April 27, 2025 • 61 mins
In the Spring of 2023, a budding romance was in play between a Greenwood man and a separated school teacher. They took great measures to be discreet and respectful in their relationship, but the woman's estranged husband did not see it that way. Things boiled over on a Saturday night in May resulting in a fatal ending.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
For over three hundred and fifty years, the state of
South Carolina has been the setting for some of the
most horrendous crimes ever committed. Some have gained global notoriety,
some have been forgotten, and others have been swept under
the rug completely. Now, two South Carolina natives and true
(00:25):
crime enthusiasts have teamed up to examine these heinous acts
in detail, giving their perspective of the evil that has
resided in the Palmetto State. You're listening to Carolina Crimes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two nineteen.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I'm one of your host Matt Hires, along.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
With Danielle Myers and.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
For Ashley Richards and Julie Kane and everybody that chimed in.
I'm over the moon real that you joined us here
this week.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
I knew it wouldn't be just me when I know
you said it, and I went.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, that was a little yeah, came a little flat
for that last week, but we're coming down for the holidays. Well,
we hope everyone had a good Easter. We certainly appreciate
you reaching out this week. All the feedback we got
from episodes to eighteen to seventeen, as well, those were,
like I said, kind of along the same lines, and
(01:25):
we appreciate y'all reaching out and letting us know what
you liked about those episodes as well.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And this week is kind of out of the norm
for me.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Usually these more recent cases are, but this one is
so heavily requested. We have gotten dozens of requests to
cover this one, and now that everything kind of got
finalized last year, we're able to bring you this one.
And I found it extremely interesting too, and it's definitely
(01:57):
worth talking about here to Greenwood, South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yeah, I saw that you said I was cheating off
your paper. I don't know all the details. I just
know a little bit here and there, but I did
see the name at the top, and I said, oh, yeah,
I do remember hearing about that. And I did have
some people send me some stuff from the trial and
want us.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
To do this. And it's a case that garnered a
lot of attention nationally statewide, especially around the Lakelands. Involved too,
very well known families, very well off families as well,
But we'll get into that before we dive into this
week's episode. I do want to remind everyone, if you're
not already following us on social media. Check us out
(02:41):
over on Carolina Crimes Podcast on Facebook. We'll put some
pictures from each episode. You'll be able to put some
faces with some names and get a little better understanding
of yourself for each of these cases. Also, we're on
Twitter at sc Crimes pod and if you would like
to support the show, are absolutely free.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
If you're listening on.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Spotify, Apple iTunes or Apple Podcasts, go ahead and throw
us a five star review. Please mash that purple subscribe
button and write a little something about what you like
about the show. We would greatly appreciate that. And if
you would like to support the show monetarily, you can
head on over to Carolina Crimestore dot com. I don't
believe in taking money for nothing, so you can get
(03:24):
you some T shirts, hoodies, all kinds of Carolina Crimes
paraphernalia over that way. So, Danielle, this has, like I said,
been highly publicized. There's a lot of information out there,
a lot of little side stories, but we just stick
we're sticking strictly to the facts that were presented. CBS
(03:47):
News they did a great job covering this. I think
there was a forty eight hours episode as well of course,
Greenwood Index Journal we rely.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
A lot on those weren't were there daily updates on
the trial or there was showing some things?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, yes, And Robert Stevenson, friend of the show, journalism
professor over at Lander University, certainly for bringing this to
our attention as well and keeping us up to date.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Two.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So, Greenwood, South Carolina, as I mentioned, is going to
be the setting for this week's show, and it is
the county seat of Greenwood County, as most county seats
in South Carolina go, and Greenwood County itself is located
in the central western portion of South Carolina. If you're
not familiar with the state, we have covered Greenville, I'm
(04:40):
sorry Greenwood several times and gone over its history. You know,
I think it's got the widest main.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Street in the world. We cover that.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
But we're going to just dive briefly into the history
of Greenwood before we get into the episode.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Originally Greenwood was part of the ninety sixth District and
was home to Fort Starr during the American Revolution. But
it was in eighteen twenty three where Greenwood, both the
name and the community came to be John and Charlotte mcgeehee.
They built a summerhouse in this area and called it
(05:17):
green Wood two words. They built that summerhouse and soon
a nearby village named Woodville was established, which would eventually
become the town of Greenwood. Now, like many towns in
South Carolina, Greenwood grew in size due to the establishment
of the railroad lines, and specifically the first one to
(05:39):
go through was the Greenville and Columbia Railroad in eighteen
fifty two. Now, the establishment of the railroad, of course,
this allowed for transportation, and it was also a boon
for commerce, especially when textiles hit the scene in the
late eighteen hundreds. Now, in eighteen seventy two, Brewer Normal
(06:00):
Institute was founded as a school for African American children,
which later became Brewer High School until integration in nineteen seven.
And a dear friend of mine that I worked with,
she just retired last month, Miss Tracy Crawford. She was
from Greenwood and was an alumni Brewer School. And we
(06:22):
I like to have conversations with her at lunch. Learned
a lot from her. A good elder, good mentor good friend.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
In nineteen three, no we've mentioned Lander University, but it
was Lander College, Lander College moved to Greenwood, and of
course we mentioned Robert Stevenson, friend of the show, that
he professes journalism over there in media now. In nineteen
thirty five, due to the New Deal during the Great Depression,
(06:54):
construction of the Buzzard's Roost Dam began, which resulted in
the formation of the eleven thousand, four hundred acre Lake Greenwood.
So it was a man made lake and that construction
of the dam that is what formed it. So today
Greenwood is home to diverse industries and corporations and twenty
(07:17):
three thousand residents lived there.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Some of the more famed residents of Greenwood Alicia Gray,
a US Olympian in three on three basketball and the
twenty seventeen WNBA Rookie of the Year. Also Johnny Corley,
he was a soul singer whose number one hit was
Boogloo down Broadway. I've heard it, I like it, and
(07:42):
he's got a very gritty voice.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I enjoy him.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Also from Greenwood, Hoodie Johnson, the former chairman of Augusta
National just Masters two weeks where two weeks removed from that,
but he was a former chairman down there. And also
we always mentioned John mckissi, the winningest coach in football history,
who coached Somerville High School for sixty.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Two years, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
From nineteen fifty two to twenty fourteen, ten state championships,
overall record of six hundred and twenty one and one
hundred and fifty five and thirteen ties. So hell of
a career. That's awesome, hell of a career. Well, we're
going to start off by talking about a couple. We're
(08:32):
going to kind of start at the beginning, and a
couple named Bud and in Meredith Ackerman from there in Greenwood.
Bud he was a successful body shop owner there in town,
very well known family. His wife, Meredith, she was an
(08:55):
elementary school teacher and the two were married for about
ten years. They had three children of their own, and
things were going well there. Bud was described as a
great father to his kids. But around that ten year mark,
it seemed like work kind of started getting the best
(09:17):
of it.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Okay, stress Meredith.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
She said that it seemed like he was falling into
depression a little bit.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
You can you get burnt out? Oh definitely, yeah, And
it's just you just it wears on you.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Sometimes death You need a break and I've never known
really the added stress of being a business owner.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, but that's got to come with with a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
But work was starting to take its toll on him,
and along with the depression symptoms, he started drinking quite
a bit.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
She said.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
The drinking would start to increase and he became I
don't want to say demeaning, but very critical of his wife,
like nothing was ever good enough, she said in an
interview with CBS, cussing he wasn't a normal I mean,
(10:20):
he didn't use foul language a lot, but it really
wrapped up once he started drinking. And now let's let's
make a note here that he was never never physically abusive,
nothing like that. He would just seemed like you would
get stressed, try to get a release with alcohol and.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Become a little overbearing.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
A little controlling was a word that was thrown around
a lot. But she said this kind of evolved one
day into paranoia, and you know, she was getting a
little fed up with his drinking, his attitude. But what
really upset her was one day she was in her
(11:03):
closet and found a pillow that had a hole cut
in it. It was a hidden camera. What yuh and
she found another one in the dresser in their bedroom
that was pointed kind of toward their bed. She found
(11:24):
cameras in the bushes outside and in all the kids
rooms as well, So I don't I don't know what
to make of that. I mean, it's it's okay if
you have security cameras, like we have those at our house,
but my wife.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Knows they're they.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I mean, we have them too, and we both are aware.
We've got the app on our phone. When motion goes off,
we can look at stuff. But I mean these are
like hidden cameras, like I think a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Much different. But yeah, I mean my wife knows where
all ours are and how to nuneer in my closet
look out, and yeah, none of them are in any
private areas or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So all this kind of served as this combo platter
that was upsetting Meredith. She was not happy with the
way things were going, and in the spring of twenty
twenty two, Meredith decided, you know, maybe it's best that
we separate.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And it did wonders. It did wonders for her Psyche.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
She was able not to really worry about the marriage
and what she was able to kind of relax a
little bit. She wasn't always on edge, and she recalled
that it also did wonders for Bud as well. Bud
stopped drinking. Now he still would go to church with
Meredith and the kids, and you know, things seemed to
(12:49):
be going pretty well. But the better things were the
more Meredith kind of realized, you know, this is nice.
I'm happy for Budd. He seems to be, you know,
kind of getting better, back to his old self. But
at the same time, I think I'm still done. Yeah,
(13:12):
she came to that realization that you know, this is
this is the best. What's the best for both of us.
I think that this we're gonna say separate. I think
I'm gonna go ahead and move forward with a divorce.
Well that was in the spring of twenty twenty two.
The separation Bud. He actually went to live with his parents,
(13:33):
who lived there in Greenwood. They shared visitation with their
three children. You know, one weekend you're going with dad.
Dad's at you're after school events. I mean, he's he
was very involved, very good parent, and you know, one
weekend they'd be with Meredith. But on the weekend of
her thirty ninth birthday, Meredith. It was a few days
(13:57):
before Christmas in twenty twenty two. She went out with
a couple friends. They're just going out for drinks. They
thought it was funny. They wore the ugly Christmas the
cliched ugly Christmas sweaters. They went out like that, and
at one of the places they stopped, she met a man,
(14:18):
a guy, super friendly. His name was Davis McClendon. He
was forty six, she was turning thirty nine. Neither one
of them were out, and you know, Davis, he was divorced,
as he was divorced, but she was almost divorced, a
couple months away from the finalization of that. And neither
(14:40):
one of them It's not like they were out catting
around town looking to find somebody.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
It just that's usually how it is, though you're not looking,
and it just happened.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It just happened, and they talked, talking most of the night.
