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 BENTONVILLE (KFSM) -- Bentonville police arrested a suspect Monday (Feb. 22) in connection to a death investigation that began in November 2015. 
 
 James Andrew Bates, 31, of Bentonville was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Victor Parris Collins, 47, of Centerton, according to a probable cause affidavit released by the Benton County prosecutor. 
 
 The affidavit states the Arkansas State Crime Lab ruled Collins death a homicide by strangulation with a contributing cause of drowning. 
 
 Bates called 911 at about 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2015 and notified dispatchers Collins was dead in his hot tub on the back patio at his home on SW Elm Manor Avenue, the affidavit states. 
 
 Bates told officers he had invited Collins and two other friends, Owen McDonald and Sean Henry, to his home the night before to watch a Razorback football game during which they drank beer and took several shots of vodka, according to the affidavit. 
 
 After Henry left, the suspect, the victim and McDonald decided to get in the hot tub where they continued to drink until about 1 a.m. when Bates went to bed for the night leaving Collins and McDonald in the hot tub, the affidavit states. 
 
 Bates said he found Collins floating face down in the hot tub when he woke up several hours later, according to the affidavit. 
 
 After getting consent to search Bates’ home, detectives found Collins floating face up in the hot tub and noticed the water was tinted red and appeared to contain bodily fluids and blood, the affidavit states. They also noticed Collins had a black eye, a cut on his eyelid, his lips were swollen and bruised, and he was bleeding from his mouth and nose, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Detectives observed the rim of the hot tub and the patio had been sprayed down with water and two hot tub head cushions and three hot tub knobs were lying on the ground nearby, the affidavit states. One of the head cushions appeared to have diluted blood spots on it, according to the affidavit. Investigators also found watered down blood spots on the sides of the hot tub and another large area of blood spatter on the hot tub cover, the affidavit states. 
 
 The crime lab later determined the blood belonged to Collins, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Detectives also noticed the hose had been used, which they noted was unusual given the freezing temperatures, the affidavit states. They determined the evidence pointed to a struggle and a cover-up, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Over the course of the next several days, detectives interviewed Bates and several witnesses and collected more evidence, the affidavit states. 
 
 Phone records show Bates had texted a woman throughout the evening, then placed several calls to his father, friends, including McDonald, and the Flying Fish restaurant overnight, according to the affidavit. All of the calls were cancelled before they had a chance to go through, the affidavit states. 
 
 Bates told investigators he didn’t remember making the calls and claimed they had been so-called butt dials, according to the affidavit. Detectives discredited that claim since Bates kept his phone locked by pass code or finger print ID and noted the call times were not consistent with his statement that he had gone to bed at 1 a.m., the affidavit states. 
 
 During one of their interviews with Bates, investigators took photos of small cuts and scratches on his hands, which Bates claimed were caused by his cats and Crossfit workouts, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Police then interviewed McDonald who told them Collins was alive when he left Bates’ house and McDonald’s wife confirmed her husband returned home at around 12:30 a.m., the affidavit states. 
 
 Detectives determined McDonald also got a ride from a concerned neighbor who saw him walking through the neighborhood while intoxicated. Investigators note there was no physical indication that McDonald had been in a struggle with someone. 
 
 Detectives then went back to Bates’ home and did a more extensive search of his hot tub where they found a broke pair of glasses belonging to Collins, Collins’ wedding ring and a broken shot glass at the bottom of the spa, according to the affidavit. 
 
 They also took photographs of Bates’ whole body and discovered he had a large bruise, as well as several deep scratches on his abdomen, back and arms, the affidavit states. 
 
 In December, detectives obtained water and electrical usage data from the Bentonville Utilities Department for the hours Bates said he was in bed the morning Collins died, according to the affidavit. The data showed the residence used 50 gallons of water between 1 to 2 a.m. on Nov. 22 and an additional 90 gallons of water between 2 and 3 a.m. In comparison, the residence only used 10 gallons of water when the men were together earlier that evening. 
 
 Detectives determined the extra water usage between 1 and 3 a.m. was consistent with the patio being sprayed down, the affidavit states. They also determined that much water usage had never occurred at the residence since October 2013, according to the affidavit. 
 
 Investigators concluded Bates was the only person with Collins at his home after midnight, the affidavit states. 
 
 Bates is currently being held at the Benton County Jail without bond. 
 
 People who said they've known Bates for years told 5NEWS everything in the probable cause affidavit is completely out of character. 
 
 According to a Go Fund Me page set up for the Collins family, memorial services for Collins were held in Bentonville and in his native Georgia. 
 
