Amazon Echo maybe useful to solve a murder case

In recent reports, it is suggested that Internet-connected devices may help in solving criminal cases. Police in Bentonville, Arkansas have reportedly issued a warrant to Amazon, asking the company to hand over data from an Echo device to prosecute a suspected murderer.

James Andrew Bates is the suspected in this case, was charged with first degree murder in November 2015 after authorities found him strangling and drowning Victor Collins at the Mr. Bates' hot tub.

Mr. Bates later told the police that he invited Collins and other two friends, Owen McDonald and Sean Henry, over to watch a Football game and also revealed he decided to go to bed around 1 am, leaving Collins the victim and McDonald to hangout and drink in his hot tub.

According to Bates' affidavit statement, he found Collins face down in the water when he woke up several hours later. McDonald later says he left Bates and Collins around 12:30 am, a story confirmed by his wife.

Bates has several internet-connected devices in his home as found, including a Nest thermostat and a Honeywell alarm system, but the most important witness is his Amazon Echo, which the Police records say could have controlled the streaming music to play. The device also streams audio to the cloud which includes fraction of a second of audio before the wake word.

So far Amazon has declined to hand over the information in the case, according to the court records and the company says it will not be releasing customer information without a valid and blinding legal demand properly served. 

Police have reportedly seized the device from Bates' home, but the device that might give a clue as to what happened last night might be home's smart water device. According to the latest information, Bates home ran 140 gallons of water on that night.

This is one of its kind case where a device can open its suspence and we are sure to see many of these with the evolution of devices in every field.