis. Speaker 5 (1:08) Did Allison attempt to talk to Kevin? No, sir, not that I ever saw. Speaker 1 (1:13) Kevin, can you hear us? Kevin. Speaker 5 (1:16) Just stay Speaker 1 (1:17) here. Speaker 5 (1:18) Ma'am, is there anybody else in the house just so we're aware? Just Speaker 8 (1:20) my dog. Speaker 1 (1:21) Okay, when did you find him? Just Speaker 8 (1:23) now. I woke up. I was sleeping on the couch. He was sleeping upstairs. And all of a sudden I woke up to a loud bang and I was like, what is... Speaker 5 (1:36) This just doesn't look like a fault Speaker 1 (1:37) in the making. Speaker 5 (1:38) After I got the prognosis from the paramedics, I went up and let her know that he is extremely critical. Speaker 1 (1:48) Right now we're treating this as a crime scene due to his condition, okay? Speaker 5 (1:52) I inform her that at this point she cannot go back into the house. Speaker 8 (1:56) Like, why is it being treated as a crime scene? Speaker 1 (1:58) Just due to his condition, okay? He's critical right now, all right? Speaker 5 (2:04) The crime scene part really surprised her. Speaker 1 (2:06) She doesn't Speaker 5 (2:07) have a normal reaction from me telling her her husband's critical, Speaker 1 (2:10) right? I think she's still in shock. Speaker 5 (2:12) You Speaker 3 (2:12) think so? I had Detective Kruger paged out. I get the call. It's about 5 in the morning. So I get dressed, show up on scene. Allison's standing outside, relatively very calm. He said that you guys were at East Haven last night. She says they're out drinking at East Haven Tavern. Speaker 8 (2:30) We got home. He had some more beers. Speaker 3 (2:37) And she said that she had slept on the couch. Speaker 8 (2:44) She said Speaker 3 (2:47) he had fallen down the stairs and there was blood everywhere. I asked her if I could search the home. She said that she wanted to cooperate. Signed my consensus search paper and I go into the home. I verify. Speaker 3 (3:02) There's a blanket and a pillow on the couch, the TV's on, someone was just sleeping there. Checks out. She said that they had a couple of beers when they got home. There's beer cans lined up. Everything seemed to be normal. Speaker 4 (3:16) My alarm had just gone off for work and I get a phone call from Allison. My name is Casey Clem and Allison Davis is my best friend. There was an accident and Kevin had fallen and he was on his way to the hospital. I said, say no more, I'm on my way. She like just fell apart in my arms and just started hysterically crying. They had pronounced him brain dead. When I was sitting next to Allison at the hospital, Detective Krueger called. Speaker 3 (3:47) I said that the scene is released. You can return home, get clothes, whatever you need to do. Speaker 4 (3:51) And he suggested that we have someone come clean this up and that there was a lot of blood. Speaker 3 (3:56) In hindsight, I would have held the scene for longer after the autopsy. That's when it started to change. This is no accident. Speaker 4 (4:06) She didn't do this. She never would have done this. Speaker 3 (4:09) It's a homicide. Did. Allison Speaker 6 (4:12) Davis murder her husband, Kevin. Speaker 2 (4:24) August Speaker 6 (4:24) 12, 2023, New Haven, Indiana. Shortly before morning broke, in the home he rented with his wife, Allison, at the base of a steep stairway, Kevin Davis' blood seeped onto the floor. Speaker 3 (4:47) Where's that blood coming from? Speaker 5 (4:49) Right Speaker 3 (4:49) through his nose. Speaker 3 (4:53) The amount of blood was, it was alarming. It was everywhere. Speaker 6 (4:58) Allison had already given Detective James Kruger permission to search the house. Speaker 3 (5:03) If you do agree to that, I need you to sign there saying that you understand it. But Speaker 6 (5:07) she warned them about the bedroom, where their pit bull, Willow, would sometimes growl at strangers who approached. Speaker 8 (5:14) She's up in the bedroom, and she's a guard dog. Okay. And I don't know if she'd do anything, and I don't want anything to Speaker 6 (5:19) happen to her. Speaker 8 (5:19) Right now, what I won't