Police in South Florida believe a woman’s death may have been recorded by an Amazon smart device in her home.
Authorities think they may be able to use the popular home assistant to crack the case after Silvia Galva was impaled by a spear during an incident involving her partner, Adam Reechard Crespo.
According to the local media outlets, Hallandale Beach officials believe a couple’s Amazon Echo smart speakers may have recorded the deadly incident.
Following a search warrant, Amazon gave officials multiple recordings from the night in question, but neither the company, police, nor the State Attorney's Office would give more detail.
Crespo told police Galva was inadvertently killed in the couple’s condo during an argument. He said he’d tried to pull Galva off the bed when she grabbed onto a spear, WFOR reported.
The police report said Crespo heard a snap and discovered the blade of the spear had gone through her chest. He allegedly pulled out the spear hoping the injury wasn’t that bad, the report added. She died shortly after.
Crespo has been charged with first degree murder. He plead not guilty and is out on a US$65,000 bond.
"We want that evidence in because it will show our client was sleeping that night,” Crespo’s attorney Christopher O'Toole told WFOR.
O’Toole also said he doesn’t expect the recordings to reveal much, while also criticizing the technology giant’s privacy record.
"Unless you say one of the key words, the device shouldn’t capture any audio -- unless Amazon is secretly capturing everybody's audio but we don't know that obviously,” he said.
Amazon said its devices don’t record conversations or save audio unless it hears a “wake word,” which turns on the device.