They started enjoying each other's company, and Meredith recalled that
the next day a text her a text on Christmas.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
He started They started conversing that way.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Then it got to over the phone and they realized
that they really really liked each other and were falling
for each other.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Nothing planned. I mean, it was just there's a natural
just that happened. Yeah, it was very organic. It just
it just happened.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well. Davis McClinton, like I said, he was forty six
years old. He had attended Presbyterian College and College at Charleston.
A huge Clemson fan. Okay, so they said, And so
were Bud and Meredith. They they were photographed in Clemson
Appair olds big.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Time for them. Now.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
In high school, Davis, he was quite the athlete. He
played soccer, football, basketball, and he still stayed very active.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
He was.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
He was a big man. He looked like an athlete. Yeah,
and he loved golf. Every Tuesday night, said he would
go and played par three courses with some buddies.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
And uh, they said. He never met a stranger. He
was a friend to all.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
One of the guys seemed like could talk to a wall,
you know, and make friends with him. For work, Davis,
he was a marketing counselor at a retirement community. But
he was much more than that. Yes, he would help
maybe new residents, new families that were putting their loved
ones into retirement care. But he became friends with the residents.
(16:33):
If they needed anything, they would call him, just little
handy things.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Around or help with their groceries anything.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
He was just there. He was just a great, dependable guy.
According to some of his friends, they liked this quote.
They said that he loved hard. He was he was
passionate about everything he did. Outstanding friend.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Just like if you were if you were someone that
he loved, you know, you knew you were taken care
of and you knew you were cared about.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, this was a guy that had you back.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Always a friendly word, kind smile, always grin and ear
to hear. But like we mentioned Davis, he was divorced
like Meredith. He was also a father of three, had
two girls, one boy, and he and his wife had
divorced a couple of years earlier, and so he was
(17:30):
able to kind of sympathize with Meredith. But like we mentioned,
Davis and Meredith, they hit it off, texting constantly the
day after they had met, and they began to spend
time together, but she was still technically only separated and
they didn't want the small town limelight, I.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Guess on it.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Oh yeah, because the people they'll talk and also you
you kind of want to still be respectful, yes, you know,
and and not seem like you're trying to rub something
in you know, your significant other space.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And yes, and if there was one thing, and that
was also the next thing I was gonna say in
the margins was respectful. Davis was respectful in Meredith's situation.
And he said, you know, let's let's take this slow,
because God, I would hate to know if you and
your husband were trying to reconcile. I don't want to
(18:27):
be the reason why you don't get this family back together.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
I was a big man, that's to say something like that,
because most people were like, hurry up and get the
paper signed so we can be together. You know, let's
rush it. Let's let me try to push you to
get something done. And he's like.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
No, yeah, he was so considerate of actually Meredith, and
but and it was like, you know, hey, let's yeah,
let's be sure about this before we get very serious.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
And that does say a lot about him to be
able to be considering somebody else's feelings that he doesn't
even really know.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
So to spend time together, they would take out of
town trips on say, the weekends when Bud had the kids.
He and Meredith would go out of town, you know,
spend the weekend together, and they drew closer, and the
weeks leading to Meredith and Bud's divorce, they drew closer
(19:22):
as well. In this relationship, it really grew into something beautiful.
But in the spring of twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Three, Bud found out. He was heartbroken. He was.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I'm gonna say the word jealous, but I don't know
if exactly in a vindictive way. At first, he was
just he was upset. He was like, man, I love
Meredith very much.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Well, the fact that they were still legally married and
just separated. Maybe he still had a little bit of hope, Yeah,
that they could come back together and continue their marriage,
and this kind of takes that away.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, And I think in any breakup, one person still
kind of holds out hope there and until they realize, yeah,
thing's over.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I don't want it to be, but it is. Well.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
He texts Meredith about the situation, and his text message
quote was how could you? He went as far as,
like you mentioned, accusing her of committing adultery, saying, you know,
we are still married.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
How could you do this?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And Bud Ackerman he actually ended up calling Davis McClendon
confronting him about it, and he said, you know what,
we're not even divorced yet, you need to back off.
And again Davis does the honorable thing. He was like,
(21:10):
you know what, man, you're right, he said, I agree,
I understand. He was able to sympathize with the situation
himself and going through a divorce, and he was like,
you know what, brother, all right, we'll do that. So Davis,
he sat down on Meredith and discussed that with her.
(21:33):
And the more they discussed it and Meredith was talking
about the controlling factor. You know, this is what Bud does,
and do we really want to see control over to
Bud of our relationship and he said, yeah, you know, yeah,
you're right. Let's you know, let's continue. But I see
(21:58):
where you're coming from. Let's not give him the right
to control our relationship. So after this quick word from
our sponsors, we're going to continue this story out of Greenwood,
South Carolina, Bud, Meredith Ackerman, and Davis McLendon.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Folks will be right back.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two nineteen. Out
of Greenwood, South Carolina and this relationship between Meredith and
Davis McLendon and Meredith's a strange husband, William G.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Bud Ackerman.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And when we left off, we talked about Bud. He
contacted Davis said, hey, man, back off. David like, all right, man,
you know, I see where you're coming from.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
But then after discussing it with Meredith, they said, you know,
it's really not a good idea, you know, to go
ahead and give in to him and seek control over
what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Yeah, to Bud, that's what he wants.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So the two continued to see each other, not only
by the trips out of town like we man mentioned,
but in public as well. And when I say in public,
I don't mean like PDA and all over town there.
They're they're not these kind of those kind of people.
They're just you know, go out and have a meal.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Or simple stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Not making out on mainstream none of that bull but.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
That they were.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
They were civilized and classy about this situation. And that
brings us to Saturday, May sixth, twenty twenty three. You know,
they had been officially seeing each other, Meredith and Davis
about five months, give or take, and Meredith and Davis
(24:18):
they went out to dinner at a restaurant called Break
on the Lake at Greenwood right now. Meredith's children uh
there with Bud that weekend, and that Saturday, they had
spent all day Budding the kids at a local festival,
and they were staying at his parents' house, as he
(24:39):
had been.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Since their separate separation.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
But it seemed that Bud had kind of figured out
that his estranged wife was out with her new love
interest that night, and it just it was gnawing at him.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Yeah, it's like they're still together.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Was going to back off. Yeah, he felt betrayed and
by both Davis and Meredith. He was like, you know,
this guy said he was going to back off, sounds
like the Hatton and they're probably you know, he was
probably creating situations in his head. I'm just throwing that
out there, like, hey, they're probably laughing at me right now.
(25:21):
And it hurt his pride, it hurt his heart. I
get it, I get I get where he was coming
from here, and it it did hurt him. So calls
started coming in from Bud to Meredith's phone. At eight
(25:43):
point fifty four pm that night, Bud texts Meredith, why
do you hate me? I just don't understand loaded questions
like that, and Meredith, she didn't respond.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
They kind of questions a little bit too.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, and you're like.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
No matter how you answer it, you're not gonna win.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah, no, I don't hate you. Well then why are
you doing this? Sir? Yes? I hate you now?
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Oh yeah, you can't can't win.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
So a little later on that evening, but he faced
time Meredith asking her where are you at? Why are
you doing this to me? Obviously obviously upset, Well, he
kept on. It seemed like he was able to tell
by maybe the sounds or the surroundings of the FaceTime
(26:41):
where she was at. It was something familiar to him.
Break on the lake, Okay, they must be out dating,
out courting to not.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
So.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
At ten forty pm that night, Bud Ackerman he arrived
at a popular bar in Greenwood.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
It's called the Key West Club.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Like that it looked like a like a smaller, you know,
single bar against the wall, play a drinking spot, nicely decorated,
you know, but it was. It was a drinking spot
in Greenwood, now, Bud. He was there up until about midnight.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
He was seen on.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Security footage talking to some folks having a few drinks
before he decided to call Meredith again. Meredith said that
in her mind she could tell Bud was intoxicated because.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Of the vulgar nature of his speech. Again, not a.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Potty mouth dude, but when he drank, you know, he
might have started letting some f bombs fly. I I
am friends. I was about to say, I know people
used to know people like that.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
No, I do know.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
People like that well, and she was around it, so
she knows what to look for. You know, how he acts.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Who better to know you than the person you've just
spent the last ten years of your life with. Now,
when the conversation ended, Bud he left Key West Club
and he headed toward Break on the Lake. But when
he arrived, he pulled through the parking lot and they
(28:26):
were closed.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
I checked their hours.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It looks like they closed on Saturday nights at like
nine anyway, So I mean now in twenty twenty three,
it may have been different. But when I look their
hours up this week, that's that's what I saw. Security
cameras they actually showed Buds White f two fifty pulling
through the parking lot. It was vacant except for that
(28:52):
big white truck pulling throughout. It was also later found
on Bud's trucks infotainment system that he had gone and
driven past Meredith's house, his old house, and also that
night onto Davis mclendon's road, the one that he lived on.
(29:17):
But Bud he couldn't find them. And the reason for
that was because Meredith and Davis they had actually gone
to the Key West club where Bud had just left. Wow,
and he had been in just a few minutes earlier,
so they just kind of they passed in the night.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
They might have passed on the run.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
And let me tell you this from a former life younger,
as a bartender, these situations used to make me so
nervous because you know everybody usually you know everybody in
that bar. You also know all the drama that comes
(30:01):
along with them. Yes, so you're the bartender at Key
West that night, and this guy was just in you know,
I mean, he had his he had his a strange
wife on his mind. You probably overheard him talking to
different people about, Yeah, Meredith's out with that guy. He said,
(30:21):
you know, he'd leave her alone, but they're back together.
