True Crime with Kimbyr - Pregnant “Bride-To-Be” Gunned Down In Her Own Garage

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Imagine you're living your dream life—five months pregnant, engaged to the love of your life, and thriving in your career. Then, everything shatters in an instant. In this gripping episode, Kimbyrleigha delves into the tragic story of Avis Banks, a young woman with a bright future, whose life was violently cut short. As the investigation unfolds, dark secrets emerge, revealing a tangled web of betrayal, jealousy, and a shocking murder. Join Kimbyrleigha as she explores the heartbreaking case that left a family devastated and a community searching for answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine you're five months pregnant. You're two months away from marrying the love of your life. You just got a new home. You're working at your dream job. And you're driving home from work when everything you know and love is taken away from you. And your life is cut short, revealing deep, dark secrets. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. I'm Kimberly Leia.

And if you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. Today I get to tell you about the most kind-hearted, gentleness. hardworking woman that I've had the pleasure to learn about. Avis Marie Banks. She was born on August 18, 1979, to Frederick and Deborah Banks. Fred and Deborah grew up in western Mississippi. They bought a home together in Vicksburg, which is a smaller city along the east bank of the Mississippi River, with a population of about 25,000 people.

Vicksburg was a great place for Fred and Deborah to start a family. It was close to their relatives. It had a cute historic vibe, a great school district, and a supportive church. community. And it's only about an hour drive away from Jackson, the state capital. Living in Vicksburg, Mississippi is a unique experience. It's full of southern charm, history, and culture. The streets are lined with towering oak trees and antebellum mansions. Vicksburg is a place where the past and the present collide and where residents take pride in their heritage. On any given day, you can find Vicksburg residents enjoying a stroll through the Vicksburg National Military Park,

visiting the old courthouse museum or catching a show at the Vicksburg Theatre Guild. Living in Vicksburg is also about savoring the simple things in life. It's about sitting on your porch swing on a warm summer night, listening to the crickets chirp and the river roll by. It's about enjoying a delicious home-cooked meal with family and with friends, and it's about taking the time to appreciate the beauty of the world around you.

The banks had a cute little coin home with a porch out front perfect for a rocking chair to sit on during those southern afternoons and evenings. Deborah and Fred both came from families who valued hard work and supported each other unconditionally. Fred was working as a street sweeper, helping the city of Vicksburg be clean and safe to live. Deborah was a full-time mom, and she was also a go-to babysitter for all their neighbors and relatives. They both worked very hard to provide for their family. Fred would provide for all their needs, and the money that Deborah brought in would be saved for special vacations or activities. They welcomed their first daughter,

Latanya Banks in September of 1975. Then when Deborah got pregnant with Avis, about four years later, Latanya was so excited to have a sister. Avis was born in 1979, and she was a quiet, happy baby, just a cutie pie. And later in August, 1985, Avis and Latania welcomed another sister,

Friedrina Banks. And then the sisterhood was complete. This is a gorgeous family. And growing up, the bank sisters did everything together. They shared clothes, they brought boys, over, they laughed together, and they sometimes fought, but they had fun. Avis and Virginia were particularly close. They were best friends. They would talk about their future, how they both wanted kids around the same age, that would one day play together. And Avis was

very protective of her younger sister. Avis's mother said she loved all her children, but Avis was different. She was a perfect child. And there was something about her, something that was different from the beginning. And I was wondering, do you think the parents have favorites, I've always heard that they do, but I only have one child, so I don't know if that's possible, but I've heard it is. So let me know in the comments what you think. Avis valued education, and there was a time when she brought home a report card that was all A's and one B, and she was crying. And Fredrina was concerned because she got B's and she wondered, was that bad? But Avis just had high standards for herself. When she and Virginia would play school, Avis was always

the teacher, and she would love to read to her little sister and teach her everything and anything she could. She also put others before herself all the time, especially her little sister. She would let her win at games they'd play because she wanted to boost her confidence, and she always made sure Virginia was taken care of. The same went for Avis's friends. If they were ever in need, she would be the first to step up and offer something of her own to help them out, even if it was to her detriment. Every Sunday, the family attended Locust Grove Missionary Baptist Church, where the sisters learned to put their faith first. Fred raised his daughters to be smart and conscientious. When the When Latanya went to high school and started hanging out with boys, Fred totally went into

protective dad mode. He made sure all the boys had only the best intentions for his daughters. They knew how he expected a man to treat them, and Fred would be there to make sure they were treating them well. As Avis got older, she had a really close relationship with her dad. Fred called her his little hero. And by the time she attended Warren Central High School, Avis was a huge bookworm and dedicated to her studies. While other kids at high school were starting to experiment with alcohol and other substances,

