14x09 - Textbook m*rder

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a home
invasion turns to m*rder.

- Just extreme overkill.

Crime of passion, crime of rage.

So much v*olence and
no one with a clear motive.

- As best as law enforcement
could establish,

she had no enemy.

That is, until police discovered

a romance gone horribly wrong.

- It was either going to a lover,
or someone who wanted her out

of the way so that they
could be the new lover.

- I don't know if a love
triangle can go good,

but this one went really bad.

- Avis Marie Banks, cum laude.

Life couldn't have
been better for Avis Banks.

She graduated from
college, found a job

she loved in a daycare
center, and met

the man she planned to marry.

But an unexpected pregnancy
changed some of her plans.

- When I learned Avis was
pregnant, I wasn't thrilled.

And I know Avis asked
for forgiveness.

And she was going to make
it right by marrying him.

Her fiance was
Keyon Pittman, a middle school

teacher and basketball coach.

Mr. Pittman was excited
about the family

that they were beginning.

They had already picked
the name out for the child.

Avis and Keyon
bought a house together

in a suburb of
Jackson, Mississippi.

But tragedy struck
just a few months

before the baby
was due to be born.

When Keyon came home from
work and found Avis lying

on the garage floor
in a pool of blood,

police were called to the scene.

- Law enforcement immediately
orders him away from the body.

They want to make
sure he's not possibly

the perpetrator in the case.

- Keyon called us
and asked my wife...

You need to get over here.

And we turned a corner and I saw
all these emergency vehicles.

And all these police cars.

But when I saw
that yellow tape, I

know what that yellow tape mean.

So I knew then, you
know, that Avis is gone.

Avis and her unborn child

were pronounced
dead at the scene.

- It was obvious that she
had been sh*t in the head,

in the chest, and
possibly in the stomach.

We weren't totally
sure as to how many

sh*ts she had
received at the time.

It also appeared she had been
cut with some type of object.

It appeared that the
k*ller waited inside the house

until Avis came home
from work then att*cked

when she stepped out of her car.

The point of entry was the
back door where police found

two high-quality
shoe impressions.

- The points on the glass
door were fairly good prints.

Good clarity.

They were two-
dimensional impressions

in dirt on the glass door.

Analysts
estimated the prints were

made from a man's
size eight shoe.

It appeared the k*ller
tried to kick the glass in.

When that didn't
work, the k*ller

kicked through the door jam.

- We were surprised that
the glass didn't shatter.

The dead bolt was still engaged
so we knew get back door

was locked up when
entry was made.

Several rooms in
the house had been ransacked.

Immediately suspicious,
police performed

a g*nsh*t residue
test on Keyon's hands.

- I would expect someone who
fired a revolver numerous times

to have g*nsh*t residue on
the backs of their hands.

We did discover particles of
g*nsh*t residue on Mr. Pittman.

Mr. Pittman very
well may have fired

the fatal sh*ts that
k*lled Avis Banks.

And Keyon
appeared to be unconcerned.

- He was laughing.

I had to remind him
that he had a fiance

and a baby that were dead.

And he said at that
point, uh, oh yeah.

- We would expect a lot more,
uh, emotion out of him.

When Keyon called his lawyer,

his anger was clearly evident.

Anger not towards the
k*ller, but the police.

- I
- don't like this at all.

So you Mother guys think I

had something with this.
I believe.

When I came home, I
knew something was up.

Keyon had no criminal record,

but he wore a size


consistent with the shoes
the k*ller was wearing when

he tried to kick
in the back door.

And that wasn't all.

- There was blood on
the button-down shirt

that he had on as well
as blood on the pants.

DNA tests showed
the blood had come from Avis.

- Maybe he didn't want to
settle down to be a father,

to be a husband.

Maybe he was trying
to get rid of her.

Police in Jackson,
Mississippi were

determined to find
Avis Bank's k*ller.

She had been ambushed while
getting out of her car

while returning home from work.

Avis was five months pregnant.

- We did take it
kind of personal.

And we were also
tasked with fighting

for that five-month-old
child that

didn't have a chance
to live in the world.

She was my perfect child.

I love all my kids, but they
wasn't nothing like Avis.

They wasn't nothing like Avis.

The autopsy showed
Avis Banks had been sh*t four

times with a .38 caliber p*stol.

She had also been
stabbed numerous times.

- There was defacing injuries.

Whoever was doing this
was wanting to injure

her physically,
injure her appearance.

And then with the
last and final slash

to the throat... just
extreme overkill.

At first, investigators

thought the motive was robbery
but that theory was discarded

when police realized that
despite the k*ller taking time

to open drawers,
nothing had been stolen.

- To us, the scene itself
appeared to be staged.

We didn't find
anything of value that

was missing from the house.

When police
interviewed Avis' fiance, Keyon

Pittman, they found
blood on his shirt.

DNA tests showed
the blood was Avis'.

And the neighbor told police
an interesting detail.

That Keyon always parked his
car in front of the house

and entered through
the front door.

But the night of the
m*rder was different.

- This particular day he
raised the garage door

when he got home.

We believe that he knew Avis
was laying in the garage.

