Amazon Echo Recordings May Play Role in Murder Case

A judge has ruled that New Hampshire authorities investigating the stabbing deaths of two women can examine recordings made by an Amazon Echo speaker with the Alexa voice assistant, the AP reports. Timothy Verrill, of Dover, is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of 48-year-old Christine Sullivan and 32-year-old Jenna Pellegrini at a Farmington home in 2017. Verrill pleaded not guilty and faces trial. Prosecutors believe Echo recordings captured the attack on Sullivan and removal of her body that could be found on the server maintained by Amazon. An Amazon spokesperson said Friday it won't release customer information "without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us." (Last year, Amazon dropped its objection to an Echo search warrant in a death investigation after a suspect, who owned the speaker, agreed to release the information.)