You know, you're probably overhearing conversations like this and he.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Probably said something like, my wife's cheating on me.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
You know, just now we're totally saying what he may have. Yeah,
we're not. We're not saying these discussions happen.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
But working behind a bar, you see, you see it,
you see it, you hear it.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yes, So this had to make for an awkward conversation.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I've been in situations like that where yeah, I knew
somebody was not was doing something they weren't supposed to
be doing, and then their wife came in an hour later,
and I'm just like, clock, man, I don't you know
you're putting a moral dilemma there?
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Like drinks, I'm not paying attention to anything.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yes, but man, I just I would have hated to
have been in that situation.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Bartender was probably like, oh no, but.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Maybe the bartender didn't know. Maybe it's just somebody mind
their own business. Okay, you're check number four.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
But about yeah, yes.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
But throughout the night, as we mentioned, Meredith's been receiving
texts and calls from Bud and kind of apparent that
he was trying to disrupt the evening. He was trying
to interject himself in this date, and he wanted to
be seen and wanted to be heard, and he was
(31:47):
doing that because his feelings were hurt. Well, finally, after
these calls kept rolling in and they were at the
Key West Club, the usually calm, collected, level headed Davis
McClendon he'd had enough.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
He's like, you know, this is this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
So he decided to step into the situation and called
Bud himself. Davis, he excused himself from the bar, walked
outside around twelve fifty one am. Well, Meredith, after a
few minutes had passed, she went out to check on Davis,
but to her surprise, Davis was gone. Oh just a
(32:36):
few seconds after she walked out there, Davis, he did
call Meredith. He said, Hey, I just want to let
you know that I've arranged to meet Bud face to face.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
We got to bury the hatchet here.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
I don't know, after a night of drinking if that
would be the best time.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
And also you're in that you're literally in heat of
the moment.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
A personal face to face confrontation, you know, in the
event that it did turn physical.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
We mentioned Davis's.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Big boy and he he keeps him pretty pretty dog
on good shape.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Bud.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
He is listed as five foot seven and an around
one hundred and seventy pounds. But you know it's not
the not the size of the dog in the fight.
You know, he was upset. He's a guy that works.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
With his hands in a body shop all day.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Scrappy is kind of the word that I describe people
that that do that for a little bit about that
size somebody, somebody you know you ain't gonna want to
tangle with on purmise. But this, if this did divulge
or devolve into a physical altercation, this was gonna be
be wild. Well, the men they arranged to meet face
(34:06):
to face, as we mentioned in an intersection on a
dead end road, and unfortunately, one of these two men.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Would not survive that meeting. And we'll get into.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Those details right after this quick word from our sponsors,
and we be right back here on Carolina Crimes. And
(34:47):
welcome back to episode to nineteen of Carolina Crimes out
of Greenwood, South Carolina. And when we left off, we
were talking about the estranged couple Bud and Meredith Ackerman,
her new love interest, Davis mclindon, and how Davis and
(35:09):
Meredith they were trying to spend this night together. They
kept getting interrupted by calls from Bud. He kept wanting
to insert himself into the day, kind of disrupt the evening,
and eventually he succeeded. Davis had had enough. He seemed
like the type of guy that it took a lot
to push him to that point, but finally he was like, look,
(35:31):
enough is enough. I'm gonna meet this guy. We're gonna talk.
We're gonna do you know, we're gonna We're gonna have
to put this thing to bed. We can't go on
living like this, none of us, none of the three
of us. So Davis, McLendon and Bud Ackerman. They were
to meet at an intersection fairly close to Bud's parents' house. Okay,
(35:53):
they were gonna Bud. In fact, he said that he
suggested that they meet at his parents house first, which
was a little different. I mean, I don't know, not
neutral ground. But they were gonna meet on the corner
of Sawgrass Place and Avid Road.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Now, Davis, he was on the phone with Meredith.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
He let her know, Hey, he and I are gonna
meet and hash this thing out. We're gonna talk man
to man. You know, we we got to settle this.
So he put Meredith on hold and never came back
on the line. So worried, she was like, well he
(36:37):
didn't come back. She got her friend Megan McGovern to
drive out to where they were supposed to meet. At thought, maybe,
you know, let's see what's going on. Possibly stop this confrontation.
You know, if it does turn physical, we we just
want to be there to break this thing out. This
(36:57):
doesn't need to happen like this. Well, they were absolutely
shocked when they pulled up to the intersection. Megan she
immediately called nine to one one UH for help in
what at first glance looked like a traffic accident. The
(37:19):
two ladies they pulled up beside Davis's BMW Sedan, but
Meghan noticed that Davis he wasn't in the vehicle and
that the airbags were deployed. Okay, uh, the vehicle was
parked in the road. I mean it's its back was
to the dead end of the street. It was part
(37:41):
on the correct side of the road, and there was
extensive damage to the front driver side fender, so the
side of the car that was closest to the what
would be the yellow line in the road. So much
(38:02):
damage was executed on this fender that the wheel itself
was actually forced kind of inward, turned inward opposite of
the way that it goes toward the engine. Now on
the other side of the road, opposite, so if you're
looking at the front of Davis's car, it's over to
(38:23):
the left, on the right side of the road. On
the shoulder, they saw what appeared to be somebody laid.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
On the ground.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
They ran up and it was an unresponsive, shirtless band
and Meredith at this point was screaming, who isn't it
was a bloodied and shirtless Davis. McClinton, Megan McGovern. She
(38:55):
said that Davis was lying off the side of the road.
Blood was covering his face, you could tell it was
coming out of his ears, and his head resting on
a log and Megan recalled almost like he was laying
back on a pillow. So after the nine one one call,
(39:15):
first responders they did arrive and they surveyed the scene
and realized that there was a lot more to what
went on here than.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Just an auto accident.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
In the road was, of course, Davis's BMW five series sedan.
They also found his white polo shirt and a left
white Nike shoe that he was were that evening and
when EMTs attended to Davis, they pronounced him deceased right there.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Again.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
His body was on the opposite side of the road,
approximately fifty feet further down the road. Then his vehicle
was on the road's shoulder. Now, Investigator Ronnie Powell with
the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, he spoke to Meredith and
Meghan and they shed light on the night's happenings. You know,
(40:14):
what all had gone on, what had transpired up to
this point, Why Davis McLennon was even out here. Yeah,
investigators also noticed a huge oil spill. It was all
over the road. It was fresh in the oil. There
(40:35):
were footprints, there were tire tracks going through the oil
on the road and the oil. It kind of started
at what looked like the impact into Davis's car and
then it led to where the body was found, and
that's where a large pool was close to there. Oil
(40:56):
was also found to be sprayed about eighteen inches up
on A street light pulled up was close by, so
it became fairly obvious that the oil was from the
vehicle that had hit the BMW. The oil tracks showed
that the other vehicle had turned around near the body,
(41:17):
looked like it had pulled forward, reversed, pulled forward again,
kind of like a three way term three point turn,
and the trail of oil. It led down the road
to somewhere stunning, but not that stunning. It led to
Bud Ackerman's parents home, so sheriff deputies they pulled up
(41:45):
in the yard and they wanted to speak to Bud
and but and his father. They actually came out to
meet the officers, according to investigator Powell, who said it
was almost like they were expecting them to show up.
And the driveway officers saw Bud's F two fifty pickup truck,
which was leaking oil. The pickup also had damage to
(42:09):
the grill and a visible palm print on the hood, which.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Was pretty pretty telling, pretty telling.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
The officers did comment and CBS of forty eight hours
episode they did show bodycam footage from the responding officers
that went the Ackerman home, and the officers all said,
you know, Bud did not seem intox kid, because remember
he was only at that key West.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
About an hour and a half.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
He may have had a drink, but even visibly him
speaking with police it didn't you know, he wasn't didn't
seem intoxicated. I guess now Meredith said he used vulgar language.
Maybe that was because he was upset phone, but all
accounts he wasn't legally under the influence. It didn't seemed
like now that F two fifty in the pickup leak
(43:06):
an oil bad. They had just left the scene where
there's huge oil spill and the pickup it also had
damage to the grill, like I said, in that palm
print on the hood. But Bud told officers at this
point that he didn't want to answer any questions without
an attorney. Probably smart on him.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
With considering all the pieces of evidence, Greenwood investigators could
deduce that Davis McLendon had gotten to the intersection first.
He had exited his car with Meredith still on hold
on the phone. His phone was found in the passenger seat.
He had removed his shirt himself, possibly expecting a physical confrontation,
(43:55):
and he was standing beside his car close to the
center of the rut, so standing kind of in the road. Actually,
they deduced that Bud drove up in the approaching lane,
so on the opposite side of the street. As Davis
the normal flow of traffic there, and Bud's truck was
(44:19):
believed to sideswipe Davis's car and ran head on into him.
Davis's Davis was on the grille of the truck and
which was I don't want to say dump, they use
the word deposited on the other side of the road.
(44:40):
When the truck finally stopped, he slammed on brakes, fell off.
The truck then turned around and drove away, leaving the scene.
This was enough, this evidence to arrest William bud Ackerman
with the charge of and he was arrested a little
(45:01):
after six am that morning, May seven, Okay seen investigator
Detective Matthew Womack. He started to put together the digital
story of what happened that night, started by securing text messages,
security camera footage which we mentioned earlier, from all the
(45:26):
bars and restaurants that they may have may have frequented
that night. And the most telling piece of the puzzle
was that infotainment system in Bud's f two fifty. We've
had this come up in previous episodes too.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Where is that like the black box essential?
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Essentially yes, but this system what it would do would
be it would ping and recognize Wi Fi signals I mean,
and it would record it, okay, And he gave an
example like you pass a WiFi a McDonald's with free WiFi,
it's gonna ping on your truck, Like, hey, you just
passed at McDonald's.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
And so basically they were able to track Bud's movements
the evening of May sixth and the early morning of
May seventh. It was determined by this infotainment system that
when Bud drove up on Davis, he was going about
twenty five miles an hour at one to eleven am.
A wheel slip occurrence happened, which meant he was rather
(46:27):
breaking hard or accelerated hard, causing the tires to lose
contact with the road very momentarily, and then the truck stopped.