And a background check revealed

that Keyon was a player.

- Keyon Pittman was a womanizer.

- He had other
girlfriends as well.

He had a lot of girls he
was playing at the time.

- One of the women was


the mother of one of the
boys on the basketball team

Keyon coached.

- Miss Martin and
Mr. Pittman were

in the early stages
of a relationship.

That was in the form of
flirting, telephone calls, text

messages, things of that nature.

Brenda Martin had
no desire to talk to police.

- Brenda didn't want
to have anything

to do with this whole situation
because she was married.

She was married with children.

Brenda denied any
involvement in Avis' m*rder,

and she had an alibi for
the time of the crime.

- We didn't find
anything with her,

that would put her at the scene.

Phone records or anything.

Brenda wasn't
Keyon's only love interest.

Another was Carla Hughes, the


who worked at the same
school with Keyon.

Apparently they
have been less than

discreet with
their relationship.

- They had been seen kissing
several times in the restroom.

So I knew her to be at
least more than a friend.

- Carla Hughes was the one that
he was the most involved with.

That he had, I guess, the most
serious relationship with.

That he was seeing
basically on a daily basis.

Carla Hughes was
a former beauty pageant

contestant and the single
mother of a three-year-old son.

When questioned by police, she
adamantly denied the affair.

- He's not a boyfriend.

He's just a friend.

Who's a guy.

And nothing sexual with him.

No, no.

Nothing.

- I can understand why Carla
Hughes is lying initially.

That she didn't want to
be in the mix of, uh,

someone who had
just been m*rder*d.

- People may have saw
us being affectionate

towards each other.

But at the most, they may have
just saw a little kissing.

But as far as like this full-out
blown romantic love affair,

that's... that's not what it was.
It really wasn't.

Carla denied any
involvement in a Avis Bank's

m*rder and was an
unlikely suspect,

but she didn't have an alibi
for the time of the m*rder.

Investigators believe the
m*rder took place shortly

after Avis returned
home from work.

- Avis Banks left the
day care about my 5:15

and went straight home.

She got home about 5:45.

No evidence shows she
stopped anywhere in between.

And the m*rder occurred
somewhere between 5:45 and 6

o'clock that night.

Witnesses said
Keyon was at school running

basketball practice
at that time.

And his cell phone
records confirmed

he was at the school
between 5:30 and 6 PM.

- We had the witness statements.

But this again, was
independent verification

through a separate source that
he was, in fact, at basketball

practice, and he was
miles away from the crime

scene at the time we
believe the crime occurred.

But Carla's cell phone
records showed something else.

Those records show that a
little after 5:30 and then again

at roughly 6:05, that Miss
Hughes was in that area.

That she was in the
area at the same time

that the m*rder occurred.

And who was she calling?

Keyon Pittman.

Police had two suspects

in the m*rder of Avis Banks.

Her fiance, Keyon
Pittman, had an alibi

for the time of the
m*rder but blood

on his shirt and gunpowder
residue on his hands

raised concerns.

- We believe that the g*nsh*t
residue that was discovered

on Mr. Pittman's
hands was not placed

there because he fired a w*apon.

We believe that
that was transfer

from him handling the
body of Avis Banks.

Just as the blood on his shirt

- It was determined based off
those visual examinations

that the blood stains
on him was from a touch

transfer versus him
actually being there

and having evidence
spattered on him at the...

At the time of the crime.

- If he had committed the
m*rder, there probably

would have some blowback or
some splatter on his clothing.

The lab didn't find any.

We have to realize that
Keyon wasn't around.

He probably didn't do this.

And now, we have to start
looking at his other lover.

That being Carla Hughes.

Although Carla initially

denied having a
relationship with Keyon,

during her second interview with
police she changed her story.

- Some did confess that
she had lied to me,

and that they were
sleeping together.

Six days into
the investigation, police

got a call from one
of Carla's cousins.

- He tells investigators that he
has in his position how far are

they believe was used in
the death of Avis Banks.

This cousin, Patrick
Nash, said Carla asked

to borrow his g*n, a 38 caliber
revolver, for protection.

- She tells Patrick
that there's been

recent break-ins
there at her house.

That she's concerned
for her safety.

Patrick said that
three days before the m*rder

he gave Carla his g*n
loaded with five b*ll*ts.

He also gave her
his hunting Kn*fe.

Three days after the m*rder,
she returned the g*n but not

the Kn*fe and the chamber
of the g*n was empty.

- Patrick asked Carla, hey, what
happened to the b*ll*ts in it?

And told him, I want
to target practicing.

The g*n was
given to ballistics experts

and test-fired so that the
b*ll*ts could be compared

to those recovered
from Avis' body.

- The markings on the three
projectiles from the body

did match the markings from
the test fires, which tell me

that w*apon was the w*apon
that k*lled Avis Banks.

But this didn't necessarily

put the g*n in Carla's hand.

So investigators looked
again at the shoe impressions

from the crime scene.

They assumed the impression
was made by a man's shoe,

which would have
been a size eight.

But it also could have been
a woman's shoe, a size 10

With a warrant, investigators
searched Carla's apartment.

