48 Hours Correspondent Anne-Marie Green and Producer Josh Yager discuss the death of Davis McClendon, who was fatally struck by Bud Ackerman, the estranged husband of Davis’ love interest. They dig into the defense's argument that the collision was an accident, the trove of digital evidence from Bud’s truck, and why the Ackerman’s babysitter was the first one on the scene to call 9-1-1. Now available in video — watch this week's Post Mortem on the 48 Hours YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/n8SQGv1X3_8 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who was Davis McClendon and what happened to him?
Welcome back to another episode of Postmortem. I am your host, Anne-Marie Green, and we are discussing a case that I actually reported on this week with 48 Hours producer Josh Yeager. It's about the hit and run death of Davis McClendon in the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina, where everybody knows everybody. And it really isn't just a cliche. People are so interconnected in this town.
In May of 2023, William Budd Ackerman fatally struck Davis, who was dating Budd's soon-to-be ex-wife, Meredith. The defense claimed that this was an accidental collision, but the prosecution argued that the crash was in fact an intentional killing. So joining me now is Josh. We work together on the case. So it's good to have you here on Postmortem as well, Josh.
Thanks for having me.
Now, first off, if you haven't listened to this episode yet, you can find it in your podcast feed just below this one. Go listen to the episode and then come back here to listen to Postmortem. So I got to tell you, when I first sort of read about the details of this case, I thought this really seems pretty cut and dry.
There's no question that the reason Davis McClendon is dead is because he was hit. He was in a collision. At the trial, the prosecution made a really strong case that Bud was jealous. His estranged wife, Meredith, had started dating. Bud was tracking them that night, the night they were out on a date, making all these phone calls, looking for them both.
And then shortly after one o'clock, he meets up with Davis. The prosecution argued that the crash site showed that Bud deliberately hit Davis, who we learned was standing outside of his BMW at the time. But then he flees the scene on top of that. Right. So if it was an accident, you know, why do you flee the scene? And then he never calls 911. But then I heard the defense's argument.
And I thought about the times that maybe I've driven in the dark and maybe didn't see a pedestrian who was about to cross the street to the last minute. And I saw maybe a window of opportunity. I was a little torn.
It's one of those cases, I think, which is really interesting because you can put yourself there. mentally in the space of the person of the people on both sides according to the defense you have bud ackerman whose intention really is to come and just meet with davis mcclendon and talk to him he's driving his pickup truck down the road over a rise in the road it's very dark
He's going faster than he realizes, at least that's what the defense said. And he comes over the rise of this hill, and he is coming straight into the headlights, which are on, of the parked BMW. Now, where is Davis McClendon? According to the defense, he is standing outside his car, but he's further away from his car than the prosecution contends. He's actually out towards the center of the road.
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Chapter 2: Was the collision that killed Davis McClendon an accident or intentional?
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Welcome back. Well, just hours after killing Davis McClendon, Bud Ackerman was arrested and charged with his murder. In September of 2024, Bud's case went to trial, which faced a couple of challenges from the very, very start.
had trouble getting off the ground through no fault of anyone's, really. I mean, there were several things that came to bear. One is that Bud Ackerman's attorney, Jack Swirling, had health problems and actually became ill in the courtroom twice and had to go to the hospital during the very, very earliest stages of the trial. And so the trial at one point is postponed,
and has to start all over again. Once it starts, the gigantic hurricane we all heard about last fall, winter, hit right in the middle. And so there was a pause of several days, if not longer. These people, it's their lives that are hanging in the balance. And so when something like a hurricane takes place, you can only imagine what that period of time must be like.
Yeah, totally. Close to the end of the hour, you see Davis's son speak, and he's very, very angry, not just at Bud Ackerman, but at the Ackerman family. For this town, this is a wealthy family, well-known, but also Davis. He's pretty well known in the town himself. So the memorial for Davis was massive. It was so large that they had to hold it outside. That's according to Davis's friends.
So it sort of tells you about the impact of the loss, but also how everyone felt the loss.
I mean, he was beloved in the community. We talked to his friends who say he was just he didn't have an enemy in the world. He was just loved, loved everyone and was loved by everyone.
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