183: The Brutal Murder of Avis Banks

WEBVTT

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Southern Fried true crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and

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there may also be some explicit language
used listener discretion as advised. From August

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of two thousand and six to May
of two thousand and seven, the Jackson

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Public School District of Jackson, Mississippi, had a really difficult year. It

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seemed like nothing could go right for
them. They fired a middle school principle

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for alleged financial misconduct. Then that
fired middle school principle turned around and accused

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the superintendent of sexual harassment. A
high school teacher was arrested for possessing a

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jaw dropping amount of cocaine, and
an elementary school teacher was convicted of killing

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her husband. I can only imagine
the rumor mills during this time. Students

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probably whispered to each other, was
it your teacher arrested for cocaine? Or

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was yours convicted of murder? The
Jackson community probably nothing could make that school

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year any stranger. But they were
wrong. And that's because when in the

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same academic school year, two Jackson
Public School teachers were caught having an extra

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marital affair, a male science teacher
and a female language arts teacher. Then

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In a shocking turn of events,
one of those teachers was convicted of murdering

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unexpecting mother, and the other fled
the state. Welcome to episode one eighty

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three, the brutal murder of Avis
Banks. Late November in Mississippi isn't like

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autumn in the North or even other
parts of the South. The weather is

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only starting to fill crisp, with
the days in the high fifties and sixties

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and the lows at night in the
forties. But the leaves have already changed.

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So if you want to see the
gorgeous colors of autumn in Mississippi,

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you need to visit in late October
to early November. In this part of

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the South, Friday nights are for
football and Saturday mornings are for raking leaves.

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On a Wednesday, the week after
Thanksgiving in two thousand and six,

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it was one of those perfect days
when the temperature had risen to the seventies

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that day and by dusk there still
wasn't much of a chill in the air.

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A young expectant mother named Avis had
gotten off of work and was headed

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home. In her fifth month,
Avis was tired. She had called her

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fiancee Keion, who was a teacher
and basketball coach, to see what he

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wanted to do for dinner. Since
he was at basketball practice late and Avis

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was tired, he said he would
pick up some takeout dinner for the couple.

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When practice ended, Avis pulled her
car in the driveway and used the

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automatic garage door opener to get in
the house. She stayed in her car

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until the door went down, like
she always did, to make sure she

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was home safe. But as soon
as she stepped out of her car,

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she was shocked from shop blasts.
It happened so fast that Avis was found

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with her keys still in her hand. She may have never even known who

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shot her, but they knew her. I'm going to pause now for a

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short commercial break. Avis Marie Banks
was born on August eighteenth, nineteen seventy

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nine, to parents Deborah and Frederick
of Vicksburg, Mississippi. She also had

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two sisters. Vicksburg was and is
a small town on the western border of

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Mississippi. It has a population of
about twenty thousand people, and it also

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has a ton of Civil War museums
and landmarks, which makes sense. Back

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in July of eighteen sixty three,
two years before the end of the Civil

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War, Vicksburg was the site of
a crucial battle. Whoever controlled Vicksburg controlled

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the Mississippi River, and that was
important. The Mississippi River was a key

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asset for transportation and supply reasons.
The Union and Confederacy fought for several days.

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Thirty seven thousand lives were lost.
Eventually the Union won, which was

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a big deal. With this victory
at Vicksburg, the Union might have ended

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the entire Civil War. Lincoln even
wrote a letter to a general indicating as

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much. All they had to do
was take out General Robert E. Lee's

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army at the Potomac River in Maryland
that same month. But Lee's army escaped

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and the war went on for two
more years. But let's get out of

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the eighteen sixties and move back into
the nineteen eighties and nineties, because Vicksburg

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isn't just a Civil War town.
It's also where a young miss Avis Banks

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grew up. Avis was a quiet, soft spoken, and gentle young woman,

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the textbook definition of an introvert.
She kept to herself and preferred staying

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in to going out, but when
she did socialize, people remembered her as

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being kind and sweet. The one
thing everyone knew about her. Avis loved

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children. In nineteen ninety seven,
she graduated from Warren Central High School in

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Vicksburg. Then she went forty five
miles south to attend Alcorn State University in

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Clayborne County, Mississippi. There she
earned her bachelor's degree in early childhood Development.

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In two thousand and two, Avios
hoped to launch her own daycare one

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day. Her father, Frederick Banks, told Declarion Ledger that he and Avis

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had even looked at a few potential
daycare buildings together, but she needed more

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time before committing to a lease.
In two thousand and four, twenty five

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year old Avis was living in her
hometown of Vicksburg, Mississippi, when she

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met twenty nine year old Keion Pittman. They crossed paths while working out at

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their gym. Avis was immediately smitten
with Keion. He was confident, charming,

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handsome, and he knew all the
right things to say. Plus,

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Keion and Avis had a lot in
common. Keion had also attended Alkhorn State

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University, and he, like Avis, loved kids. He had gotten his

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bachelor's degree in education. Keion and
Davis felt like a match made in heaven.

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Two like minded individuals who would devote
themselves to improving children's lives. A

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year after Avis and Kion began dating, in two thousand and five, Keion

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got a new job. He was
to be the sixth grade science teacher and

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basketball coach at Chastain Middle School.
It was forty seven miles east of Vicksburg

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and Jackson, Mississippi, so Keion
and Avis, who were still going strong,

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moved to Jackson together. They got
an apartment, they found a church,

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and Avis was hired at a local
childcare called Bright Horizon Daycare. Avis

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and Keion looked like they were doing
really well. Her new daycare loved her.

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Her boss told the Clarion Ledger that
she was a wonderful employee. And

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Keion was having a great time teaching
and coaching at Chastain Middle School. And

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to help with money, Keon had
taken a part time job as a bartender

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at the local Mexican restaurant. In
Avis's parents' eyes, this was a green

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flag, a sign that Keion would
do whatever it took to make sure that

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Avis was financially secure. Her father, Frederick Banks, told Snapped he was

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a very good provider. So in
June of two thousand and six, when

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Avis became pregnant, it might have
felt a little bit like fate rather than

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an accident. Sure, Avis and
Keion weren't planning for a baby, but

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they would have gotten there eventually.
Right. Maybe this was just one of

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life's little blessings, happening a bit
earlier than expected. But Avis's parents struggled

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to see it that way. They
were Christian folk who didn't want their grandchild

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to be born out of wedlock.
Avis's dad said that she was going to

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make it right by marrying Keion,
and so Keon and Avis became engaged.

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They planned their wedding for January of
two thousand and seven. Their new child

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would be born some time around March
that year. It wasn't quite a shotgun

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wedding, but it was close,
and as a result, Avis's parents were

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pretty worried that Keion was going to
get cold feet. Her mother, Debora

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Banks told Snapped, WE knew that
Avis wanted to be married to him,

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but I don't think he really really
wanted to be married yet. Regardless,

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it seemed like her parents' concerns might
have been misplaced. After all, Keion

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was excited to be a husband and
father. He was thrilled when they found

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out that Avis was having a little
boy, and he was even more excited

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to help pick out his unborn son's
new name, Kelon. Keion was adamant

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that he didn't want to raise his
child in an apartment, so he and

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Avis bought any house in Ridgeland,
which is a suburb of Jackson. It

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was only a twenty minute drive from
Chastain, where he worked. On Wednesday,

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November twenty ninth of two thousand and
six, Keion and Avis had been

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dating for over two years. Their
wedding was two months away, and both

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of them were very busy. For
Keion, the fall semester was winding down

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with winter break just around the corner. The kids were getting squirrely in the

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classroom. As for Avis, she
was five months pregnant and planning a wedding.