- We didn't expect to
find any clothing there.

We were hoping we would.

We didn't expect to find any
with blood or bloodshot residue

on it.

But they did find shoes.

- We went through the
master bedroom closet,

and Carla had probably
upwards of a hundred

pairs of shoes in that closet.

That was the needle
in the haystack

that uh, we really weren't
sure was going to be out there.

One pair looked promising.

We looked at the picture we
brought with us from the crime

scene and it appears
to be a perfect match.

The tray pattern.

- I was relatively start
looking at the photographs

that were made by the same shoe.

But visually, investigators

found no traces of blood on the
shoe, which was disappointing.

- The original DNA
testing showed that there

was no DNA on the shoes.

We then decide to submit those
shoes to a second laboratory.

The examiner takes
the shoes, places

the shoes under the microscope.

This time, they found
several microscopic stains

that appeared to be blood.

And this time, DNA
testing confirmed

what investigators
already suspected.

- Those shoes do in fact
contain DNA and were

later to match the
DNA of Avis Banks.

It puts her there
in the presence

of Miss Banks at
the time for death.

The only thing
police needed to figure out

was whether Keyon
Pittman was involved.

Carla Hughes had
never broken the law

and had no v*olence in her past.

And no one thought she
was capable of m*rder.

- She led Bible studies.

She led exercise classes.

She was a leader.

And she's also a
very pretty lady.

Somebody who would never
expect to do something wrong.

But three years
before the merger evaders banks

Carla suffered a
devastating emotional blow.

If she was two months
pregnant and about to be

married to the baby's father.

The day before the
wedding, he called it off.

- Carla Hughes was a lot of
things to a lot of people

to apparently.

Her parents... she was
their little girl.

She was a beauty
queen at one point.

And when you started talking
to one of her cousins

you find out she was
almost a doormat for men.

He did tell me whenever she
fall for a guy, she fall hard.

And most guys just
take advantage of her.

Investigators believe
Carlos Alt key on Pittman

as the answer to her problems

- Carla wanted one if
be where Avis was.

She wanted to be the one
he was getting married.

Who the man truly
loved her, and they

were going to have
a family together.

But that wasn't the case...
Keyon was leaving Avis for her.

No one knows what
Keyon did or didn't promise

Carla, but she did have a motive
and she didn't have an alibi.

- Carla had indicated that
she had gone and done

a little work out
at a local park.

Walked around a jogging trail.
Run a few errands.

But nothing we could verify.

Prosecutors
believe Carla Hughes wanted

to eliminate the only
person standing between her

and Keyon and that was
her rival, Avis Banks.

So she borrowed her
cousin's g*n and Kn*fe

and went to the home
Avis and Keyon shared.

She attempted to
break into Avis' home

late in the afternoon by kicking
in the glass on the back door

leaving remarkably
clear shoe impressions.

When this didn't work, she
kicked in the door jam.

Once inside, she
pulled out drawers

to make it look like a
robbery gone wrong Then

waited for Davis to
return from work.

Cell phone records show
Carla placed her first

called to Keyon before
the m*rder, most likely

as she was staging the scene.

No one knows what was
discussed during that call.

When Carla heard the garage
door open and Avis' car pull in,

she sprung into action.

Carla fired three sh*ts, the
fourth sh*t from close range,

close enough to
splatter the tiny speck

of blood found on her shoe.

Carla then used
the hunting night

to s*ab Avis repeatedly
and cut her throat.

And after the m*rder,
Carla got rid of the Kn*fe

and her bloody
clothes, and placed

a second called to Keyon
shortly after 6:00 PM.

And again, no one knows
what was discussed.

I'm just leaving practice now,

but I can't really talk.

- What shocked me the most, this
woman have a child, you know.

How could a mother do that
to another woman and new

she was expecting?

As four Keyon Pittman, he

claims he played
no part in planning

or instigating the m*rder.

And Carla never implicated
him in the crime.

Some speculate he
learned about the murders

but before they happened but
before he found Avis' body.

- We felt like there was probably
some conversation that night

prior to Keyon going home
that led Keyon to know

that something had happened, and
that Carla probably told him,

you said we couldn't
be together.

We can be now.

I've taken care of
what was in our way.

That what set the red
flag up for Keyon.

- Did you inflict those
wounds on Avis Banks?

- No, sir.
- Did you k*ll her?

- No, sir.

- Did you k*ll your unborn child?

- No, sir.

- Do you know who did?

- No, sir.

- We, the jury,
find the defendant,

Carla Hughes guilty
of capital m*rder.

Carla Hughes was
sentenced to life in prison

without the
possibility of parole.

- It's a love triangle gone bad.

I don't know if a love
triangle can go good,

but this one went really bad.

- Carla Hughes would have been
a suspect probably anyway just

based off the relationship
that she had with Keyon.

I don't know who have ever been
able to tie her to the crime

if we didn't have the g*n.

- We built on case
on the ballistics.

We built our case on the
shoe print impressions.

We built our case
on the DNA evidence.

So really without that,
all we would have had

would have been a motive, and
there would have been nothing

that we could have
charged and ever

got a conviction
on in this case.