How an oil trail led to suspect in South Carolina hit-and-run homicide

This story originally aired on March 1, 2025. It was updated on August 22, 2026.

It was just after 1 a.m. on May 7, 2023, when authorities responded to a reported road accident on a secluded dead-end street in Greenwood, South Carolina.

At the edge of the nearby woods, they would find 46-year-old Davis McClendon 's body. But what they saw at first was on the road itself: a shirt, a shoe and a mangled BMW 5 Series sedan.

After first responders had locked everything down, Greenwood County Sheriff's Investigator Patrick Durkin arrived to begin photographing the scene.

Whatever had transpired at this deserted crossroads, Durkin's job was to freeze it in time. First responders had thought Davis McClendon's injuries seemed consistent with having been hit by a vehicle, though no other vehicle relating to the collision was there. They'd found McClendon's body about 50 feet away from the BMW, leading them to suspect he'd been outside his car when he was hit.

Patrick Durkin : There was no rain or anything that would potentially wash anything away. So, um, the main thing I focused on … was the vehicle.

Durkin tells "48 Hours: correspondent Anne-Marie Green he noticed some strange damage to the BMW.

Patrick Durkin : Usually when we would … you'd think of a normal fender bender —

Patrick Durkin : — it would just kinda be pressed into it. And this was torn back, like a tuna can in a sense.

It had made authorities wonder if it was a hit-and-run or something more sinister. The airbags were out, and a phone was on the front passenger seat. Durkin saw more debris in the road, but nothing particularly telling.

Investigator Ronny Powell from the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office says authorities had learned more by speaking to two women at the scene: Meredith Haynie and Megan McGovern, who'd called 911. McGovern often babysat for Haynie's three children.

Ronny Powell : They … provided statements of what they saw and what had occurred … all night long.

Ronny Powell : She pretty much gave a summary of the whole backstory … that she had been dating Davis.

Haynie had told the authorities that McClendon left a club they'd been in that night, calling her minutes later from the road, saying he was parked at the intersection of Avid Road and Sawgrass Place. When he'd put her on hold and then failed to come back on the line, Haynie was worried and got a ride there from McGovern. It was McGovern, the babysitter, who'd gotten out of her car and was the first to see McClendon's body.