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Plus Thanksgiving was the week before,
and Davis's parents had come over that

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Sunday to help her put up Christmas
decorations. So on this particular Wednesday,

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Avis was exhausted. The Thanksgiving holiday
had worn her out. They had traveled

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to Houston, Texas for Thanksgiving Day
and then back to Picky in Mississippi.

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That weekend for another family get together, and she had worked late that day.

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She was just then heading home at
five fifteen p m. On the

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way, Avis called Keion. He
was also going to be home late because

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he had to coach the boy's basketball
practice. During this conversation, Avios and

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Keion decided they weren't up to cook
and dinner that night. Keion promised he

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would grab some food on the way
home, but he couldn't talk to Avis

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for long. Basketball practice was starting. At about five forty five pm,

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Avis pulled her late model Honda Accord
into her driveway and grabbed the mail,

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just like normal. Her house was
lit up with Christmas lights. Then she

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opened the garage and parked inside it
just like normal. She turned off the

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car and used the remote to close
the garage door. As an extra safety

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precaution and the final part of her
coming home routine, Avis waited to get

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out of her vehicle until the garage
door was completely shut, just like normal.

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But when AVOs got out of her
car, she was ambushed. Her

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attackers shot her four times with a
handgun. The first bullet hit Avis's thigh,

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incapacitating her. Then three additional shots
were unloaded into Avis's body at close

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range. The final shot was delivered
execution style to the back of Avis's head.

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She never had a chance to defend
herself. Even though the unknown attacker

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had shot Avis Banks four times,
they weren't done yet. Next they pulled

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out a knife and stabbed her body
numerous times. The last wound was a

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vicious slash across Avis's throat. Then
they left. Avis's body went undiscovered for

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three hours. At eight forty five
pm, Keion came home from basketball practice

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and that's when he opened the garage
door to a nightmarish scene straight out of

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a horror film. I'm going to
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When thirty one year old Kim Pittman walked

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into his garage at eight forty five
that night, he probably couldn't believe his

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eyes. His fiancee, who was
also the mother of his unborn child,

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twenty seven year old Avis Banks,
had been murdered and it was brutal.

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Avis lay in a pool of blood
on the garage floor next to her Honda.

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She was wearing her work scrubs and
a jacket. Her car keys were

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still clutched in her hand, scattered
on the floor around her arms and purse

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was the mail she had just retrieved
from the mailbox. Keyon, who was

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undoubtedly in shock, said he ran
to Avis's body and show her, trying

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to rouse her frantic. He said
he kissed Avis's cold lips, and then

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he pulled out his cell phone,
but he didn't call nine one one.

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Instead, he called a co worker
from Chastain Middle School, a twenty five

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year old cheerleading coach and language arts
teacher named Carla Hughes. When Keion called,

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Carla was already on the phone with
her mother, Linda. Carla had

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called her mom after finishing up with
her evening jog at around eight thirty pm.

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Now she was cooling down and chit
chatting with Linda. Carla put Linda

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on hold because Keon was calling her. When Carlo spoke to Keion, he

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explained everything and he asked Carla to
come over. Carla switched back to the

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line with her mother and relayed the
situation to her. Linda was immediately confused.

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Why was Keion calling Carla? Why
did he want Carla to go to

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his house a murder scene. Was
he out of his mind? What Keian

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needed to do? Linda told her
daughter was called the police. She told

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Carla not to go to Keion's house. Carla switched to Keion's phone line and

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told him to call the police,
but strangely, Keion still didn't call nine

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one one. After ending the call
with Carla, Keon ran to his next

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door neighbor's house. A married couple
lived there and they were shocked to hear

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Keon screaming at their front door.
By the time he started banging on their

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front door, the married couple had
already called nine one one, not for

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Avis, but because some strange man
had lost his mind on their doorstep,

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and the recorded nine one one call
you can hear the situation unfold. Keon's

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female neighbor tells the nine one one
operator that some one is trying to break

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into her home. Meanwhile, her
husband goes to see what's going on with

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Keon. After some muffled conversation between
the husband and Keon, you can hear

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the husband yell somebody killed his wife, and then the wife says to the

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dispatcher, oh my god, he
said somebody dun killed his wife. Minutes

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later, the police arrived at Keyon's
home. Officers found him holding Avis's limp

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body right away. The emergency responders
separated Keion from Avis and declared her dead,

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and then his home was searched.
As the investigators looked through a Keyon's

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home, they realized that it had
been robbed, or at least it looked

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like it had been robbed. There
were two clear footprints on the back door

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where someone had kicked it in,
and the place was a mess. Items

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were pulled out from drawers, Electronic
devices had been unplugged and strategically stacked as

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if someone was getting ready to carry
them out, but nothing was actually stolen.

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Anything worth stealing remained in Keyon and
Avis's home, and the crime itself

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didn't look like Avis had walked in
on a robbery. For one thing,

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00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.799
Avis hadn't even opened the door to
her home. Her keys were still in

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00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:07.440
her hand. She had no idea
there was a robbery taking place. Whoever

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00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:14.119
was in her home had plenty of
time to escape unseen. Also, her

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pants were pulled down as if to
indicate she was possibly sexually assaulted, but

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the autopsy would prove that was false, and the police still believed that the

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way Avis was murdered didn't feel like
a robbery. Whoever killed her had overdone

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00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:33.200
it. Four shots, multiple stabs, and a slash across the throat.

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This felt like rage, not like
some random criminal trying to make a quick

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buck. Investigators suspected that the killer
had a personal motive for wanting Avis Banks

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dead. Detectives concluded that this burglary
was staged to cover up the murder of

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Avis, and their first suspect for
the killer was Keyon. After all,

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his clothes were covered in blood when
the officers arrived, and the shoeprin on

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the back door were the same size
as Keion's feet, a men's size eight.

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Additionally, the officers also thought it
was odd that Keion, who always

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00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:12.799
parked outside and walked into the house
through the front door, had opened the

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00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:18.720
garage door that night. But Keion
had also called Avis on his way home.

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00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:23.240
When she didn't pick up, Keion
was already a little worried. Perhaps

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00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:27.519
he had no idea what was in
the garage. He just decided to open

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00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:30.960
the door to see if Avis's car
was there. Since she didn't answer his

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00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:36.640
call, or perhaps Keion opened the
garage because he already knew what he would

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00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.799
find. And another mark against Keion
was the whole why didn't he call nine

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00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:45.599
one one question? He had his
phone on him, and he had called

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00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:51.079
a coworker. What stopped him from
getting help in the most efficient way possible?

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00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.119
Calling nine one one is almost a
knee jerk reaction for most people in

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00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:00.319
an emergency, and if they don't
call nine one one, a close family

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00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.960
member makes more sense for someone in
shock, not someone you work with.