The driver's side door was opened and then shifted into park,
which Bud he did not deny hitting Davis, but you
(46:49):
gotta tell his nerves reality hit pretty hard. The adrenaline
was going because he opened the door before he even
shifted into park. That's what that tells me. The door
was then closed, shifted into drive, reverse, then drive, which
he turned around, and the truck eventually stopped at Bud's
(47:11):
parents and the phone was disconnected, meaning he got out
of the truck.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Shut it off.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Well, the trial for murder was set for June twenty fourth,
twenty twenty four, but during the opening statements, Bud Ackerman
he had hired this defense attorney. His defense counsel was
Jack Swirling, and during the opening statements he had a
medical emergency and had to be rushed to the hospital. Oh,
(47:44):
he was able to kind of get his bearings back
about him and able to proceed with the trial. And
then on July eighth, Swirling again collapsed in the courtroom
and had to be hospitalized. Oh my gosh. Now, let's
take ano consideration. Jack Swirling, he was in his late eighties.
He was very well known defense attorney in the area,
(48:07):
very well known in South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
But he was old.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah, he's an elderly man. And on July eighth, they're
in the courtroom he actually fell. Now this left Judge
Donald Hacker no choice. But hey, this is twice as
has happened. We're going to have to go ahead and
declare a mistrial.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
So a new trial was set for September of twenty
twenty four, and in the trial prosecutors John Conrad and
John Meeters. They argued that Bud Ackerman was intent on
killing Davis McClendon that night. They introduced video from a
(48:52):
doorbell camera that was near the scene of the accident.
You could clearly hear a bang, which was probably the
collision of the two vehicles. They heard yelling. Prosecutor said
it sounded like Bud yelling expletives. So did Meredith when
she was on the stand. But Jack swirling, he continued
(49:16):
that the vocalization it was too garbled. You couldn't Yes,
someone was yelling, but you.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Couldn't tell who it was. You couldn't tell what.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
They were saying. You really couldn't. Meredith, she took the
stand to give her full accounts of the night of
May sixth. She talked about the calls, the texts, the
face times from Bud. This the old game where he called,
(49:46):
she rejected the call and then eighteen seconds later he
called back. That's unhinged behavior, she was. She said she
was worried that Bud was volatile, that he had kind
of reached his brainking point, and she said that honestly,
(50:07):
she thought Bud wanted to hurt her that night, yeah,
and that potentially Davis sacrificed himself in place of her.
Now collision reconstruction experts. They also took the stand from
the South Carolina Highway Patrol and they said that Bud
(50:28):
was basically aiming at McClendon now Jack squirling. He contested
that and said it was an accident. Bud didn't mean
to hit him, that he wasn't expecting someone to be
in the middle of the road, and that he swerved
and hit Davis's car trying to avoid Davis. Now a
(50:53):
lot of people said, well, okay, so he came up,
why did he turn left instead of trying to avoid
him right? And on the stand, Bud was even asked
that question. He said, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
I panicked. It was dark. It it was dark.
Speaker 2 (51:07):
He said, I was driving down the road and all
of a sudden there was a guy stand in the
middle of the road, and I hit him.
Speaker 4 (51:11):
It's just like a reaction.
Speaker 2 (51:12):
Yeah, I don't it was yeah, do don't think kind
of thing. He said that he was trying to avoid Davis.
When Bud took the stand, he said that that night
he only wanted to talk and he didn't see Davis
in the road. Of course, he said he tried to
(51:32):
avoid him. He said, if I wanted a confrontation, you know,
why would I have initially suggested we meet at my
parents' house where my kids were.
Speaker 3 (51:44):
That's and I was.
Speaker 4 (51:46):
Thinking his kids should be there. So I don't know
if that's the best place if something gets out of hand.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
But yeah, and he was asked point blank he was like, okay,
so let's say it was an accident. Why didn't you
call nine one one? His explanation was that he panicked.
It was also asked, okay, so you went to your
(52:13):
parents' house and you told your father what happened. Why
didn't he called nine to one one? And his father's
explanation was that it was, you know, after one am,
and he had been woken up with his news and
he was very disoriented, which I can see kind of, but.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
It's still I feel like that kind of news would
wake you up.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
Yeah, it's no excuse. Jack Swirling.
Speaker 2 (52:42):
He said that his client was not guilty of murder
because the state could not, be on the shadow of
a doubt, prove his client's intent that night, could not
prove his intent. Rather, it was to avoid Davis McClendon
or to hit Davis McClendon. So, after six days of testimony,
(53:04):
the jury went in and they deliberated for twenty two
minutes only, and they came back with a unanimous verdict
and they found William G. Bud Ackerman, Jr. Guilty of murder.
The sentencing phase came up and the court took into
(53:27):
consideration that besides a couple of traffic tickets that I
could find, bud Ackerman had a clean record. All these
people had a cleanton. They're not miscreants or anything of
that nature. These were good law abiding citizens, you know,
up to this point. But the sentencing resulted in bud
(53:50):
Ackerman receiving forty five years in prison for the murder
of Davis McLendon. His release date is twenty sixty eight
and he has housed at Tiger River Correctional Institution and
he has filed an appeal. The tragedy in this is
(54:10):
that a good friend, good man was lost, possibly the
love of Meredith's life.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
She mentioned that they had talked about spending their life
together and sitting on the chair and rocking chairs when
they were eighty years old. They had those kind of
deep conversations, meaningful conversations that this isn't a this wasn't
a flash in the pan rebound here.
Speaker 4 (54:36):
Yeah, I wouldn't to fling something that they planned on,
you know, making a future together.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Yes, and she's going to miss out on that. Davis's
friends are going to miss out on having him there
the rest of their lives. Think about the residents that
counted on him where he worked, just friends all over,
then the heartbreaking parts of six children, Bud's three and
(55:06):
David's three, six children that were both robbed at their
fathers because of some.
Speaker 3 (55:15):
Some incident.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
And looking at this and looking at both these guys
kind of stepping back a little bit, you take the
romantic aspect of Meredith out of both their lives.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
These two guys probably could have been friends, if they
they really could have. I kept thinking about that.
Speaker 2 (55:41):
I was like, you know, everybody big Clempson football fans,
you know they live in the same area, just good.
Speaker 4 (55:48):
Dudes, beers together.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
Yeah, they had that in common, but you take that
out of it. I mean, these are just two guys that.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
They both loved.
Speaker 2 (55:59):
Heart seemed like one he was experiencing depression symptoms, experiencing
pressure with his job, his impending divorce, Davis very passionate,
found a new love. Emotions running high on both sides,
(56:19):
and it resulted in this death. And there are very
adamant sides on both of this. On Bud's family, Yes,
it was an accident. He didn't mean to do that,
He would never do anything like this. Then you got
the McClendon side that, hey, they killed our friend and
family member. Bud did, and he tried to cover it
(56:44):
up by not calling nine one one. His family tried
to call, you know, covered up by not calling nine
one one. In fact, that was a statement made its
sentencing a paraphrasing of course of Davis's son. You have
a fiery fire he testimony or victim impact statement on
(57:04):
behalf of his dad. And he stood up for his family,
and he he seems to really have gotten that from
his dad. Yeah, stood up and did the honorable thing.
And he's like, I'm the man the family. I'm gonna
take care of this right now. Very young man, but
very very honorable. And it's it's a tragedy all the
way around that it even.
Speaker 4 (57:24):
Got to this point well, and that somebody had to
lose their life because emotions got out of control and
not being able to understand that, you know, this relationship,
this part of my life is over and being able
to accept that and hopefully try to move on for
your own self. You know, maybe I can find that
(57:45):
kind of happiness that she has and instead just focusing
so much on what you don't have and allowing that
to consume you and is nothing good comes from it? Obviously.
Speaker 3 (57:58):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
It was still so fresh, so raw. I mean, let's
be honest, Bud was hurt, he was his pride, his emotions,
his heart. We said that a little earlier, Davis, he
was standing up for what was right. And I wish
(58:21):
this had been in daylight hours. Maybe these guys could
have had a conversation over a cup of coffee and
everything would have turned out the best. But unfortunately Davis mcclennan,
a good man, lost his law.
Speaker 4 (58:34):
Yeah, and it sounds like they were very passionate people,
so yes, being able to channel it in the appropriate way,
this could have had a better outcome.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
Oh, by far, by far, that's certainly a tragedy. Well again,
that's a fairly new, fairly fresh case. Very highly requested
that we cover this one. We hope we were able
to do it justice, call it right.
Speaker 3 (59:00):
Down the middle.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
We thank you for listening this week and we've got
some special thank yous to dole Out. Thank you so
much for those that reached out, went over to Carolina
crimestore dot com checked out the merchandise over there. We
want to say a special thank you to Ben Pratt,
Jerry Lynn Quarrels, Margaret Laquir, Liquary Laquir, Kim Henderson, Amanda Hall.
Speaker 3 (59:26):
Thank you for those of you listening on Apple iTunes,
Apple Podcast.
Speaker 2 (59:30):
Thank you to tr sc Sailor, to Disney, Deanna, to
Tree seven eight eight nine, to Amanda and Mack I know.
Speaker 3 (59:38):
Who that is.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
Thank you also to Savvy Ken's eight. Thank you the
following for reaching out this week giving us some good feedback.
Thank you to Charles McKissick, Joy Kinnard or Kinard, I'm sorry,
Andy Hendrix, Brianna Oliver, wi Ward, Terry Pearson, Deshawna maguire,
Ta Spencer, Crystal Tory Hudson, Just Comore, Sammy Pennington, Lynn
(01:00:05):
McDonald and her daughter on the way to school and
her daughter's pup, Jojo. Thank you to Jodie Collins, to
Wesley Day and to Ashley Richards. Thank you to Amanda Hall,
Sandy Garrison, Misty Black, Morgan Wilson, Brandy Avant, Angie Henderson,
Rose Howell, Julie Kane, Robin Fogel, Alison Collins and the
(01:00:30):
mother and daughter for babies she adopted sc and Avy.
Thank you to Evan Steiner, Ben Gunnard, David Monteith and
his picture of South of the Border the original. Thank
you to Terry Owen and the picture of the other
South of the Border, and thank you to Jennifer Wickings. So, folks,
(01:00:50):
we certainly appreciate you reaching out you can do so.
You can check out photos from this episode on Facebook
at Carolina Crimes podcast, also over on Twitter at sc crimes.
