Truck computer contains clues to motive in South Carolina hit-and-run murder, prosecutors say

When authorities in Greenwood, South Carolina, arrived at the deserted intersection after 1 a.m. on May 7, 2023, they found a mangled BMW sedan in the road with debris scattered around it. On the shoulder near the woods, lay the car's fatally injured owner, 46-year-old Davis McClendon. But something about the scene seemed strange.

McClendon was about 50 feet away from his car, suggesting he'd been outside standing next to it and been hit. His shirt and shoe were lying on the pavement. There was no other vehicle with relevant damage.

McClendon's girlfriend, Meredith Haynie, was there by the time authorities appeared, but she said she hadn't been there to see the collision. Authorities would use an array of evidence to build a murder case against Haynie's soon-to-be-ex-husband Bud Ackerman, who would claim hitting McClendon with his truck had been an accident. But prosecutors argued the touch screen computer in the dashboard of Ackerman's Ford F-250 pickup truck provided a blueprint of the intent they needed to prove he'd been targeting McClendon that night — and killed him with "malice aforethought."