Avis loved nothing more than staying home and hanging out with her mom, dad, and sisters while she read a book. She always had a book with her. If the family was watching TV, Avis still had a book out reading while taking a peek at the TV every now and then. It's like she always wanted to feel productive. She also loves spending time with her extended family and taking care of younger kids, especially babies. When Avis graduated from high school in 1997, she knew exactly what she was. wanted to do with her life, work with kids and have kids of her own one day. It was around the same time that her older sister, Latanya, moved out of the family home. This gave Avis and Friedrina

a chance to become even closer, but they still spend time with Latania and as a matter of fact, she would come get her younger sisters and they'd spend the weekends at her place, going shopping, out to eat, and having fun girl time. That summer in June, Fred and Deborah saved enough money to take Friedrina and Avis on a trip to Disney World. They drove 7,000, 130 miles. And while Deborah started the trip driving, Fred was right there in the passenger seat documenting everything on his camcorder. Avis was shy. She didn't like being the center of attention or being on camera. So as Fred turned to face the girls in the back seat, 17-year-old Avis covered herself up and 12-year-old Fredrina, well, she was just asleep without a care

in the world as they made that 11-hour drive. And when they got to the park, again, Fred whipped out the camcorder and recorded the girls as they rode roller coasters, as they were screaming and laughing and having the time of their lives together. Ava's preferred to take any photos that they had and make scrapbooks for everyone. She wanted to be able to look back on all of these special moments. She would spend hours creatively putting them together. And you can tell how much the Banks family loves one another. Fred cares so deeply about his wife and his girls.

He had tears in his eyes when his eldest got married. He walked Latanya down the aisle and as she began to cry, he patted her gently, showing that he was there by her side. And Avis and Friano looked beautiful. They were just cherishing this special moment with their sister and family. Their hair was done perfectly. Their makeup was on point. Everything was perfect.

So it's hard to imagine that tragedy would strike before Fred's second daughter would ever walk down the aisle. Ferdina said this was her favorite picture of her and Avis together at La Tanya's wedding. They were so happy. But she recalls that neither of them had any plans of their own to get into a serious relationship. And not yet. Avis really wanted to get her education first.

She wore a beautiful gold dress since she was the maid of honor, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. When they say that someone could light up a room, I'm aware that it's very cliche. We hear them in so many true crime videos, but I'm always going to remember seeing Avis in this dress when someone says a person lit up a room

because this is what they mean. There's just a presence about her. You would know she was there, even if she wasn't trying to be to be noticed. The big smile, the high cheap bones, and her gentle, sweet nature, it made her stand out. After high school, Avis enrolled in Heinz Community College in Vicksburg, and when she graduated in May of 1999, guess who made sure he charged the camcorder to capture the memorable moment? Yes, Fred. There he was, documenting the entire day from the minute they stepped foot out of the house

until Avis walked across that stage. Ferdrina remembers him being more excited about Avis graduating than she was. He was so proud. of her. It reminds me so much of my own dad, and I'm sure many of you can relate. There's someone in your family that probably does this, or maybe you do it with your kids. But Avis Marie Banks received her diploma graduating Kamalade. She had told her family to please not clap for her, but they couldn't hold back. And later Deborah told her daughter, of course she was going to holler. She was going to let it be known that that that was her daughter walking across that stage. It just goes to show you how much pride and joy Avis's family had for her. After this, she enrolled at Alcorn State

University in Jackson, Mississippi, not too far from her parents, but far enough away that she could be more independent. She was majoring in child development. And over the next few years, she got to experience the exciting and life-changing chapter that colleges. In Jackson, there were more people to meet, places to shop, and things to do. But still, Avis was more introverted, so she didn't go out that much. But that meant she could put more time and energy into her classes. She ended up graduating with honors in 2001. She received her bachelor's degree in childhood development, and she was the first person in her family to graduate from a university with a bachelor's degree.