And we thank you so much for listening to this
week's edition of Carolina Crimes.
For over three hundred and fifty years, the state of
South Carolina has been the setting for some of the
most horrendous crimes ever committed. Some have gained global notoriety,
some have been forgotten, and others have been swept under
the rug completely. Now, two South Carolina natives and true
(00:25):
crime enthusiasts have teamed up to examine these heinous acts
in detail, giving their perspective of the evil that has
resided in the Palmetto State. You're listening to Carolina Crimes.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two nineteen.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I'm one of your host Matt Hires, along.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
With Danielle Myers and.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
For Ashley Richards and Julie Kane and everybody that chimed in.
I'm over the moon real that you joined us here
this week.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
I knew it wouldn't be just me when I know
you said it, and I went.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, that was a little yeah, came a little flat
for that last week, but we're coming down for the holidays. Well,
we hope everyone had a good Easter. We certainly appreciate
you reaching out this week. All the feedback we got
from episodes to eighteen to seventeen, as well, those were,
like I said, kind of along the same lines, and
(01:25):
we appreciate y'all reaching out and letting us know what
you liked about those episodes as well.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And this week is kind of out of the norm
for me.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Usually these more recent cases are, but this one is
so heavily requested. We have gotten dozens of requests to
cover this one, and now that everything kind of got
finalized last year, we're able to bring you this one.
And I found it extremely interesting too, and it's definitely
(01:57):
worth talking about here to Greenwood, South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yeah, I saw that you said I was cheating off
your paper. I don't know all the details. I just
know a little bit here and there, but I did
see the name at the top, and I said, oh, yeah,
I do remember hearing about that. And I did have
some people send me some stuff from the trial and
want us.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
To do this. And it's a case that garnered a
lot of attention nationally statewide, especially around the Lakelands. Involved too,
very well known families, very well off families as well,
But we'll get into that before we dive into this
week's episode. I do want to remind everyone, if you're
not already following us on social media. Check us out
(02:41):
over on Carolina Crimes Podcast on Facebook. We'll put some
pictures from each episode. You'll be able to put some
faces with some names and get a little better understanding
of yourself for each of these cases. Also, we're on
Twitter at sc Crimes pod and if you would like
to support the show, are absolutely free.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
If you're listening on.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Spotify, Apple iTunes or Apple Podcasts, go ahead and throw
us a five star review. Please mash that purple subscribe
button and write a little something about what you like
about the show. We would greatly appreciate that. And if
you would like to support the show monetarily, you can
head on over to Carolina Crimestore dot com. I don't
believe in taking money for nothing, so you can get
(03:24):
you some T shirts, hoodies, all kinds of Carolina Crimes
paraphernalia over that way. So, Danielle, this has, like I said,
been highly publicized. There's a lot of information out there,
a lot of little side stories, but we just stick
we're sticking strictly to the facts that were presented. CBS
(03:47):
News they did a great job covering this. I think
there was a forty eight hours episode as well of course,
Greenwood Index Journal we rely.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
A lot on those weren't were there daily updates on
the trial or there was showing some things?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, yes, And Robert Stevenson, friend of the show, journalism
professor over at Lander University, certainly for bringing this to
our attention as well and keeping us up to date.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Two.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So, Greenwood, South Carolina, as I mentioned, is going to
be the setting for this week's show, and it is
the county seat of Greenwood County, as most county seats
in South Carolina go, and Greenwood County itself is located
in the central western portion of South Carolina. If you're
not familiar with the state, we have covered Greenville, I'm
(04:40):
sorry Greenwood several times and gone over its history. You know,
I think it's got the widest main.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Street in the world. We cover that.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
But we're going to just dive briefly into the history
of Greenwood before we get into the episode.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Originally Greenwood was part of the ninety sixth District and
was home to Fort Starr during the American Revolution. But
it was in eighteen twenty three where Greenwood, both the
name and the community came to be John and Charlotte mcgeehee.
They built a summerhouse in this area and called it
(05:17):
green Wood two words. They built that summerhouse and soon
a nearby village named Woodville was established, which would eventually
become the town of Greenwood. Now, like many towns in
South Carolina, Greenwood grew in size due to the establishment
of the railroad lines, and specifically the first one to
(05:39):
go through was the Greenville and Columbia Railroad in eighteen
fifty two. Now, the establishment of the railroad, of course,
this allowed for transportation, and it was also a boon
for commerce, especially when textiles hit the scene in the
late eighteen hundreds. Now, in eighteen seventy two, Brewer Normal
(06:00):
Institute was founded as a school for African American children,
which later became Brewer High School until integration in nineteen seven.
And a dear friend of mine that I worked with,
she just retired last month, Miss Tracy Crawford. She was
from Greenwood and was an alumni Brewer School. And we
(06:22):
I like to have conversations with her at lunch. Learned
a lot from her. A good elder, good mentor good friend.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
In nineteen three, no we've mentioned Lander University, but it
was Lander College, Lander College moved to Greenwood, and of
course we mentioned Robert Stevenson, friend of the show, that
he professes journalism over there in media now. In nineteen
thirty five, due to the New Deal during the Great Depression,
(06:54):
construction of the Buzzard's Roost Dam began, which resulted in
the formation of the eleven thousand, four hundred acre Lake Greenwood.
So it was a man made lake and that construction
of the dam that is what formed it. So today
Greenwood is home to diverse industries and corporations and twenty
(07:17):
three thousand residents lived there.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Some of the more famed residents of Greenwood Alicia Gray,
a US Olympian in three on three basketball and the
twenty seventeen WNBA Rookie of the Year. Also Johnny Corley,
he was a soul singer whose number one hit was
Boogloo down Broadway. I've heard it, I like it, and
(07:42):
he's got a very gritty voice.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I enjoy him.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Also from Greenwood, Hoodie Johnson, the former chairman of Augusta
National just Masters two weeks where two weeks removed from that,
but he was a former chairman down there. And also
we always mentioned John mckissi, the winningest coach in football history,
who coached Somerville High School for sixty.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Two years, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
From nineteen fifty two to twenty fourteen, ten state championships,
overall record of six hundred and twenty one and one
hundred and fifty five and thirteen ties. So hell of
a career. That's awesome, hell of a career. Well, we're
going to start off by talking about a couple. We're
(08:32):
going to kind of start at the beginning, and a
couple named Bud and in Meredith Ackerman from there in Greenwood.
Bud he was a successful body shop owner there in town,
very well known family. His wife, Meredith, she was an
(08:55):
elementary school teacher and the two were married for about
ten years. They had three children of their own, and
things were going well there. Bud was described as a
great father to his kids. But around that ten year mark,
it seemed like work kind of started getting the best
(09:17):
of it.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Okay, stress Meredith.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
She said that it seemed like he was falling into
depression a little bit.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
You can you get burnt out? Oh definitely, yeah, And
it's just you just it wears on you.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Sometimes death You need a break and I've never known
really the added stress of being a business owner.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, but that's got to come with with a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
But work was starting to take its toll on him,
and along with the depression symptoms, he started drinking quite
a bit.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
She said.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
The drinking would start to increase and he became I
don't want to say demeaning, but very critical of his wife,
like nothing was ever good enough, she said in an
interview with CBS, cussing he wasn't a normal I mean,
(10:20):
he didn't use foul language a lot, but it really
wrapped up once he started drinking. And now let's let's
make a note here that he was never never physically abusive,
nothing like that. He would just seemed like you would
get stressed, try to get a release with alcohol and.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Become a little overbearing.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
A little controlling was a word that was thrown around
a lot. But she said this kind of evolved one
day into paranoia, and you know, she was getting a
little fed up with his drinking, his attitude. But what
really upset her was one day she was in her
(11:03):
closet and found a pillow that had a hole cut
in it. It was a hidden camera. What yuh and
she found another one in the dresser in their bedroom
that was pointed kind of toward their bed. She found
(11:24):
cameras in the bushes outside and in all the kids
rooms as well, So I don't I don't know what
to make of that. I mean, it's it's okay if
you have security cameras, like we have those at our house,
but my wife.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Knows they're they.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I mean, we have them too, and we both are aware.
We've got the app on our phone. When motion goes off,
we can look at stuff. But I mean these are
like hidden cameras, like I think a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Much different. But yeah, I mean my wife knows where
all ours are and how to nuneer in my closet
look out, and yeah, none of them are in any
private areas or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So all this kind of served as this combo platter
that was upsetting Meredith. She was not happy with the
way things were going, and in the spring of twenty
twenty two, Meredith decided, you know, maybe it's best that
we separate.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And it did wonders. It did wonders for her Psyche.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
She was able not to really worry about the marriage
and what she was able to kind of relax a
little bit. She wasn't always on edge, and she recalled
that it also did wonders for Bud as well. Bud
stopped drinking. Now he still would go to church with
Meredith and the kids, and you know, things seemed to
(12:49):
be going pretty well. But the better things were the
more Meredith kind of realized, you know, this is nice.
I'm happy for Budd. He seems to be, you know,
kind of getting better, back to his old self. But
at the same time, I think I'm still done. Yeah,
(13:12):
she came to that realization that you know, this is
this is the best. What's the best for both of us.
I think that this we're gonna say separate. I think
I'm gonna go ahead and move forward with a divorce.
Well that was in the spring of twenty twenty two.
The separation Bud. He actually went to live with his parents,
(13:33):
who lived there in Greenwood. They shared visitation with their
three children. You know, one weekend you're going with dad.
Dad's at you're after school events. I mean, he's he
was very involved, very good parent, and you know, one
weekend they'd be with Meredith. But on the weekend of
her thirty ninth birthday, Meredith. It was a few days
(13:57):
before Christmas in twenty twenty two. She went out with
a couple friends. They're just going out for drinks. They
thought it was funny. They wore the ugly Christmas the
cliched ugly Christmas sweaters. They went out like that, and
at one of the places they stopped, she met a man,
(14:18):
a guy, super friendly. His name was Davis McClendon. He
was forty six, she was turning thirty nine. Neither one
of them were out, and you know, Davis, he was divorced,
as he was divorced, but she was almost divorced, a
couple months away from the finalization of that. And neither
(14:40):
one of them It's not like they were out catting
around town looking to find somebody.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
It just that's usually how it is, though you're not looking,
and it just happened.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It just happened, and they talked, talking most of the night.