 Jamie Gianfala, a long-time friend of Collins', said he was shocked to hear his friend had been murdered. 
 
 "For him to die this way, and for it to be a homicide, it really does bother me," Gianfala said. "Because, he was the kind of guy who prevented that kind of stuff." 
 
 Collins was a former law enforcement officer before moving to Arkansas with his family. The Canton Police Department in Canton, Georgia confirmed Collins was a police officer there from 1998 until 2010. Prior to that he had worked as a deputy at the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia. 
 
 A lieutenant with the Canton Police Department said Collins had had several knee surgeries and moved to Louisiana and then Arkansas after his wife, Kristine, was transferred to those states for her job with Walmart. 
 
 The Go Fund Me page states Victor and his wife were married for more than 18 years and had five children. ||||| Amazon declined to give police any of the information that the Echo logged on its servers, but it did hand over Bates' account details and purchases. Police say they were able to pull data off of the speaker, but it's unclear what info they were able to access. Due to the so-called always on nature of the connected device, the authorities are after any audio the speaker may have picked up that night. Sure, the Echo is activated by certain words, but it's not uncommon for the IoT gadget to be alerted to listen by accident. 
 
 Police say Bates had several other smart home devices, including a water meter. That piece of tech shows that 140 gallons of water were used between 1AM and 3AM the night Collins was found dead in Bates' hot tub. Investigators allege the water was used to wash away evidence of what happened off of the patio. The examination of the water meter and the request for stored Echo information raises a bigger question about privacy. At a time when we have any number of devices tracking and automating our habits at home, should that information be used against us in criminal cases? 
 
 Bates' attorney argues that it shouldn't. "You have an expectation of privacy in your home, and I have a big problem that law enforcement can use the technology that advances our quality of life against us," defense attorney Kimberly Weber said. Of course, there's also the question of how reliable information is from smart home devices. Accuracy can be an issue for any number of IoT gadgets. However, an audio recording would seemingly be a solid piece of evidence, if released. 
 
 Just as we saw with the quest to unlock an iPhone in the San Bernardino case, it will be interesting to see how authorities and the companies who make smart home devices work out the tension between serving customers, maintaining privacy and pursuing justice. 
 
 Update: An Amazon spokesperson gave Engadget the following statement on the matter: 
 
 "Amazon 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." 
 
 As a refresher, Echo only captures audio and streams it to the cloud when the device hears the wake word "Alexa." A ring on the top of the device turns blue to give a visual indication that audio is being recorded. Those clips, or "utterances" as the company calls them, are stored in the cloud until a customer deletes them either individually or all at once. When that's done, the "utterances" are permanently deleted. What's more, the microphones on an Echo device can be manually turned off at any time.
– In November 2015, police found 47-year-old Victor Collins dead in a hot tub on the back patio of 31-year-old James Bates' Arkansas home. More than a year later, Bates is charged with Collins' murder, and Bentonville police think the data from his Amazon Echo could help them solve the case. The device listens for voice commands but is often triggered into "listen" mode by accident and could, thus, have "overheard" something useful, Engadget reports. Authorities have issued a warrant asking Amazon.com to turn over audio and other records from the device in what The Information says "may be the first case of its kind." Bates says he had Collins and two other friends over to watch a football game and drink on the evening of Nov. 21, 2015, 5 News reported in February, when Bates was arrested. Bates says one friend left, but Collins and the other friend got in the hot tub and kept drinking. He says he left them there when he went to bed, and found Collins floating face down in the hot tub the next morning. (The other friend is not a suspect.) Authorities found the hot tub water tinted red and Collins with a black eye, swollen and bruised lips, a cut on his eyelid, and blood coming from his nose and mouth; it was ultimately ruled that Collins died by strangulation, with drowning as a contributing cause. Detectives learned that 140 gallons of water were used between 1am and 3am on the morning Collins died, and a hose was used. They believe the patio was sprayed down in an attempt to wash away evidence; they found hot tub knobs and head cushions lying on the ground and Collins' blood spattered on the hot tub cover, one of the cushions, and the sides of the tub. Bates was found to have bruises and scratches all over his body, and police found Collins' wedding ring and a broken shot glass at the bottom of the tub, as well as a broken pair of Collins' glasses. So far, Amazon has only turned over Bates' account details and purchases, but police say they have been able to get data that was picked up by the Echo's speaker, the Daily Beast reports. Bates' attorney argues that the request for data from Amazon is an invasion of privacy, and an example of law enforcement using "technology that advances our quality of life against us."