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00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:08.720
The police weren't sure that Keion was
telling the whole truth. That same night,

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00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:12.279
they took him to the station for
questioning. As he waited in the

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00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:18.559
video recorded interrogation room, he went
through a range of emotions. Sometimes he

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00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:22.200
was sad, at other times he
was angry. When he called a lawyer

246
00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:26.920
on his cell phone, he said, these motherfuckers think I had something to

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00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:32.400
do with this shit. Frank Dillard, the Originland detective who questioned Keion,

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00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:37.079
remembered that sometimes Kion would laugh or
tell jokes as if he didn't realize the

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00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.720
seriousness of the situation, as if
he didn't really mind that his fiance,

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00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:47.960
Avis and their unborn baby were gone, I'm not telling you this to sway

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00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.720
you against Keion. I'm telling you
this. You understand why the police were

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00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:56.839
suspicious of him. Everyone is going
to grieve in their own way, but

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00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.160
the police can only go off of
what they have, and right now,

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00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:04.759
what the police department had was Keion, a rather unconcerned man who had not

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00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:11.599
called nine one one for his fatally
wounded fiance and his unborn child. And

256
00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:18.319
investigating the person who finds the dead
body is normal standard operating procedure. Additionally,

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00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:22.680
it gave the police an opportunity to
ask Keon questions. That way he

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00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:26.880
could be cleared as a suspect.
When the police asked Keion why he didn't

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00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.240
call nine one one himself, he
said he wasn't sure where his phone call

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00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:34.160
was going to be routed. He
said he was worried that since his phone

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00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.559
was purchased in a different city,
he would contact emergency responders who were too

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00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:45.079
far away. The detectives were not
convinced by this answer, and frankly,

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00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.759
that's not how calling nine one one
works, but maybe Keion didn't know that.

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Next, the officers asked him where
he was that afternoon and evening.

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00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.119
He said he had taught at Chastain
Middle School during the day, and then

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00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:03.359
after school he had run some errands. He had picked up groceries and then

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00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:07.400
dropped them off, but not at
his and Avis's house. He had dropped

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00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:11.839
them off at Carlo Hughes's apartment,
the same twenty five year old cheerleading coach

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00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:18.279
and teacher for Chastain Middle School that
Keion called instead of the police. According

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00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:22.240
to Keion, he needed to get
back to the school building for basketball practice.

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He didn't have time to go home
and put the groceries in his own

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00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:30.599
house and returned to school, so
he had temporarily stored them at Carlos place.

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00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:36.559
Her apartment was closer to Chastain Middle
School, and if you're wondering the

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00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:40.839
logistics of this, dude, checkout. Carlo's apartment was closer to the school

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00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:44.920
than Keyon's house, and her place
was in between the grocery store at Chastain

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00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.480
Middle School. Then Keion explained to
the officers that he went to basketball practice.

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00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:55.119
Practice was over at about seven thirty
PM. After that, he went

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00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:57.839
to Carlos to grab the groceries.
He spent some time there and then he

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00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:03.279
went home. That's when he found
Avis's body. As you can imagine,

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this interview didn't make the police feel
confident about Keion's innocence. They dubbed him

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00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:14.279
a person of interest, But after
they did gunshot residue testing on his hands

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00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:18.799
and confiscated his bloody clothing and shoes, they did let Keyon leave the station

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00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:23.400
without making an arrest. While the
police were waiting for Keion's test results and

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00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:29.480
clothing analysis, they continued to look
into him. They visited the Mexican restaurant

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00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:33.559
where he moonlighted as a bartender.
There they spoke to his co workers,

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00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:38.000
and his co workers had a lot
to say. Apparently, Keion was well

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00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:44.079
known as a womanizing player. He
liked women, and he wasn't shy about

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00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:48.920
it. According to Keion's restaurant colleagues, he was cheating on Avis with several

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00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:52.359
different women. These women would stop
by the restaurant when he was bartending.

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00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:57.200
They would order drinks, flirt,
and sometimes even kiss Keion, and one

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00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:03.960
of the most recent women was none
other than Carla Hughes. Now investigators had

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00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.559
heard Carla's name twice, once when
Keon stored groceries at her apartment, and

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00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:12.640
again from Kean's co workers, it
was time for the police officers to actually

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00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:18.519
speak with Carla herself. On December
first, the officers went to Chastain Middle

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00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:23.319
School to interview Carla. Right away, she was crying. When asked why

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00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:27.640
she was so affected, Carla said
she was upset about her close friend's fiance's

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00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:33.680
murder. When Detective Frank Dillard asked
Carla directly if she had a relationship with

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00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:40.119
Keion, she denied it. According
to his interviews with SNAPPED, Carla said,

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00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:45.119
without a doubt they were not romantically
involved. Obviously, they were absolutely

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00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:49.599
romantically involved, but Carlo wouldn't admit
it until the police asked her to go

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00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:55.519
to the station that afternoon after school, and even then she would need some

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00:24:55.559 --> 00:25:00.680
cajoling before admitting the truth. All
throughout the sec at police interview, Carla

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00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:04.720
kept reiterating, he's not a boyfriend. He's just a friend who's a guy,

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00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:11.680
nothing sexual with him. She insisted
that Avis knew who she was and

305
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.039
knew about her and Keion's friendship.
Carla said that Avis had even heard her

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00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:21.920
and Keyon chatting on the phone on
multiple occasions. But when Detective Dillard sternly

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00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:26.160
asked, were you two romantically involved. Don't lie to me about this.

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00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:30.599
Carla changed her story. She said, yes, she had been sexually involved

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00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:37.000
with Keion, but now Carla added
it wasn't serious. She said it was

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not a full blown romantic love affair, and she said specifically that she'd never

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00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:45.880
ever want Kean to leave Avis for
her. Their relationship hadn't been serious like

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00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:52.039
that. It was, according to
Carla, just sex. During this second

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00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:56.440
round of questioning, Carla also explained
where she was on November twenty ninth,

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00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:02.119
when school got out and the students
were dismissed. She and Keian chatted for

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00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.480
a bit. They nailed down the
details of how he was going to get

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00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:08.799
the groceries, dropped them at her
apartment and picked them up after basketball practice.

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00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:15.480
Then Kean went to go run his
errands. He put the groceries in

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00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:19.319
Carlo's apartment around five fifteen pm,
and then his practice started at five thirty

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00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:25.079
pm and went on till seven thirty. So at seven thirty five pm,

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00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:30.400
Kean went to Carlo's place to pick
up the groceries. According to Carla,

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00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:36.000
Kean stayed for around forty five minutes
and then left at about eight thirty pm.

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00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:41.079
Once Carla had established a timeline.
One thing became abundantly clear for the

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00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:45.920
time that Avis was murdered from five
to forty five pm to six pm.

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00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:52.319
Carla did not have an alibi.
Following these interviews, both Kian and Carlo

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00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:59.079
were considered suspicious by the police working
on Avis's case. They even wondered if

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00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.599
Kean and Carlo had committed Avis's murder
together. As the detective searched for more

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00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:07.960
clues, they began looking in earnest
for the murder weapons, a gun and

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00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:14.039
a knife. Although they didn't have
any leads on the knife yet, the

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00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:17.559
police were able to narrow down the
kind of gun the murderer had used.