They started enjoying each other's company, and Meredith recalled that
the next day a text her a text on Christmas.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
He started They started conversing that way.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Then it got to over the phone and they realized
that they really really liked each other and were falling
for each other.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Nothing planned. I mean, it was just there's a natural
just that happened. Yeah, it was very organic. It just
it just happened.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well. Davis McClinton, like I said, he was forty six
years old. He had attended Presbyterian College and College at Charleston.
A huge Clemson fan. Okay, so they said, And so
were Bud and Meredith. They they were photographed in Clemson
Appair olds big.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Time for them. Now.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
In high school, Davis, he was quite the athlete. He
played soccer, football, basketball, and he still stayed very active.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
He was.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
He was a big man. He looked like an athlete. Yeah,
and he loved golf. Every Tuesday night, said he would
go and played par three courses with some buddies.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
And uh, they said. He never met a stranger. He
was a friend to all.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
One of the guys seemed like could talk to a wall,
you know, and make friends with him. For work, Davis,
he was a marketing counselor at a retirement community. But
he was much more than that. Yes, he would help
maybe new residents, new families that were putting their loved
ones into retirement care. But he became friends with the residents.
(16:33):
If they needed anything, they would call him, just little
handy things.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Around or help with their groceries anything.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
He was just there. He was just a great, dependable guy.
According to some of his friends, they liked this quote.
They said that he loved hard. He was he was
passionate about everything he did. Outstanding friend.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Just like if you were if you were someone that
he loved, you know, you knew you were taken care
of and you knew you were cared about.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, this was a guy that had you back.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Always a friendly word, kind smile, always grin and ear
to hear. But like we mentioned Davis, he was divorced
like Meredith. He was also a father of three, had
two girls, one boy, and he and his wife had
divorced a couple of years earlier, and so he was
(17:30):
able to kind of sympathize with Meredith. But like we mentioned,
Davis and Meredith, they hit it off, texting constantly the
day after they had met, and they began to spend
time together, but she was still technically only separated and
they didn't want the small town limelight, I.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Guess on it.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Oh yeah, because the people they'll talk and also you
you kind of want to still be respectful, yes, you know,
and and not seem like you're trying to rub something
in you know, your significant other space.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And yes, and if there was one thing, and that
was also the next thing I was gonna say in
the margins was respectful. Davis was respectful in Meredith's situation.
And he said, you know, let's let's take this slow,
because God, I would hate to know if you and
your husband were trying to reconcile. I don't want to
(18:27):
be the reason why you don't get this family back together.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
I was a big man, that's to say something like that,
because most people were like, hurry up and get the
paper signed so we can be together. You know, let's
rush it. Let's let me try to push you to
get something done. And he's like.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
No, yeah, he was so considerate of actually Meredith, and
but and it was like, you know, hey, let's yeah,
let's be sure about this before we get very serious.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
And that does say a lot about him to be
able to be considering somebody else's feelings that he doesn't
even really know.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
So to spend time together, they would take out of
town trips on say, the weekends when Bud had the kids.
He and Meredith would go out of town, you know,
spend the weekend together, and they drew closer, and the
weeks leading to Meredith and Bud's divorce, they drew closer
(19:22):
as well. In this relationship, it really grew into something beautiful.
But in the spring of twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Three, Bud found out. He was heartbroken. He was.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I'm gonna say the word jealous, but I don't know
if exactly in a vindictive way. At first, he was
just he was upset. He was like, man, I love
Meredith very much.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Well, the fact that they were still legally married and
just separated. Maybe he still had a little bit of hope, Yeah,
that they could come back together and continue their marriage,
and this kind of takes that away.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, And I think in any breakup, one person still
kind of holds out hope there and until they realize, yeah,
thing's over.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I don't want it to be, but it is. Well.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
He texts Meredith about the situation, and his text message
quote was how could you? He went as far as,
like you mentioned, accusing her of committing adultery, saying, you know,
we are still married.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
How could you do this?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And Bud Ackerman he actually ended up calling Davis McClendon
confronting him about it, and he said, you know what,
we're not even divorced yet, you need to back off.
And again Davis does the honorable thing. He was like,
(21:10):
you know what, man, you're right, he said, I agree,
I understand. He was able to sympathize with the situation
himself and going through a divorce, and he was like,
you know what, brother, all right, we'll do that. So Davis,
he sat down on Meredith and discussed that with her.
(21:33):
And the more they discussed it and Meredith was talking
about the controlling factor. You know, this is what Bud does,
and do we really want to see control over to
Bud of our relationship and he said, yeah, you know, yeah,
you're right. Let's you know, let's continue. But I see
(21:58):
where you're coming from. Let's not give him the right
to control our relationship. So after this quick word from
our sponsors, we're going to continue this story out of Greenwood,
South Carolina, Bud, Meredith Ackerman, and Davis McLendon.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Folks will be right back.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And welcome back to Carolina Crimes, episode two nineteen. Out
of Greenwood, South Carolina and this relationship between Meredith and
Davis McLendon and Meredith's a strange husband, William G.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Bud Ackerman.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And when we left off, we talked about Bud. He
contacted Davis said, hey, man, back off. David like, all right, man,
you know, I see where you're coming from.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
But then after discussing it with Meredith, they said, you know,
it's really not a good idea, you know, to go
ahead and give in to him and seek control over
what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Yeah, to Bud, that's what he wants.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So the two continued to see each other, not only
by the trips out of town like we man mentioned,
but in public as well. And when I say in public,
I don't mean like PDA and all over town there.
They're they're not these kind of those kind of people.
They're just you know, go out and have a meal.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Or simple stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Not making out on mainstream none of that bull but.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
That they were.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
They were civilized and classy about this situation. And that
brings us to Saturday, May sixth, twenty twenty three. You know,
they had been officially seeing each other, Meredith and Davis
about five months, give or take, and Meredith and Davis
(24:18):
they went out to dinner at a restaurant called Break
on the Lake at Greenwood right now. Meredith's children uh
there with Bud that weekend, and that Saturday, they had
spent all day Budding the kids at a local festival,
and they were staying at his parents' house, as he
(24:39):
had been.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Since their separate separation.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
But it seemed that Bud had kind of figured out
that his estranged wife was out with her new love
interest that night, and it just it was gnawing at him.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Yeah, it's like they're still together.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Was going to back off. Yeah, he felt betrayed and
by both Davis and Meredith. He was like, you know,
this guy said he was going to back off, sounds
like the Hatton and they're probably you know, he was
probably creating situations in his head. I'm just throwing that
out there, like, hey, they're probably laughing at me right now.
(25:21):
And it hurt his pride, it hurt his heart. I
get it, I get I get where he was coming
from here, and it it did hurt him. So calls
started coming in from Bud to Meredith's phone. At eight
(25:43):
point fifty four pm that night, Bud texts Meredith, why
do you hate me? I just don't understand loaded questions
like that, and Meredith, she didn't respond.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
They kind of questions a little bit too.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, and you're like.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
No matter how you answer it, you're not gonna win.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah, no, I don't hate you. Well then why are
you doing this? Sir? Yes? I hate you now?
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Oh yeah, you can't can't win.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
So a little later on that evening, but he faced
time Meredith asking her where are you at? Why are
you doing this to me? Obviously obviously upset, Well, he
kept on. It seemed like he was able to tell
by maybe the sounds or the surroundings of the FaceTime
(26:41):
where she was at. It was something familiar to him.
Break on the lake, Okay, they must be out dating,
out courting to not.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
So.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
At ten forty pm that night, Bud Ackerman he arrived
at a popular bar in Greenwood.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
It's called the Key West Club.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Like that it looked like a like a smaller, you know,
single bar against the wall, play a drinking spot, nicely decorated,
you know, but it was. It was a drinking spot
in Greenwood, now, Bud. He was there up until about midnight.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
He was seen on.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Security footage talking to some folks having a few drinks
before he decided to call Meredith again. Meredith said that
in her mind she could tell Bud was intoxicated because.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Of the vulgar nature of his speech. Again, not a.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Potty mouth dude, but when he drank, you know, he
might have started letting some f bombs fly. I I
am friends. I was about to say, I know people
used to know people like that.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
No, I do know.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
People like that well, and she was around it, so
she knows what to look for. You know, how he acts.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Who better to know you than the person you've just
spent the last ten years of your life with. Now,
when the conversation ended, Bud he left Key West Club
and he headed toward Break on the Lake. But when
he arrived, he pulled through the parking lot and they
(28:26):
were closed.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
I checked their hours.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It looks like they closed on Saturday nights at like
nine anyway, So I mean now in twenty twenty three,
it may have been different. But when I look their
hours up this week, that's that's what I saw. Security
cameras they actually showed Buds White f two fifty pulling
through the parking lot. It was vacant except for that
(28:52):
big white truck pulling throughout. It was also later found
on Bud's trucks infotainment system that he had gone and
driven past Meredith's house, his old house, and also that
night onto Davis mclendon's road, the one that he lived on.
(29:17):
But Bud he couldn't find them. And the reason for
that was because Meredith and Davis they had actually gone
to the Key West club where Bud had just left. Wow,
and he had been in just a few minutes earlier,
so they just kind of they passed in the night.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
They might have passed on the run.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
And let me tell you this from a former life younger,
as a bartender, these situations used to make me so
nervous because you know everybody usually you know everybody in
that bar. You also know all the drama that comes
(30:01):
along with them. Yes, so you're the bartender at Key
West that night, and this guy was just in you know,
I mean, he had his he had his a strange
wife on his mind. You probably overheard him talking to
different people about, Yeah, Meredith's out with that guy. He said,
(30:21):
you know, he'd leave her alone, but they're back together.
You know, you're probably overhearing conversations like this and he.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Probably said something like, my wife's cheating on me.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
You know, just now we're totally saying what he may have. Yeah,
we're not. We're not saying these discussions happen.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
But working behind a bar, you see, you see it,
you see it, you hear it.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yes, So this had to make for an awkward conversation.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I've been in situations like that where yeah, I knew
somebody was not was doing something they weren't supposed to
be doing, and then their wife came in an hour later,
and I'm just like, clock, man, I don't you know
you're putting a moral dilemma there?
