A South Carolina jury convicted Bud Ackerman of murder after prosecutors used data from his pickup truck’s "infotainment system" to map his movements on the night he killed Davis McClendon. Following a seven-day trial last fall, a judge sentenced Ackerman to 45 years in prison for the May 7, 2023, hit-and-run death of McClendon, who was dating Ackerman’s estranged wife at the time.
The case began when Greenwood County authorities discovered McClendon’s body 50 feet away from his damaged BMW sedan shortly after 1 a.m. at a deserted intersection. Investigators found an oil trail leading from the collision site to the residence where Ackerman was staying, where they located his Ford F-250 leaking oil. While Ackerman's defense argued the collision was an accident that occurred during an attempt to talk to McClendon, the state argued the truck’s onboard computer provided evidence of "malice aforethought."
Lt. Matthew Womack of the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office reported that the truck's computer logged over 3,000 time-stamped events in a 24-hour period. This included "digital handshakes" where the vehicle automatically pinged public Wi-Fi systems as it passed locations. These logs allowed authorities to trace a route showing Ackerman had driven past the club, restaurant, and street where McClendon and Meredith Haynie, Ackerman’s wife, were spending their evening.
The system further recorded that the truck was traveling approximately 25 miles per hour on a dark dead-end road seconds before the impact. At 1:11:33 a.m., the computer detected a "wheel slip," followed by data showing Ackerman shifted the truck into park, opened the door, and eventually got back in to drive home. Defense attorney Jack Swerling argued that McClendon was standing near the center of the road and that Ackerman hit the BMW sedan intentionally only to "stop the truck’s forward momentum" and avoid hitting McClendon.
The conviction specifically impacted the families and legal representatives of the 46-year-old victim and the defendant, resulting in a 45-year prison sentence for Ackerman. For the broader public, the ruling sets a precedent for the use of "digital handshakes" as a tool for location tracking. Instead of relying solely on GPS or cell tower pings, investigators can now reconstruct travel routes by identifying every time a vehicle attempts to connect to public Wi-Fi networks at businesses like fast-food restaurants.
The technical data captured by the Ford F-250 included precision metrics down to tenths of a second, recording gear shifts, door openings, and phone connection statuses. This level of detail removes much of the ambiguity regarding a driver’s behavior during a collision, as it records physical interactions with the vehicle that were previously unobservable. While the trial concluded with a conviction and sentencing last fall, the use of such comprehensive vehicle telemetry is expected to remain a central component of future traffic homicide investigations and legal proceedings involving modern automobiles.