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00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.759
Based on the crime scene, The
detectives knew they were looking for a five

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00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:26.559
shot revolver. There had been four
shots in Avis's body and one stray bullet

332
00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:30.359
had gone through the garage door,
so whoever shot the gun had emptied it

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00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:36.319
of bullets, and whoever shot the
gun had also had the forethought to pick

334
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.960
up the shell casings off the ground. In a stroke of good luck for

335
00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:45.240
the police, a man reached out
to them regarding Avis's case. His name

336
00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:51.119
was Patrick Nash and he was Carla
Hughes's cousin, and Patrick told the police

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00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:56.079
that Carla had recently borrowed a gun
from his personal collection. She had wanted

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00:27:56.119 --> 00:28:02.400
it for protection. Her neighborhood was
a notorious slee unsafe area. Someone had

339
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:07.240
even tried to break into her place
recently, so three days before Avis was

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00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:11.880
killed on Sunday, November twenty sixth, Patrick gave Carla his thirty eight caliber

341
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:17.000
five shot revolver, as well as
a three inch hunting knife. When Patrick

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00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:21.319
handed over the gun to Carla,
it was loaded, but when Carla returned

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00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:26.519
the gun on December first, two
days after Avis's murder, it was empty,

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00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:32.880
and Carla did not return the knife. I'm going to pause now to

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percent off. Carla Anne Hughes was
born in July of nineteen eighty one.

378
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When she was very young, she
was adopted by Carl and Linda Hughes.

379
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:17.400
Both Carl and Linda were teachers in
Greenville, Mississippi. They were prominent figures

380
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:21.400
who were well respected in their community. They went to church on Sundays,

381
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:26.039
They were friends with a mayor.
Everyone liked them, and so of course

382
00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:30.319
everyone liked their adopted daughter, Carla. In fact, the small town of

383
00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:36.960
Greenville loved Carla. She was a
bit of a rising star. She was

384
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:41.839
beautiful, popular, and well liked. She competed in beauty pageants at the

385
00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:47.319
state and regional levels. She was
a cheerleader, musician, dancer, honor

386
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:53.160
student, and an award winning equestrian. Carla's friends remarked that she was always

387
00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:57.240
trying to better herself, and she
was voted most likely to succeed in the

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00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:04.319
nineteen ninety nine graduating class of TL
Weston High School. After high school,

389
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:09.079
Carla attended the University of Southern Mississippi. There, she completed her bachelor's degree

390
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:14.680
in education, and at about the
same time, Carla was in a long

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00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:17.720
term relationship with a man. She
and this man were engaged to be married,

392
00:32:19.240 --> 00:32:22.160
but he backed out only a few
days before their wedding. He called

393
00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:27.640
the whole thing off, and Carla, now newly single, was pregnant with

394
00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.559
his child. When Carla's mother,
Linda spoke to Snap, she said,

395
00:32:32.359 --> 00:32:37.680
the father backing out of the situation
was kind of disappointing, but we sucked

396
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:39.640
it up like we always do when
problems occur, and we moved on.

397
00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:45.319
Linda wasn't concerned about Carla being a
single mom. She knew that Carlo's tenacity

398
00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:50.960
and perseverance would pull through. If
anyone could raise a child on their own,

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00:32:51.319 --> 00:32:54.440
it was Carla. And not long
after all this, Carla gave birth

400
00:32:54.519 --> 00:33:00.839
to a baby boy. After that, Carla went to Belle Haven College for

401
00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:06.200
her master's degree in education. Then
she started teaching kindergarten in Greenville around two

402
00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:10.200
thousand and four. To no one's
surprise, teaching went really well for Carla.

403
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:14.519
She was great at it. A
friend of hers said, all the

404
00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:19.000
kids loved her, whether they were
in her classroom or not. But Carla

405
00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:22.960
didn't stop there. She was determined
for greatness. She enrolled at Telta State

406
00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:29.799
University and began studying for her Education
Specialist degree. In case you don't know

407
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:34.240
what that is, that's one of
the highest academic achievements available for teachers.

408
00:33:35.480 --> 00:33:38.079
In the summer of two thousand and
six, Carla took a new teaching job

409
00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:44.039
in Jackson, Mississippi. She was
going to work at Chastain Middle School,

410
00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:47.920
the same school where Keon Pittman worked. This career move wasn't an emotion for

411
00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:52.240
Carla. Nothing had gone wrong at
her kindergarten position in Greenville or anything.

412
00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:58.240
Carla was just ready for a new
challenge and better pay. And at Chastain

413
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:01.319
Middle School, Carla could be a
lead teacher, and they had also offered

414
00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:07.039
her a position as a cheerleading coach, which was extra money. Carlo was

415
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:10.440
elated, but since she was hired
right before school started in August, she

416
00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:15.280
had to scramble to prepare for her
new job. Carlo's parents were happy to

417
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:19.559
help their daughter out. They took
care of her son while she found a

418
00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:22.800
place to live in Jackson, and
that freed Carla up to look at a

419
00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:28.079
broader range of apartments. But since
Carlo couldn't be picky about her new place

420
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:31.960
on such short notice, she accidentally
rented an apartment in a rough neighborhood.

421
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:37.400
Carlo's mother said, I was concerned
about the safety, but school was about

422
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:42.440
to start and she had to have
somewhere to live. In early October,

423
00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:45.719
only three months after Carlo moved in, someone tried to break into her apartment.

424
00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:52.079
The perpetrator wasn't successful, but Carlo
was still spooed. She began looking

425
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:55.000
for a new place to live,
but between teaching, parenting, and life

426
00:34:55.039 --> 00:35:00.199
in general, the apartment hunting process
was slow going. But other parts of

427
00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:05.320
Carla's life were looking up. For
instance, her new job was going very

428
00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:09.880
well. She loved working at Chastain
Middle School and her colleagues loved her too.

429
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:15.760
One colleague in particular liked Carla a
lot, and that was, of

430
00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:21.880
course, sixth grade science teacher Keon
Pittman. Carla and Keion met in August

431
00:35:21.960 --> 00:35:24.840
of two thousand and six when the
Chastain Middle School year began. The two

432
00:35:24.840 --> 00:35:30.239
teachers bonded quickly, and soon after
they connected at Chastain, Carla began hanging

433
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:35.320
out at the Mexican restaurant where Keion
worked part time. They would speak for

434
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:39.880
hours and hours about school, about
home, and about life. As Keion

435
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:45.880
and Carla's friendship grew, they began
spending more and more time together. Once

436
00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:51.960
Keion even visited Carlo's family in Greenville. It wasn't a long visit. Her

437
00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:54.960
dad, Carl remembered that he only
spoke to Keion for about two minutes,

438
00:35:55.400 --> 00:36:01.679
just enough time for Carla to introduce
her friend before they scaddled. We're not

439
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:07.119
sure exactly the date when Carla and
Keon's relationship became sexual, but Carla indicated

440
00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:12.000
that it was fairly early on.
They would have sex two or three times

441
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.639
a week, and they weren't exactly
careful about hiding it. The two lovers

442
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:21.559
were definitely caught up in their passionate
affair. On three occasions, Keion and

443
00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:25.400
Carlo waited until Avis wasn't home,
and then they had sex in Avis's house.

444
00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:30.440
And that wasn't the only time Keion
and Carla risked exposing their affair.

