Police say an Indiana man’s death was no accident; His wife fights to prove she’s no murderer.

August 12, 2023, New Haven, Indiana. Shortly before morning broke in the home he rented with his wife Alison, at the base of a steep stairway, Kevin Davis‘ blood seeped onto the floor.

OFFICER GARRETT SHANEBROOK | New Haven Police Department (bodycam video): Where’s that blood coming from?

CORPORAL CADE HETRICK | New Haven Police Department: His face and his nose.

Det. James Krueger: The amount of blood was alarming. It was — it was everywhere.

Alison Davis had already given lead Detective James Krueger of the New Haven Police Department permission to search the house.

DET. JAMES KRUEGER (bodycam video):  If you do agree to that, I need you to sign there saying that you understand …

But she warned them about the bedroom, where their pit bull mix, Willow, would sometimes growl at strangers who approached.

ALISON DAVIS (bodycam video): She’s up in the bedroom, and she’s a guard dog.

DET. JAMES KRUEGER: OK.

ALISON DAVIS: And I don’t know if she’d do anything, and I don’t want anything to happen to her.

DET. JAMES KRUEGER: Right now, what I won’t do is, I won’t go in that room.

ALISON DAVIS: OK.

AN ACCIDENTAL FALL?

Kevin had been rushed to Parkview Regional Medical Center in critical condition. After speaking with first responders and breaking the tragic news to her loved ones, Alison also headed to Parkview.

Peter Van Sant: So you go to the hospital?

Steve Krause: Yes.

Steve Krause watched his daughter try to will Kevin back to consciousness.

Steve Krause: Their favorite phrase for one another was “babe.” … And Alison’s up there, “Hey, babe, you’re gonna be OK. Hey, babe, you know, I’m here with you. Hey, babe, I love you.”

Kasey Klemm: She had blood on her fingernails, cuticles, and on her phone. I could tell that she had been crying, but she kind of just looked like in shock.

Alison’s best friendis Kasey Klemm.

Kasey Klemm: They had her in like a little waiting room with a chaplain. And I was trying to calm her down to ask questions, you know, like what was going on?

Back at the house, Krueger lifted restrictions and cleared the bloody scene. It was horrific. But at this point, he believed it was an accident.

Det. James Krueger: Well, maybe he took a head plant down the stairs. I don’t know. I wasn’t there.

Kasey Klemm: The detective said … I think we’re done here.

Alison stayed at the hospital. But back home, all that blood needed to be cleaned up.

Kasey Klemm: You don’t think about that right? … Like, who cleans it up?

Steve Krause: I said well, I will go do it.

Peter Van Sant: You had permission to do this?

Steve Krause: Correct.

Peter Van Sant: Permission from the lead detective in this case?

Steve Krause: Correct.

Peter Van Sant: How upsetting was this process of cleaning?

Steve Krause: Well, it’s very upsetting. … sometimes I’d get — become overwhelmed and need to gather myself, um, to finish, um, what I’d come to do.

Including tending to Willow, who had been left upstairs in their bedroom with the door closed.

Steve Krause: Alison was concerned that this dog hadn’t been left out … They had no children, so the dog was … like a child.

Throughout that frantic morning, Alison and her family quietly prayed.

Steve Krause: I’m praying can we just, you know, wake up, you know, wake up. You look like you’re sleeping, just wake up.

Kevin and Alison were a part of a tight group of friends who were regulars at the East Haven Tavern where Jodi Espy and Jessica Eakright take care of the crowd.

Jessica Eakright: Our customers become our family around here.

The news that Kevin was in critical condition hit hard.

Jodi Espy: Everybody was just talking like, “Oh my gosh, he was just here. That’s so sad.”

Kevin and Alison had been at the Tavern just hours earlier.

Jessica Eakright: It was hard not to be a friend of Alison’s because she just made everybody feel like you mattered.

Kevin, a skilled landscaper, had a big personality that matched his big heart.

Todd Spessert: Kevin Davis was, uh, just a nice guy … always hard working … ready to help anybody out at any time.

Close friends Todd Spessert and Jason Young scrambled to see Kevin.

Jason Young: We all met at the hospital.

Todd Spessert: Yeah. Jason Young: We talked to Alison and her parents.

Jason Young: … definitely, she had been crying, but she was holding back.

Todd Spessert: She was —  she was a mess.

Peter Van Sant: She was devastated?

Jason Young and Todd Spessert: Yes.

The scene was overwhelming.

Todd Spessert: Yeah, he … he’s uh brain dead, there’s nothing left in there.

Peter Van Sant:  God, just a few hours earlier, he was sitting right over here, right?

Todd Spessert: Correct.

Peter Van Sant: Do you say anything to Kevin?

Jason Young: Oh yeah, yup. … I told him it’s like … I feel really bad about this. And it shouldn’t have happened, and I wish you were still here. 

Peter Van Sant: And did you have a chance to say goodbye to your friend?

Jason Young: Yeah. I said goodbye there. Yep.

Todd Spessert: They were — yeah, then they were talking about, you know, donating his organs and stuff. And I was like — I was like, wow.

Peter Van Sant: He was an organ donor?

Kasey Klemm: Yes, yes. She was very proud of him for that, too.

His life support would be disconnected. Soon, 40-year-old Kevin Davis was gone. At 33, Alison was a widow.

Kasey Klemm: They were just a happy type of couple that would dance in the kitchen to music together, just the two of them. Like that’s just who they were. They were great together.

It shook their friend Deontae Bristol.

Deontae Bristol: I was just holding back tears because we were just hanging out. Like I was just hanging out with this guy.

Jessica Eakright: It’s devastating. Not just because he’s no longer here, but because the circumstances surrounding it are traumatic. READ MORE…