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Amazon's 'Alexa' may have witnessed New Hampshire double slayings, cops say
Published November 15, 2018
A judge has ordered Amazon to hand over recordings from an Echo smart device that could provide crucial details in a 2017 New Hampshire double homicide.
Judge Steven Houran, in a court order, wrote the device -- which features the artificial intelligent voice Alexa -- may have captured key audio of one of the killings. The Echo was in the kitchen of Farmington home where the killing occurred.
He ordered the tech giant to turn over recordings from Jan. 27 to Jan. 29, when Christine Sullivan, 48, and Jenna Pelligrini, 32, were stabbed to death, the Washington Post reported.
“The court finds there is probable cause to believe the server[s] and/or records maintained for or by Amazon.com contain recordings made by the Echo smart speaker from the period of January 27, 2017 to January 29, 2017, and that such information contains evidence of crimes committed against Ms. Sullivan, including the attack and possible removal of the body from the kitchen,” Houran wrote.
Timothy Verrill, 36, has pleaded not guilty to the fatal stabbings.
In a statement to the Post, an Amazon spokesperson said the company “will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.”
Authorities admitted that they do not know for sure if the killings were captured on the Echo device.
Any recording on the device is stored on an Amazon server.
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/amazon-ordered-to-turn-over-alexa-recordings-in-double-murder