445
00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:36.519
They passed each other love notes in
school, using students to ferry the messages

446
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:39.679
down the hallways. They spoke to
each other during the school day, They

447
00:36:39.719 --> 00:36:45.440
called each other almost daily, and
they texted constantly. According to Keion,

448
00:36:45.960 --> 00:36:50.840
Carlo would tell her friends that he
was her future husband. Keep in mind,

449
00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:54.400
Carla was fully aware that Keion was
engaged to another woman, but for

450
00:36:54.400 --> 00:37:00.519
whatever reason, that didn't seem to
bother her. I don't place one hundred

451
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:02.920
percent of the blame on Carla for
that. You never know what line of

452
00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:08.360
bs Keon was feeding her about his
relationship with Avis. I'm going to pause

453
00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:19.000
now for a short commercial break.
Meanwhile, Avis had no idea about Carla.

454
00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:22.679
She thought Carla was merely one of
Kean's many co workers. Avis and

455
00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:28.519
Carla only ever met in passing once
or twice. Occasionally, Keion would be

456
00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:31.199
on the phone with Carla in Avis's
presence, But as far as we can

457
00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:37.320
tell, Avis never witnessed anything between
Keion and Carla that would make her suspicious.

458
00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:42.280
And if you find yourself judging Avis
just a little, thinking how could

459
00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:45.760
she not know? I would encourage
you to stop. Avis loved Keion.

460
00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:52.199
He was her actual future husband,
the father of her child. She trusted

461
00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:55.239
him, and you'd be surprised,
which you can get away with when someone

462
00:37:55.320 --> 00:38:00.800
trusts you. As the police looked
deeper and deeper into Carla, they became

463
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:06.599
more and more suspicious of her motives. Sure, she had said the relationship

464
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:09.199
between her and Kion was just sex, but what's she telling the truth?

465
00:38:10.039 --> 00:38:15.079
Was she more enamored with Keion than
she had let on could she have wanted

466
00:38:15.079 --> 00:38:21.320
Avis dead? The police knew they
couldn't trust Carla, especially since she had

467
00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:24.519
lied to them about the nature of
her and Keion's relationship, saying it wasn't

468
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:30.000
romantic when it definitely was. And
then there was the second lie that Carla

469
00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:34.519
had told. Because she hadn't just
lied about her relationship with Keion, she

470
00:38:34.599 --> 00:38:38.599
had also lied about having access to
a gun. During Carla's second police interview,

471
00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:43.480
when she had finally admitted to the
affair with Keion, she had also

472
00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:46.800
told the police she didn't own a
gun. When they prompted Carla again asking

473
00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:52.159
if she had access to a firearm, she said no, she most certainly

474
00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:54.960
did not. She even went on
to explain that her father had many guns,

475
00:38:55.280 --> 00:39:00.760
but she didn't. But as we
know, Carla was lying. She

476
00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:04.360
had had her cousin's gun during the
time when Avis was murdered, and she

477
00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:07.880
had his hunting knife too, and
when she returned the five shot revolver to

478
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:13.079
her cousin after Avis was killed,
the previously loaded gun was now empty.

479
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:17.000
Carla told her cousin that she had
done some target practice, that's why the

480
00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:22.440
bullets were gone, But the cousin
had gone to the police anyway. Thank

481
00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:27.239
God for people who do the right
thing, regardless of who it might implicate.

482
00:39:28.760 --> 00:39:31.840
Later in court, it would come
to light that when Carla's family approached

483
00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:37.880
her and asked hay was cousin Patrick's
gun involved in Avis's murder, Carla allegedly

484
00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:44.599
just looked down and shrugged. The
police took Carlo's cousin's gun for testing.

485
00:39:45.199 --> 00:39:47.840
Then on Wednesday, December sixth,
they asked Carla to come down to the

486
00:39:47.880 --> 00:39:52.440
station for additional questions. This would
be her third round of police interviews,

487
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:57.559
and this time Carlo brought a lawyer. She could see the writing on the

488
00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:00.840
wall. This wasn't going to go
well, and it didn't. That same

489
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:07.800
day, Carla was arrested for being
an accessory to Avis Banks's murder. On

490
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:10.599
December seventh of two thousand and six, the day after Carla was arrested,

491
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:15.960
the police searched her home. They
were looking for the missing shell casings,

492
00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:21.039
the knife. Her cousin gave her, bloodstained clothing or gloves, shoes matching

493
00:40:21.039 --> 00:40:24.800
the print at the crime scene,
and any correspondence between her and Keion that

494
00:40:24.840 --> 00:40:31.239
would help establish their ongoing relationship.
During the search, detectives didn't find the

495
00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:35.360
knife, but they did find a
pair of shoes that matched the two shoe

496
00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:40.039
prints on Avis's back door. They
were Carla's women's sized tin black tennis shoes

497
00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:44.920
from a brand called tread Safe.
They were the kind of heavy duty,

498
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:49.000
non slip, thick soled shoes a
waitress might be required to wear in the

499
00:40:49.079 --> 00:40:53.559
service industry. Remember, the police
had thought the shoe prints on the back

500
00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:58.920
door were keyons, and that's because
Carla and Keion had the exact same shoe

501
00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:02.079
size. Women's size ten is the
same thing as a men's size eight.

502
00:41:02.840 --> 00:41:07.880
But even though the shoeprints turned out
to be Carlo's not Keion's, the police

503
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:13.000
still thought Keion was involved. Actually, so far, the police had only

504
00:41:13.079 --> 00:41:16.519
charged Carla as an accessory to the
murder because they believed Keion was the mastermind

505
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:22.079
behind Avis's murder. They figured Keion
wasn't ready to settle down and had wanted

506
00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:29.360
away out of his marriage and impending
fatherhood with Avis. Law enforcement officers hoped

507
00:41:29.719 --> 00:41:32.960
that now that Carlo was facing an
arrest charges in jail time, she might

508
00:41:32.960 --> 00:41:37.559
turn on Keion in exchange for a
deal, But Carla didn't. In fact,

509
00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:43.559
she refused to speak with police at
all, and Keion wasn't talking either.

510
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:47.880
His lawyer advised him not to go
into the precinct anymore. Instead,

511
00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:53.800
the lawyer wanted the detectives to give
Keion pre rotten questions, then Keion would

512
00:41:53.840 --> 00:42:00.000
answer them, presumably while his lawyer
helped guide him. But the Rigeland police

513
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:04.000
didn't like that. They wanted to
speak to Keion in person, not through

514
00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:08.039
written answers filtered by his lawyer's advice. If you're a long time true crime

515
00:42:08.119 --> 00:42:14.199
finn, you've probably seen this pissing
match before. Defense lawyers and cops don't

516
00:42:14.199 --> 00:42:17.880
get along, they aren't supposed to, and nothing productive ever comes from this

517
00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:22.760
ongoing feud. By the time everything
was said and done, Keion never spoke

518
00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:29.079
to the police again, and therefore
the police didn't get any definitive answers about

519
00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:35.239
Keion's involvement or lack thereof, and
Avis's murder. The Ridgeland police named Keion

520
00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:38.000
as a suspect, but not because
they had him dead to rights or anything.