Speaker 3 (5:20) do is I won't go in that room. Speaker 8 (5:22) Okay. Speaker 1 (5:24) He's critical right now. Speaker 6 (5:26) Kevin had been rushed to Parkview Regional Medical Center. After speaking with first responders and breaking the tragic news to her loved ones, Allison also headed to Parkview. So you go to the hospital? Yes. Steve Krause watched his daughter try to will Kevin back to consciousness. Speaker 2 (5:45) Their favorite phrase for one another was babe. And Allison's up there, hey babe, you're going to be okay. Hey babe, you know. I'm here with you. Hey, babe, I love you. Speaker 4 (5:58) She had like blood on her fingernail cuticles and on her phone. I could tell she had been crying, but she kind of just looked like in shock. Speaker 6 (6:09) Her best friend, Casey Clem. Speaker 4 (6:12) They had her in like a little small waiting room with a chaplain. And I was trying to calm her down to ask questions, you know, like what was going on. Speaker 6 (6:21) Back at the house, Detective Kruger lifted restrictions and cleared the bloody scene. It was horrific, but at this point, he believed it was an accident. Speaker 3 (6:33) Maybe he took a head plant down the stairs. I don't know. I wasn't there. Speaker 4 (6:37) The detective said, I think we're done here. Speaker 6 (6:40) Allison stayed at the hospital. But back home, all that blood needed to be cleaned up. Speaker 4 (6:47) You don't think about that, right? Like, who cleans it up? Speaker 6 (6:50) I said, well, I will go do it. You had permission to do this? Correct. Permission from the lead detective in this case? Correct. How upsetting was this Speaker 2 (7:00) process of cleaning? Well, it's very upsetting. Sometimes I'd become overwhelmed. need to gather myself to finish what I'd come to do. Speaker 6 (7:14) Including tending to Willow, who had been left upstairs in their bedroom with the Speaker 2 (7:20) door closed. Allison was concerned that the dog hadn't been left out. They had no children, so the dog was like a child. Speaker 6 (7:28) Throughout that frantic morning, Allison and her family quietly prayed. I'm Speaker 2 (7:33) praying, Kevin, just, you know, wake up, you know, wake up. You look like you're sleeping, just wake up. Speaker 6 (7:40) Kevin and Allison were part of a tight group of friends who were regulars at the East Haven Tavern, where Jodi Espy and Jessica Eckwright take care of the crowd. Speaker 7 (7:51) Our customers become our family around here. Speaker 6 (7:54) The news that Kevin was in critical condition hit hard. Speaker 7 (7:59) Everybody was just talking like, oh my gosh, he was just here. That's so sad. Speaker 6 (8:04) Kevin and Allison had been at the tavern just hours earlier. It Speaker 7 (8:08) was hard not to be a friend of Allison's because she just made everybody feel like you mattered. Speaker 6 (8:14) Kevin, a skilled landscaper, had a big personality that matched his big heart. Kevin Speaker 3 (8:21) Davis was just a nice guy, always hardworking, ready to help anybody out at Speaker 2 (8:27) any time. Speaker 6 (8:28) Close friends Todd Spessart and Jason Young scrambled to see Kevin. Speaker 2 (8:33) We all met at the hospital. We talked to Allison and her parents. She had been crying, but she was holding back. She was a mess. Speaker 6 (8:41) She was devastated. Yes. The scene was overwhelming. Yeah, he's brain dead. There's nothing left in there. Just a few hours earlier... He was sitting right over here, right? Correct. Do you say anything to Kevin? Speaker 2 (8:55) Oh, yeah. I told him, I was like, I feel really bad about this, and it shouldn't have happened, and wish he were still here. And did you have a chance to say Speaker 6 (9:07) goodbye to your friend? Speaker 2 (9:09) Yeah, I said goodbye there. Yep. Yeah, and then they were talking about, you know, donating his organs and stuff. I was like, wow. He Speaker 6 (9:19) was an organ donor? Speaker 4 (9:21) Yes. She was very proud of him for that, too. Speaker 6 (9:25) His life support would be disconnected. Soon, 40-year-old Kevin Davis was gone. At 33, Allison was a widow.