AMAZON Echo speakers may have recorded the moment a woman died when she was impaled by a spear in a row with her partner, cops believe.
Silvia Galva, 32, was killed by a spear to the chest during a fight with Adam Reechard Crespo, 43, at their home in Hallandale Beach, Florida, in July.
Crespo has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and claims Silvia’s death was a tragic accident.
Police investigating the mysterious death have obtained a warrant for any audio recordings from two Amazon devices found in the apartment.
A warrant obtained by US media says "audio recordings capturing the attack on victim Silvia Crespo… may be found on the server[s] maintained by or for Amazon.com".
Investigators want to establish if the Amazon smart-speaker, known as Alexa, recorded the row that resulted in Silvia’s death.
Crespo told police they got into an argument in their bedroom on the night she died.
He grabbed onto Silvia’s ankles and tried to pull her off the bed when he heard a “snap”, according to a police report.
FIGHT IN THE BEDROOM
A lawyer for Crespo told the BBC that this “snap” was Silvia breaking off one of the bed’s pointy bedposts after holding onto it to steady herself.
The 12-inch spear-end of this bedpost ended up piercing her chest during the argument with her partner.
He then tried to pull out the blade end from her chest “hoping it was not too bad”.
Crespo’s lawyer, Christopher O'Toole, told the BBC that Silvia’s death was unintentional.
According to the police report, when Crespo saw Silvia had been stabbed he called for a female friend who was in the apartment to call emergency services.
"He tried to save Silvia's life," Mr O'Toole said, "this was the woman he loved."
DID ALEXA RECORD THE ROW?
The lawyer added that he supports the use of the Amazon Echo audio in court.
"Ordinarily, I'd be jumping up and down objecting, but we believe the recordings could help us," he said.
"If the truth comes out, it could help us."
The Amazon devices don’t start recording until a user says a wake word like “Alexa,” “Amazon,” “computer” or “Echo,” according to a company spokesman.
“No audio is stored or sent to the cloud unless the device detects the wake word,” Amazon spokesperson Leigh Nakanishi told the newspaper.
But investigators are probing whether there’s any chance Alexa was “awoken” at any time during the incident and recorded anything that could be used in court.
Crespo has been released from custody after posting $65,000 bond and his next court date has not yet been scheduled, the Sun-Sentinel reports.
Source: Read Full Article