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Like drinks, I'm not paying attention to anything.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yes, but man, I just I would have hated to
have been in that situation.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Bartender was probably like, oh no, but.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Maybe the bartender didn't know. Maybe it's just somebody mind
their own business. Okay, you're check number four.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
But about yeah, yes.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
But throughout the night, as we mentioned, Meredith's been receiving
texts and calls from Bud and kind of apparent that
he was trying to disrupt the evening. He was trying
to interject himself in this date, and he wanted to
be seen and wanted to be heard, and he was
(31:47):
doing that because his feelings were hurt. Well, finally, after
these calls kept rolling in and they were at the
Key West Club, the usually calm, collected, level headed Davis
McClendon he'd had enough.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
He's like, you know, this is this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
So he decided to step into the situation and called
Bud himself. Davis, he excused himself from the bar, walked
outside around twelve fifty one am. Well, Meredith, after a
few minutes had passed, she went out to check on Davis,
but to her surprise, Davis was gone. Oh just a
(32:36):
few seconds after she walked out there, Davis, he did
call Meredith. He said, Hey, I just want to let
you know that I've arranged to meet Bud face to face.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
We got to bury the hatchet here.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
I don't know, after a night of drinking if that
would be the best time.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
And also you're in that you're literally in heat of
the moment.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
A personal face to face confrontation, you know, in the
event that it did turn physical.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
We mentioned Davis's.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Big boy and he he keeps him pretty pretty dog
on good shape.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Bud.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
He is listed as five foot seven and an around
one hundred and seventy pounds. But you know it's not
the not the size of the dog in the fight.
You know, he was upset. He's a guy that works.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
With his hands in a body shop all day.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Scrappy is kind of the word that I describe people
that that do that for a little bit about that
size somebody, somebody you know you ain't gonna want to
tangle with on purmise. But this, if this did divulge
or devolve into a physical altercation, this was gonna be
be wild. Well, the men they arranged to meet face
(34:06):
to face, as we mentioned in an intersection on a
dead end road, and unfortunately, one of these two men.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Would not survive that meeting. And we'll get into.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Those details right after this quick word from our sponsors,
and we be right back here on Carolina Crimes. And
(34:47):
welcome back to episode to nineteen of Carolina Crimes out
of Greenwood, South Carolina. And when we left off, we
were talking about the estranged couple Bud and Meredith Ackerman,
her new love interest, Davis mclindon, and how Davis and
(35:09):
Meredith they were trying to spend this night together. They
kept getting interrupted by calls from Bud. He kept wanting
to insert himself into the day, kind of disrupt the evening,
and eventually he succeeded. Davis had had enough. He seemed
like the type of guy that it took a lot
to push him to that point, but finally he was like, look,
(35:31):
enough is enough. I'm gonna meet this guy. We're gonna talk.
We're gonna do you know, we're gonna We're gonna have
to put this thing to bed. We can't go on
living like this, none of us, none of the three
of us. So Davis, McLendon and Bud Ackerman. They were
to meet at an intersection fairly close to Bud's parents' house. Okay,
(35:53):
they were gonna Bud. In fact, he said that he
suggested that they meet at his parents house first, which
was a little different. I mean, I don't know, not
neutral ground. But they were gonna meet on the corner
of Sawgrass Place and Avid Road.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
Now, Davis, he was on the phone with Meredith.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
He let her know, Hey, he and I are gonna
meet and hash this thing out. We're gonna talk man
to man. You know, we we got to settle this.
So he put Meredith on hold and never came back
on the line. So worried, she was like, well he
(36:37):
didn't come back. She got her friend Megan McGovern to
drive out to where they were supposed to meet. At thought, maybe,
you know, let's see what's going on. Possibly stop this confrontation.
You know, if it does turn physical, we we just
want to be there to break this thing out. This
(36:57):
doesn't need to happen like this. Well, they were absolutely
shocked when they pulled up to the intersection. Megan she
immediately called nine to one one UH for help in
what at first glance looked like a traffic accident. The
(37:19):
two ladies they pulled up beside Davis's BMW Sedan, but
Meghan noticed that Davis he wasn't in the vehicle and
that the airbags were deployed. Okay, uh, the vehicle was
parked in the road. I mean it's its back was
to the dead end of the street. It was part
(37:41):
on the correct side of the road, and there was
extensive damage to the front driver side fender, so the
side of the car that was closest to the what
would be the yellow line in the road. So much
(38:02):
damage was executed on this fender that the wheel itself
was actually forced kind of inward, turned inward opposite of
the way that it goes toward the engine. Now on
the other side of the road, opposite, so if you're
looking at the front of Davis's car, it's over to
(38:23):
the left, on the right side of the road. On
the shoulder, they saw what appeared to be somebody laid.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
On the ground.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
They ran up and it was an unresponsive, shirtless band
and Meredith at this point was screaming, who isn't it
was a bloodied and shirtless Davis. McClinton, Megan McGovern. She
(38:55):
said that Davis was lying off the side of the road.
Blood was covering his face, you could tell it was
coming out of his ears, and his head resting on
a log and Megan recalled almost like he was laying
back on a pillow. So after the nine one one call,
(39:15):
first responders they did arrive and they surveyed the scene
and realized that there was a lot more to what
went on here than.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Just an auto accident.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
In the road was, of course, Davis's BMW five series sedan.
They also found his white polo shirt and a left
white Nike shoe that he was were that evening and
when EMTs attended to Davis, they pronounced him deceased right there.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Again.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
His body was on the opposite side of the road,
approximately fifty feet further down the road. Then his vehicle
was on the road's shoulder. Now, Investigator Ronnie Powell with
the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, he spoke to Meredith and
Meghan and they shed light on the night's happenings. You know,
(40:14):
what all had gone on, what had transpired up to
this point, Why Davis McLennon was even out here. Yeah,
investigators also noticed a huge oil spill. It was all
over the road. It was fresh in the oil. There
(40:35):
were footprints, there were tire tracks going through the oil
on the road and the oil. It kind of started
at what looked like the impact into Davis's car and
then it led to where the body was found, and
that's where a large pool was close to there. Oil
(40:56):
was also found to be sprayed about eighteen inches up
on A street light pulled up was close by, so
it became fairly obvious that the oil was from the
vehicle that had hit the BMW. The oil tracks showed
that the other vehicle had turned around near the body,
(41:17):
looked like it had pulled forward, reversed, pulled forward again,
kind of like a three way term three point turn,
and the trail of oil. It led down the road
to somewhere stunning, but not that stunning. It led to
Bud Ackerman's parents home, so sheriff deputies they pulled up
(41:45):
in the yard and they wanted to speak to Bud
and but and his father. They actually came out to
meet the officers, according to investigator Powell, who said it
was almost like they were expecting them to show up.
And the driveway officers saw Bud's F two fifty pickup truck,
which was leaking oil. The pickup also had damage to
(42:09):
the grill and a visible palm print on the hood, which.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Was pretty pretty telling, pretty telling.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
The officers did comment and CBS of forty eight hours
episode they did show bodycam footage from the responding officers
that went the Ackerman home, and the officers all said,
you know, Bud did not seem intox kid, because remember
he was only at that key West.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
About an hour and a half.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
He may have had a drink, but even visibly him
speaking with police it didn't you know, he wasn't didn't
seem intoxicated. I guess now Meredith said he used vulgar language.
Maybe that was because he was upset phone, but all
accounts he wasn't legally under the influence. It didn't seemed
like now that F two fifty in the pickup leak
(43:06):
an oil bad. They had just left the scene where
there's huge oil spill and the pickup it also had
damage to the grill, like I said, in that palm
print on the hood. But Bud told officers at this
point that he didn't want to answer any questions without
an attorney. Probably smart on him.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
With considering all the pieces of evidence, Greenwood investigators could
deduce that Davis McLendon had gotten to the intersection first.
He had exited his car with Meredith still on hold
on the phone. His phone was found in the passenger seat.
He had removed his shirt himself, possibly expecting a physical confrontation,
(43:55):
and he was standing beside his car close to the
center of the rut, so standing kind of in the road. Actually,
they deduced that Bud drove up in the approaching lane,
so on the opposite side of the street. As Davis
the normal flow of traffic there, and Bud's truck was
(44:19):
believed to sideswipe Davis's car and ran head on into him.
Davis's Davis was on the grille of the truck and
which was I don't want to say dump, they use
the word deposited on the other side of the road.
(44:40):
When the truck finally stopped, he slammed on brakes, fell off.
The truck then turned around and drove away, leaving the scene.
This was enough, this evidence to arrest William bud Ackerman
with the charge of and he was arrested a little
(45:01):
after six am that morning, May seven, Okay seen investigator
Detective Matthew Womack. He started to put together the digital
story of what happened that night, started by securing text messages,
security camera footage which we mentioned earlier, from all the
(45:26):
bars and restaurants that they may have may have frequented
that night. And the most telling piece of the puzzle
was that infotainment system in Bud's f two fifty. We've
had this come up in previous episodes too.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Where is that like the black box essential?
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Essentially yes, but this system what it would do would
be it would ping and recognize Wi Fi signals I mean,
and it would record it, okay, And he gave an
example like you pass a WiFi a McDonald's with free WiFi,
it's gonna ping on your truck, Like, hey, you just
passed at McDonald's.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
And so basically they were able to track Bud's movements
the evening of May sixth and the early morning of
May seventh. It was determined by this infotainment system that
when Bud drove up on Davis, he was going about
twenty five miles an hour at one to eleven am.
A wheel slip occurrence happened, which meant he was rather
(46:27):
breaking hard or accelerated hard, causing the tires to lose
contact with the road very momentarily, and then the truck stopped.