521
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:43.760
They were pissed that they couldn't interview
Keion on their terms anymore, and

522
00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:49.440
they more than likely named him hoping
to shake things up either with Keion or

523
00:42:49.480 --> 00:42:53.960
with Carla. The same day that
Carlo went for her third police interview,

524
00:42:54.239 --> 00:43:00.360
December sixth, two thousand and six, Avis Marie Banks was laid to rest

525
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:06.559
at the Locust Grove Missionary Baptist Church
Cemetery in Vicksburg. She was survived by

526
00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:10.400
her parents, sisters, cousins,
and many friends and family, who were

527
00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:16.599
all devastated by her loss. They
wanted answers, and their suspicions were on

528
00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:23.440
Keion. At Avis's funeral, the
family's anger at Keion was simmered to a

529
00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:29.719
boil when they noticed he didn't seem
to be crying or grieving. Avis's parents

530
00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:34.599
told Dateline that her older sister believed
a woman might have killed Avis, a

531
00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:39.119
woman that Keion was fooling around with. The sister became enraged and was about

532
00:43:39.119 --> 00:43:45.199
to go after Keion physically, but
was stopped by another family member. Other

533
00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:50.079
folks and Avis's family grew angry and
the scene became so heated that the police,

534
00:43:50.119 --> 00:43:53.039
who were on hand had to escort
Keion out of the funeral home with

535
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:59.760
a coat over his head. Two
days after Avis was buried, on December

536
00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:04.280
eighth, two thousand and six,
the police charged Carla Hughes with two counts

537
00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:07.840
of capital murder, one for Avis
Banks and one for her unborn son,

538
00:44:08.599 --> 00:44:13.840
and the state of Mississippi a five
month old fetus is considered a human being

539
00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:19.519
in murder cases. Carlo was held
without bell at the Madison County Detention Center.

540
00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:23.320
Once again, the police weren't sold
that Carla had actually committed this crime

541
00:44:23.360 --> 00:44:29.800
by herself. They hoped that these
charges would incentivize Carla to flip on Keion.

542
00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:36.000
The police even told Carla's attorney as
much, but still Carla would not

543
00:44:36.039 --> 00:44:42.519
implicate Keyon. She remained silent.
Carla's friends, family, and hometown community

544
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:47.239
were shocked by these developments. Carla
had killed a pregnant woman. Our Carla,

545
00:44:47.480 --> 00:44:54.079
there must be a mistake. Multiple
people spoke to journalists from local newspapers

546
00:44:54.079 --> 00:44:59.760
expressing their disbelief that Carla, the
all American girl they had all known in

547
00:44:59.840 --> 00:45:04.079
love, would do such a thing. One person told the Clarion Leger,

548
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:08.199
the Carla Hughes that I know is
an upstanding professional, intelligent, caring,

549
00:45:08.559 --> 00:45:14.559
dependable, and respectable friend. Another
friend of Carlos said I hold her in

550
00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:19.960
very high regard, and another said
I have never seen Carla act aggressively or

551
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.760
even raise her voice for that matter. Carla's Greenville church, a congregation of

552
00:45:24.760 --> 00:45:30.639
over two hundred people, also stood
behind her. The pastor, Gene Fowler,

553
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:35.599
said she was very smart, energetic, motivated, a great role model

554
00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:39.960
for the other young people. The
mayor of Greenville and about sixty additional Greenville

555
00:45:39.960 --> 00:45:45.599
residents wrote letters to the judge in
Carla's case. They wanted Carla to be

556
00:45:45.639 --> 00:45:50.519
granted bond so she could stay out
of jail before her trial, but the

557
00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:54.280
judge refused. It wasn't out of
spider anything. In Mississippi, a person

558
00:45:54.400 --> 00:46:00.360
charged with capital murder almost never receives
a bond, and Carla had been charged

559
00:46:00.360 --> 00:46:04.880
with capital murder twice, she was
most certainly going to sit in jail until

560
00:46:04.960 --> 00:46:09.880
her trial. The students and parents
of Chastain Middle School were also shocked by

561
00:46:09.880 --> 00:46:14.400
this horrendous scandal. They didn't know
what to make of any of it.

562
00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:19.199
Two teachers caught in an extramarital love
affair, a wife and mother to be

563
00:46:19.320 --> 00:46:24.440
dead. One parent told the Clarion
Ledger, it's just sat on both sides.

564
00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:29.079
The kids kind of knew before it
got out, and they're just kind

565
00:46:29.119 --> 00:46:35.079
of confused they look up to teachers
as role models. Carla had resigned from

566
00:46:35.119 --> 00:46:38.719
her Chastain Middle School teaching and coaching
positions an early December of two thousand and

567
00:46:38.800 --> 00:46:45.199
six, probably when she was first
arrested. It's unclear if Keyon was fired

568
00:46:45.239 --> 00:46:50.000
from Chastain Middle School, but he
was recommended for termination that same December,

569
00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:55.119
and it appears that he never returned
to teach their Following Avis's death, the

570
00:46:55.239 --> 00:47:00.679
general public was also flabbergasted. Richland
was a nice neighborhood, not one where

571
00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:07.000
people feared break ins, staged robberies, shootings, and stabbings. Ridgeland's last

572
00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:14.119
homicide had occurred over a year earlier, and the public was especially horrified that

573
00:47:14.239 --> 00:47:21.239
Carla, a mother herself, was
accused of murdering and expecting mother. I'm

574
00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:29.000
going to pause now for a final
commercial break. January of two thousand and

575
00:47:29.039 --> 00:47:31.800
seven, the month when Avis and
Keion were set to be married, came

576
00:47:31.840 --> 00:47:36.960
and went. In February of two
thousand and seven, Keion sold his in

577
00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:40.440
Avis's Richland home. He moved to
Michigan, and less than a year later,

578
00:47:40.519 --> 00:47:45.280
in December of two thousand and seven, Keion married a different woman from

579
00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:50.440
Detroit, and in July of two
thousand and seven, Carla was formally indicted,

580
00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:54.320
and in October of two thousand and
nine, now twenty eight year old

581
00:47:54.360 --> 00:48:00.280
Carla Hughes's trial began. If you're
like woe, that's three whole year years

582
00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:05.920
after the murder, You're right it
is. It's not clear why Carlo's trial

583
00:48:05.960 --> 00:48:09.360
took so long to get started.
Her lawyer, Johnny Walls, tried to

584
00:48:09.400 --> 00:48:15.239
do some legal sidestepping on Carlo's behalf, But most defense attorneys don't want to

585
00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:19.920
delay trial. By filing for a
speedy trial, they're making sure their client

586
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:23.960
doesn't sit behind bars for too long. And also it's often strategy giving the

587
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:30.639
state less time to prepare, particularly
in murder trials. But evidently the police

588
00:48:30.719 --> 00:48:35.840
never stopped trying to get a confession
out of Carla. On Valentine's Day of

589
00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:38.800
two thousand and eight, they sent
her a copy of Kean's marriage license to

590
00:48:38.840 --> 00:48:45.400
the woman in Michigan her date line. She said she wasn't surprised her attorney

591
00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:50.679
wanted Carlo's case to be thrown out
because quote, Carlo was a descendant of

592
00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:55.760
slaves and experienced overt and cruel discrimination
in Mississippi on the basis of race,

593
00:48:58.320 --> 00:49:01.840
but this argument did not hold.
A court. Also, Ridgeland switched district

594
00:49:01.840 --> 00:49:07.599
attorneys in the midst of Carlo's legal
proceedings. I imagine that also slowed the

595
00:49:07.639 --> 00:49:15.639
process down, but still justice delayed
is very painful for victims families. Finally,

