Amazon's Echo could provide key information in New Hampshire double-homicide case, judge says

NEW HAMPSHIRE — Amazon’s Echo is at the center of a double-homicide investigation in New Hampshire.

It's the device in millions of homes, designed to cater to your commands.

A judge says it could contain evidence on who killed two women.

The judge has ordered Amazon to turn over any recordings from an Echo device at the scene of a crime.

Timothy Verrill is charged with stabbing two women inside a home last year.

He's pleading not guilty in the brutal crime.

[Amazon: Echo device sent conversation to family's contact]

One woman was stabbed 43 times, the other eight times, in the kitchen where the Echo was kept.

“I think most people probably don't even realize that Alexa is taking account of what's going on in your house,” said Albert Scherr, law professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.

Prosecutors are hoping the Echo might have audio of the attack.

Amazon is pushing back against the court, saying it “will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course."

A similar situation happened in a 2016 homicide case in Arkansas. Amazon ended up complying when the suspect and the owner of the Echo in that case consented.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:

• Amber Alert issued for missing 3-year-old girl in Gastonia
• Evidence for missing Lumberton teen sent to FBI headquarters to be analyzed
• Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher sells his NC home
• WATCH: Jaclyn Shearer's Sunday forecast outlook
• Inmates send sheriff heartfelt letter honoring slain police officer

Cox Media Group