The driver's side door was opened and then shifted into park,
which Bud he did not deny hitting Davis, but you
(46:49):
gotta tell his nerves reality hit pretty hard. The adrenaline
was going because he opened the door before he even
shifted into park. That's what that tells me. The door
was then closed, shifted into drive, reverse, then drive, which
he turned around, and the truck eventually stopped at Bud's
(47:11):
parents and the phone was disconnected, meaning he got out
of the truck.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Shut it off.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Well, the trial for murder was set for June twenty fourth,
twenty twenty four, but during the opening statements, Bud Ackerman
he had hired this defense attorney. His defense counsel was
Jack Swirling, and during the opening statements he had a
medical emergency and had to be rushed to the hospital. Oh,
(47:44):
he was able to kind of get his bearings back
about him and able to proceed with the trial. And
then on July eighth, Swirling again collapsed in the courtroom
and had to be hospitalized. Oh my gosh. Now, let's
take ano consideration. Jack Swirling, he was in his late eighties.
He was very well known defense attorney in the area,
(48:07):
very well known in South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
But he was old.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah, he's an elderly man. And on July eighth, they're
in the courtroom he actually fell. Now this left Judge
Donald Hacker no choice. But hey, this is twice as
has happened. We're going to have to go ahead and
declare a mistrial.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
So a new trial was set for September of twenty
twenty four, and in the trial prosecutors John Conrad and
John Meeters. They argued that Bud Ackerman was intent on
killing Davis McClendon that night. They introduced video from a
(48:52):
doorbell camera that was near the scene of the accident.
You could clearly hear a bang, which was probably the
collision of the two vehicles. They heard yelling. Prosecutor said
it sounded like Bud yelling expletives. So did Meredith when
she was on the stand. But Jack swirling, he continued
(49:16):
that the vocalization it was too garbled. You couldn't Yes,
someone was yelling, but you.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Couldn't tell who it was. You couldn't tell what.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
They were saying. You really couldn't. Meredith, she took the
stand to give her full accounts of the night of
May sixth. She talked about the calls, the texts, the
face times from Bud. This the old game where he called,
(49:46):
she rejected the call and then eighteen seconds later he
called back. That's unhinged behavior, she was. She said she
was worried that Bud was volatile, that he had kind
of reached his brainking point, and she said that honestly,
(50:07):
she thought Bud wanted to hurt her that night, yeah,
and that potentially Davis sacrificed himself in place of her.
Now collision reconstruction experts. They also took the stand from
the South Carolina Highway Patrol and they said that Bud
(50:28):
was basically aiming at McClendon now Jack squirling. He contested
that and said it was an accident. Bud didn't mean
to hit him, that he wasn't expecting someone to be
in the middle of the road, and that he swerved
and hit Davis's car trying to avoid Davis. Now a
(50:53):
lot of people said, well, okay, so he came up,
why did he turn left instead of trying to avoid
him right? And on the stand, Bud was even asked
that question. He said, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
I panicked. It was dark. It it was dark.
Speaker 2 (51:07):
He said, I was driving down the road and all
of a sudden there was a guy stand in the
middle of the road, and I hit him.
Speaker 4 (51:11):
It's just like a reaction.
Speaker 2 (51:12):
Yeah, I don't it was yeah, do don't think kind
of thing. He said that he was trying to avoid Davis.
When Bud took the stand, he said that that night
he only wanted to talk and he didn't see Davis
in the road. Of course, he said he tried to
(51:32):
avoid him. He said, if I wanted a confrontation, you know,
why would I have initially suggested we meet at my
parents' house where my kids were.
Speaker 3 (51:44):
That's and I was.
Speaker 4 (51:46):
Thinking his kids should be there. So I don't know
if that's the best place if something gets out of hand.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
But yeah, and he was asked point blank he was like, okay,
so let's say it was an accident. Why didn't you
call nine one one? His explanation was that he panicked.
It was also asked, okay, so you went to your
(52:13):
parents' house and you told your father what happened. Why
didn't he called nine to one one? And his father's
explanation was that it was, you know, after one am,
and he had been woken up with his news and
he was very disoriented, which I can see kind of, but.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
It's still I feel like that kind of news would
wake you up.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
Yeah, it's no excuse. Jack Swirling.
Speaker 2 (52:42):
He said that his client was not guilty of murder
because the state could not, be on the shadow of
a doubt, prove his client's intent that night, could not
prove his intent. Rather, it was to avoid Davis McClendon
or to hit Davis McClendon. So, after six days of testimony,
(53:04):
the jury went in and they deliberated for twenty two
minutes only, and they came back with a unanimous verdict
and they found William G. Bud Ackerman, Jr. Guilty of murder.
The sentencing phase came up and the court took into
(53:27):
consideration that besides a couple of traffic tickets that I
could find, bud Ackerman had a clean record. All these
people had a cleanton. They're not miscreants or anything of
that nature. These were good law abiding citizens, you know,
up to this point. But the sentencing resulted in bud
(53:50):
Ackerman receiving forty five years in prison for the murder
of Davis McLendon. His release date is twenty sixty eight
and he has housed at Tiger River Correctional Institution and
he has filed an appeal. The tragedy in this is
(54:10):
that a good friend, good man was lost, possibly the
love of Meredith's life.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:19):
She mentioned that they had talked about spending their life
together and sitting on the chair and rocking chairs when
they were eighty years old. They had those kind of
deep conversations, meaningful conversations that this isn't a this wasn't
a flash in the pan rebound here.
Speaker 4 (54:36):
Yeah, I wouldn't to fling something that they planned on,
you know, making a future together.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Yes, and she's going to miss out on that. Davis's
friends are going to miss out on having him there
the rest of their lives. Think about the residents that
counted on him where he worked, just friends all over,
then the heartbreaking parts of six children, Bud's three and
(55:06):
David's three, six children that were both robbed at their
fathers because of some.
Speaker 3 (55:15):
Some incident.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
And looking at this and looking at both these guys
kind of stepping back a little bit, you take the
romantic aspect of Meredith out of both their lives.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
These two guys probably could have been friends, if they
they really could have. I kept thinking about that.
Speaker 2 (55:41):
I was like, you know, everybody big Clempson football fans,
you know they live in the same area, just good.
Speaker 4 (55:48):
Dudes, beers together.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
Yeah, they had that in common, but you take that
out of it. I mean, these are just two guys that.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
They both loved.
Speaker 2 (55:59):
Heart seemed like one he was experiencing depression symptoms, experiencing
pressure with his job, his impending divorce, Davis very passionate,
found a new love. Emotions running high on both sides,
(56:19):
and it resulted in this death. And there are very
adamant sides on both of this. On Bud's family, Yes,
it was an accident. He didn't mean to do that,
He would never do anything like this. Then you got
the McClendon side that, hey, they killed our friend and
family member. Bud did, and he tried to cover it
(56:44):
up by not calling nine one one. His family tried
to call, you know, covered up by not calling nine
one one. In fact, that was a statement made its
sentencing a paraphrasing of course of Davis's son. You have
a fiery fire he testimony or victim impact statement on
(57:04):
behalf of his dad. And he stood up for his family,
and he he seems to really have gotten that from
his dad. Yeah, stood up and did the honorable thing.
And he's like, I'm the man the family. I'm gonna
take care of this right now. Very young man, but
very very honorable. And it's it's a tragedy all the
way around that it even.
Speaker 4 (57:24):
Got to this point well, and that somebody had to
lose their life because emotions got out of control and
not being able to understand that, you know, this relationship,
this part of my life is over and being able
to accept that and hopefully try to move on for
your own self. You know, maybe I can find that
(57:45):
kind of happiness that she has and instead just focusing
so much on what you don't have and allowing that
to consume you and is nothing good comes from it? Obviously.
Speaker 3 (57:58):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
It was still so fresh, so raw. I mean, let's
be honest, Bud was hurt, he was his pride, his emotions,
his heart. We said that a little earlier, Davis, he
was standing up for what was right. And I wish
(58:21):
this had been in daylight hours. Maybe these guys could
have had a conversation over a cup of coffee and
everything would have turned out the best. But unfortunately Davis mcclennan,
a good man, lost his law.
Speaker 4 (58:34):
Yeah, and it sounds like they were very passionate people,
so yes, being able to channel it in the appropriate way,
this could have had a better outcome.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
Oh, by far, by far, that's certainly a tragedy. Well again,
that's a fairly new, fairly fresh case. Very highly requested
that we cover this one. We hope we were able
to do it justice, call it right.
Speaker 3 (59:00):
Down the middle.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
We thank you for listening this week and we've got
some special thank yous to dole Out. Thank you so
much for those that reached out, went over to Carolina
crimestore dot com checked out the merchandise over there. We
want to say a special thank you to Ben Pratt,
Jerry Lynn Quarrels, Margaret Laquir, Liquary Laquir, Kim Henderson, Amanda Hall.
Speaker 3 (59:26):
Thank you for those of you listening on Apple iTunes,
Apple Podcast.
Speaker 2 (59:30):
Thank you to tr sc Sailor, to Disney, Deanna, to
Tree seven eight eight nine, to Amanda and Mack I know.
Speaker 3 (59:38):
Who that is.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
Thank you also to Savvy Ken's eight. Thank you the
following for reaching out this week giving us some good feedback.
Thank you to Charles McKissick, Joy Kinnard or Kinard, I'm sorry,
Andy Hendrix, Brianna Oliver, wi Ward, Terry Pearson, Deshawna maguire,
Ta Spencer, Crystal Tory Hudson, Just Comore, Sammy Pennington, Lynn
(01:00:05):
McDonald and her daughter on the way to school and
her daughter's pup, Jojo. Thank you to Jodie Collins, to
Wesley Day and to Ashley Richards. Thank you to Amanda Hall,
Sandy Garrison, Misty Black, Morgan Wilson, Brandy Avant, Angie Henderson,
Rose Howell, Julie Kane, Robin Fogel, Alison Collins and the
(01:00:30):
mother and daughter for babies she adopted sc and Avy.
Thank you to Evan Steiner, Ben Gunnard, David Monteith and
his picture of South of the Border the original. Thank
you to Terry Owen and the picture of the other
South of the Border, and thank you to Jennifer Wickings. So, folks,
(01:00:50):
we certainly appreciate you reaching out you can do so.
You can check out photos from this episode on Facebook
at Carolina Crimes podcast, also over on Twitter at sc crimes.
And we thank you so much for listening to this
week's edition of Carolina Crimes.
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