596
00:49:15.880 --> 00:49:21.159
on October fifth of two thousand and
nine, Carlo's trial began. The

597
00:49:21.280 --> 00:49:25.760
DA was seeking the death penalty due
to the particularly vicious nature of Avis's murder,

598
00:49:27.719 --> 00:49:32.480
and her family publicly supported this decision. The state argued that Carlo killed

599
00:49:32.519 --> 00:49:37.880
Avis out of jealousy. She wanted
Avis out of the picture so she could

600
00:49:37.880 --> 00:49:44.440
be with Keion. The prosecution claimed
that Carla and Keion's relationship wasn't just sex,

601
00:49:44.519 --> 00:49:49.679
as Carla had previously told the police. In fact, the prosecution believed

602
00:49:49.719 --> 00:49:53.239
it was the exact opposite. Carlo
was madly in love with Keion, but

603
00:49:53.320 --> 00:49:58.360
he didn't feel the same way about
her, and Kion, who testified for

604
00:49:58.360 --> 00:50:04.760
the prosecution, agree with this assessment
of their relationship. Kean told the court

605
00:50:04.800 --> 00:50:08.519
that Carla was furious that he wouldn't
leave Avis for her. According to Keion,

606
00:50:09.039 --> 00:50:13.920
he and Carla had once had a
pregnancy scare, and he said when

607
00:50:13.960 --> 00:50:17.039
Carla thought she was pregnant, she
really pressured Kean to leave Avis, but

608
00:50:17.159 --> 00:50:23.039
he wouldn't. Kean's refusal to choose
Carla made her so mad, allegedly that

609
00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:28.519
she started driving to Kean and Avis's
house. If Keion wasn't going to tell

610
00:50:28.639 --> 00:50:34.400
Avis about their affair, then Carlo
would do it herself. Keion testified that

611
00:50:34.519 --> 00:50:37.840
the only thing that stopped Carla from
exposing their relationship was that he threatened to

612
00:50:37.880 --> 00:50:43.840
call the police on her, assuming
because she was stalking the couple, and

613
00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:46.800
yet he didn't end it with Carla, which might have diffused the situation.

614
00:50:49.039 --> 00:50:53.000
Keion also testified that there were other
moments when Carla was frustrated by his commitment

615
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:58.559
to Avis. For example, the
week before Avis was murdered, Kean and

616
00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:02.480
Avis traveled to see family and Picayune, Mississippi, for Thanksgiving. The Saturday

617
00:51:02.480 --> 00:51:07.360
after Thanksgiving, and then Keion and
Carla met up at a Picayune hotel.

618
00:51:09.039 --> 00:51:13.679
According to Keion, Carla begged him
to stay at the hotel with her for

619
00:51:13.760 --> 00:51:16.400
longer and longer, but he couldn't
stay too late because he was in town

620
00:51:16.440 --> 00:51:22.119
to see family. Carla allegedly was
put out by this, and their date

621
00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:27.039
ended poorly. The next day,
Carla told Keion that quote, from this

622
00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:30.920
point on, some things are going
to change. Then she borrowed her cousin's

623
00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:37.599
gun and hunting knife, and four
days later Avis was dead. The prosecution

624
00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:45.639
proposed that Carla had snapped completely lost
it. The prosecution insinuated that perhaps Carla's

625
00:51:45.760 --> 00:51:51.039
previous felled engagement back when her fiance
and father of her child left her just

626
00:51:51.159 --> 00:51:57.880
days before their wedding, had made
Keion's consistent rejection especially hurtful, and they

627
00:51:57.960 --> 00:52:01.639
painted Keion as a sympathetic grief leaving
widower. He had a box of tissues

628
00:52:01.639 --> 00:52:07.320
with him while on the stand and
everything, which ug this freaking guy.

629
00:52:07.920 --> 00:52:12.480
Obviously, I am with Avis's family
and have a really hard time finding sympathy

630
00:52:12.519 --> 00:52:17.000
for him. When Keion was asked
why did you call Carla after finding Avis's

631
00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:22.119
body, he responded, because I
was looking for anyone to come at that

632
00:52:22.239 --> 00:52:25.719
point. I didn't care. I
just wanted someone there. And when asked

633
00:52:25.719 --> 00:52:30.000
if Keion ever intended to leave Avis
for Carla, he said, no,

634
00:52:30.760 --> 00:52:36.119
Carla wasn't long term. His relationship
with her was quote sexual, caught up

635
00:52:36.119 --> 00:52:39.360
in the moment. He was also
asked if he killed Avis, to which

636
00:52:39.360 --> 00:52:45.239
he of course said no, but
he did say that he felt partially responsible

637
00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:51.639
for Avis's death. The prosecution also
proved that Carla's cousin's gun was the murder

638
00:52:51.679 --> 00:52:57.599
weapon. Ballistics experts testified and confirmed
it with forensic testing, and an independent

639
00:52:57.639 --> 00:53:01.119
crime lab had found trace amounts of
Avis's blood on the soul of Carlo's tread

640
00:53:01.239 --> 00:53:07.360
safe shoes, the same shoes that
matched the shoeprints on Avis's kicked in back

641
00:53:07.400 --> 00:53:14.119
door. In response, Carlo's attorney
tried to suggest that Carlo wasn't Avis's killer,

642
00:53:14.639 --> 00:53:19.400
Keion was. He suggested that Keon
had gotten into Carlo's apartment with a

643
00:53:19.519 --> 00:53:23.800
key, he already had taken Carlo's
cousin's gun, put on Carlo's shoes,

644
00:53:24.239 --> 00:53:29.039
traveled to his own home, kicked
in his own back door, staged a

645
00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:34.360
robbery, killed Avis, and then
framed Carla. This guy should write for

646
00:53:34.400 --> 00:53:38.360
the movies. But to support this, he pointed out that Carlo's hands hadn't

647
00:53:38.360 --> 00:53:43.519
had any gun residue on them,
while Keyon's hat, Mind you, it

648
00:53:43.599 --> 00:53:49.000
was a negligible amount a single particle
of gun residue on each of Kean's hands.

649
00:53:49.039 --> 00:53:53.199
An expert testified that Keon easily could
have gotten it from touching Avis's body,

650
00:53:53.639 --> 00:53:58.280
and we know that he was cradling
her when the police arrived, and

651
00:53:58.480 --> 00:54:01.199
Carlo's hands would not have been tested
the day that Avis was killed, so

652
00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:07.280
this is a stupid moot argument.
But Carla's defense wasn't done. He also

653
00:54:07.360 --> 00:54:12.840
cast out on Kean's alibi, claiming
that Chesting Middle School was near enough to

654
00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:17.039
his and Avis's home that he could
have slipped out of basketball practice, killed

655
00:54:17.079 --> 00:54:22.800
her, and returned without anyone ever
noticing. But that didn't hold up either,

656
00:54:22.400 --> 00:54:28.880
and for good reason. Kean's cell
phone records placed him definitively, without

657
00:54:28.920 --> 00:54:32.039
a doubt, at the boys basketball
practice during the time of Avis's murder,

658
00:54:32.440 --> 00:54:38.519
and we are one hundred percent certain
that Keion attended the entire basketball practice without

659
00:54:38.559 --> 00:54:44.400
sneaking off to kill Avis because he
was hitting on one of the player's mothers

660
00:54:44.599 --> 00:54:50.199
the whole time. Keion and this
basketball mom were texting across the gym.

