48 Hours - The Haunting of David Coffin

In December 1996, Atlanta resident David Coffin returned home from a weekend away with his girlfriend, Megan Lee, to find it had been ransacked and his Porsche was stolen. Two days later, David's house caught on fire and he was found dead inside. Police zeroed in on Scott Davis, Megan's estranged husband, as a suspect when he revealed he knew David died from a gunshot wound and not due to the fire. “48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/19/2007. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.

Duration: 41m
Broadcast on: 10 Dec 2024
Audio Format: other

The street was blocked off and there was lots of fire trucks there. The house was fully involved in flames. I said, "Is that 951?" and they said, "Yeah." And I said, "That's my boyfriend's house." And they said, "Do you know how to get in touch with your boyfriend?" And now I haven't talked to him today. And I believe it was the police chief, I'm not sure. Came up to me and said, "Are you the next of kin?" And I said, "Why?" And they said, "We found a body in the kitchen." David Coffin was a 41-year-old male who was full of life, very attractive, a lot of fun. He was beautiful and outgoing and athletic. My name is Meghan Lee and in 1996, I was dating David Coffin. He liked to ski hard slopes. He liked to live life to the fullest, very Robert Redford-esque. David came from the Coffin family of the Northeast. It's a very prominent family. He was a good kid. They loved the outdoors. He had a big retriever and that dog and he went absolutely everywhere. Flames were shooting out of his roof 20 to 30 feet in the air. When they got the fire under control, they walked through once and found nothing. Walked through the second time and actually a firefighter stepped on the body of David Coffin. People who die from the fire, they're usually found on their stomachs because they're trying to crawl out of the house. He was on his back when they discovered him that led the firefighters to believe that he did not die from the fire, that this was a murder case. He literally was just executed in cold blood. All that remained of David Coffin was charred remains. My name is Sheila Ross. I'm an assistant district attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. The fire to David Coffin's body and to his home was very, very devastating and destructive. We're talking no hairs, no fibers, no DNA, no fingerprints from any of the things that came from the home. At that point, I had no idea who wanted to kill David Coffin. My world no longer made sense. It's the hardest case I have ever fought in my entire career. We're Ghost of David Coffin, tonight's 48 Hours Mystery. It was the most tragic, unbelievable time of life. It was late at night on December 10, 1996, when Meagan Lee watched Fireman struggle to gain control of the inferno at the home of her boyfriend, David Coffin. His best friend came on scene and I had to tell him that David was dead. You see flames shooting out of the roof of your best friend's house. The feelings are horrible. Like Meagan, Craig Foster was also in disbelief. You think, Jesus, it's like a movie? You don't know what to think. Their grief and fear only deepened when fire officials revealed that David had died before the fire even started. All I remember is laying down on the pavement. It's terrible. Adding to the horror, it was the second time that same night someone close to Meagan was the victim of violence. The first incident involved her estranged husband, Scott Davis. Scott told her he had been ambushed that evening right in front of his house. The person was wearing a ski mask, put a gun to his head, sprayed him in the face with mace, and said stay away from Meagan and my name is actually pronounced Meagan.

Now, hours later, Meagan soon-to-be ex-husband had even more bad news. He said, "Oh my god. I was attacked again tonight. I've got police here." In that second attack, Scott Davis said the assailant used his gun. The trollman Michael O'Connor took the report. The suspect turned around and shot at Scott Davis. Scott then returned fire with five rounds from a shotgun, and the suspect was able to hop the fence and run off. Scott also said that before all the shooting, the man set fire to the back of his house by the patio. Scott managed to put it out, but the timing was terrifying. It was just hours after David's house was set aflame. It was fairly bizarre, kind of a copycat, kind of a thing going on that was very confusing to all of us. Homicide detective Rick Chambers naturally suspected there had to be a link between the two victims. The same person who killed David Collins will be the same person

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