661
00:54:50.639 --> 00:54:53.400
They couldn't speak out loud to each
other because they wanted to hide their flirtatious

662
00:54:53.440 --> 00:54:59.840
conversation from any onlookers. After all, Keion was supposed to be engaged.

663
00:55:00.719 --> 00:55:05.199
Jesus, this guy and this mother, well, she wanted to hide her

664
00:55:05.199 --> 00:55:10.760
conversations with Keion because she was married. In the months after Avis's death,

665
00:55:12.239 --> 00:55:15.639
Keion would go on to have a
sexual relationship with this married mother. But

666
00:55:15.800 --> 00:55:22.639
regardless of his shitty actions, he
had an airtight alibi. He was at

667
00:55:22.679 --> 00:55:28.440
basketball practice when Carla killed Avis.
That's all there is to it. There

668
00:55:28.559 --> 00:55:31.920
is still a chance that Keion colluded
with Carla to kill Avis. If you'll

669
00:55:31.920 --> 00:55:37.519
recall, Keon did know to open
the garage when he got home. Usually

670
00:55:37.599 --> 00:55:42.039
he would have just walked through the
front door. And Carla did call Keyon

671
00:55:42.119 --> 00:55:45.880
at five thirty pm and again at
six oh five pm, the exact window

672
00:55:45.920 --> 00:55:51.679
of time when Avis would have been
killed. Perhaps Carla was discussing the murder

673
00:55:51.719 --> 00:55:57.320
plans with Keion. We'll never know. After all, Carla couldn't accused Keion

674
00:55:57.360 --> 00:56:01.559
of colluding with her without admitting she
killed If this was true, I can

675
00:56:01.599 --> 00:56:07.199
only imagine Carla's silent, simmering anger
at trial when she couldn't implicate Keion.

676
00:56:09.039 --> 00:56:15.599
The detectives in Avis's case told Dateline
they still believed Keon Pittman may have been

677
00:56:15.639 --> 00:56:21.480
an accomplice, but he never talked, and neither did Carla. What we

678
00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:25.079
do know is that when Carlo called
Keion at five thirty pm and at six

679
00:56:25.159 --> 00:56:30.400
o five pm, her phone peemed
a cell tower less than half a mile

680
00:56:30.519 --> 00:56:34.480
from Keon in Avis's house, placing
her near the scene of the crime at

681
00:56:34.480 --> 00:56:38.519
the precise time the crime would have
happened. At the end of the day,

682
00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:44.199
Keion never faced any charges, and
he walked away from this entire ordeal

683
00:56:44.480 --> 00:56:50.440
scott free. On October twelfth,
the defense rested their case. Carla did

684
00:56:50.480 --> 00:56:55.199
not testify in her own defense,
and on October thirteenth, two thousand and

685
00:56:55.280 --> 00:57:00.760
nine, after deliberating for over eight
hours, a Madison count NY jury found

686
00:57:00.760 --> 00:57:06.400
twenty eight year old Carla Hughes guilty
of murdering Avis Banks and Avis Banks's unborn

687
00:57:06.519 --> 00:57:12.800
child. Upon hearing the news,
Carla burst into tears. Avis's family was

688
00:57:12.840 --> 00:57:17.199
also emotional, but for different reasons. Avis's mother felt justice had been served,

689
00:57:17.679 --> 00:57:22.039
and her father told the Clarion ledger
Avis can finally rest in peace.

690
00:57:23.519 --> 00:57:29.639
The next day, Carla was sentenced
to two life sentences without the possibility of

691
00:57:29.639 --> 00:57:35.280
parole. The jury had been uncomfortable
recommending the death penalty for Carla since she

692
00:57:35.400 --> 00:57:39.119
was the mother of a five year
old boy. Today, Carla Hughes is

693
00:57:39.159 --> 00:57:45.559
serving her two life sentences at the
Central Mississippi Women's Correctional Facility in Pearl,

694
00:57:45.599 --> 00:57:50.719
Mississippi. She was denied a new
trial in two thousand and ten. She

695
00:57:50.920 --> 00:57:55.519
uphealed that decision in two twelve,
but was denied. Carla's parents raised her

696
00:57:55.559 --> 00:58:01.840
son. Her mother, Linda,
continues to assert Carla's innocence. Keon,

697
00:58:02.000 --> 00:58:07.559
as I mentioned, moved to Michigan
and married a woman from there. I

698
00:58:07.559 --> 00:58:10.199
would hope that he learned his lesson
about cheating, but seeing as he kept

699
00:58:10.280 --> 00:58:15.960
up sexual relationships right after Avis's murder, I doubt it. Cheaters typically don't

700
00:58:16.000 --> 00:58:22.880
stop being cheaters, and if he
was involved in Avis's murder, hopefully one

701
00:58:22.960 --> 00:58:28.760
day he will face judgment in this
life or the next. As for Carla,

702
00:58:29.320 --> 00:58:35.840
I understand the jury's decision and respect
it. John Dryden wrote, Jealousy

703
00:58:36.039 --> 00:58:40.280
is the jaundice of the soul.
Avis Banks is now resting in peace,

704
00:58:42.320 --> 00:58:53.480
but I wonder if Carla Hughes is
even capable of finding peace. Southern Fried

705
00:58:53.480 --> 00:58:59.119
True Crimes, hosted and produced by
me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched

706
00:58:59.159 --> 00:59:02.440
and written by Andrew Marshbank, with
additional writing by myself, and of course,

707
00:59:02.480 --> 00:59:07.880
all editorial opinions are my own.
Southern Frid's original music is by Rob

708
00:59:07.880 --> 00:59:10.639
Harrison of Gamma Radio, and the
original graphic art is by Holy Horner.

709
00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:15.960
Today's episode was edited and mixed by
Brandon shuck Snyder of Southern Gothic and Rika

710
00:59:16.039 --> 00:59:21.639
Kelly. Thank you to Danita,
Melissa and others for suggesting today's case.

711
00:59:22.440 --> 00:59:25.039
If you have any case suggestions,
please go to my website and click on

712
00:59:25.079 --> 00:59:32.440
the listeners suggestion tab or email SFTC
Research at gmail dot com. You'll get

713
00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:36.280
lost in a sea of emails if
you send it to my main address,

714
00:59:36.639 --> 00:59:39.000
so this is the best way for
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715
00:59:39.320 --> 00:59:45.239
Y'all always send me. Please remember
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716
00:59:45.239 --> 00:59:49.760
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717
00:59:49.840 --> 00:59:53.199
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718
00:59:53.360 --> 00:59:58.960
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719
00:59:59.000 --> 01:00:02.400
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720
01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:07.440
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721
01:00:07.519 --> 01:00:10.639
Southern fried but all kinds, but
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722
01:00:10.639 --> 01:00:14.920
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723
01:00:14.960 --> 01:00:17.000
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724
01:00:17.079 --> 01:00:21.440
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725
01:00:21.519 --> 01:00:23.840
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727
01:00:29.719 --> 01:00:34.760
and now Amazon, Audible and YouTube. Until next time, thanks so much

728
01:00:34.800 --> 01:00:36.800
for listening, y'all. Take care,