Her mom, dad, and sisters were so proud of her. Avis decided after graduating that she had a couple important goals for her life. First, she wanted to open her own daycare. She absolutely adored children and was really passionate about making daycare affordable for parents in need. She spent her early 20s talking to her father

all the time about her plans and trying to figure out how she could make this dream a reality. She actually wanted to open two days. wanted to open two daycares. One would be owned as a family and the other would be hers. Both would provide low or no-cost child care to underprivile children and families struggling to make ends meet. Many parents faced difficulties finding an affordable daycare that actually offered a quality education to their children. She was determined to Bridges Gap and make her daycare center accessible. I can tell how much Avis respected her family. She wanted to make sure if she became successful,

She could also make sure she took care of her family and they had something to benefit from as well by opening up that second daycare. After all, they helped her achieve her goals as she was growing up. Avis' second goal was to have children of her own and of course she wanted to be swept off her feet. It's true. Avis wanted a husband and a family one day, but she had set her standards high. She wanted someone who was on her level when it came to earning potential and education, someone with the same values, who was dedicated to success, She knew all that would come in time, but at the moment, she decided to get a job as an assistant director for a local daycare. This would give her the experience she needed to go out on her own in the future. And she had plans to obtain her master's degree while putting her other goals into motion. Avis had moved back to Vicksburg and continued to spend a lot of time with her younger sister while working at the daycare.

She would excitedly talk about all the babies whenever she got a chance. She specialized in children under two. One evening in early 2004, Avis, who was 24 at the time and Fredrina, were at the local gym together, something that they did on a regular basis. But this time, while they were working out, this very charismatic young man approached Avis. He had these piercing eyes, short cut hair, well-groomed, and a nice smile. And most of all, he had this air of confidence about him. He asked Avis if she would mind speaking with him for a moment. And Fredrina jokingly thinking, yes, we mind because she was very protective. over Avis and she never thought anyone was good enough for her perfect sister.

But Avis did decide to step away and give this gentleman a chance to speak with her. He introduced himself as Kiann Pittman and said he also lived in Vicksburg. They started talking and Avis thought, you know what? I kind of like this guy. They had a lot of things in common. Kian had also gone to Alcorn State University, but he was 29, four years older than Avis, so they had not run into each other in college. but they were both living comfortably in Vicksburg and loved it there.

Kian also loved kids. He was actually teaching in a public school in Tallulah, Louisiana, which is about a 30-minute drive from Vicksburg. And he was really passionate about fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. All of this appealed to Avis. So she exchanged numbers with him. And then when she got back to her sister after chatting for about 10 minutes, Ferdina, of course, wanted to know how it went and what he had to say.

Avis said, oh, not much. We just talked, but she could tell that Avis was excited. And it was true. After meeting Keon, she couldn't stop talking about him. The connection between them was strong. She would share stories with her family about their conversations and their interests. Eventually, Avis agreed to go on a date with Keon. And then another and another.

Avis was smitten. It was clear to everyone around her that she had fallen in love. And Keon, he was a charmer. He's been described as not quite the looker, The very charismatic. However, when it came to why Keon fell for Avis, it was kind of obvious for those on the outside. She was beautiful. Of course, there's more to her, but I mean, at first glance, her skin, it's glowing. She has a cutest little nose and she has these super expressive eyes. Just by looking at her, you could tell she also had a kind soul. She wore her hair straight a lot, but when she would let her natural curls out, she was absolutely stunning. Everyone considered Avis to be this gentle, sweet sunflower.

She had this very positive, bright energy to her, and she was willing to give to other people all the time. Everyone who loved her just hoped that she would find someone who loved her just as much. When friend and Deborah met Keon, they really liked him. He was college educated, he had a good job, he took care of himself, great manners, and valued everything Avis valued. I think this is a great time to tell you a little more about Keon's life.

He'd grown up in Picayune, Mississippi, a town close to New Orleans, and he visited his family on a regular basis. Kian graduated from Alcorn State with three degrees, including biology, PE, and health sciences. He planned to go to medical school. But after he started looking into it, he realized this was going to be pretty rough for his mental health, so we embarked on a teaching career.

He was still interested in natural medicine, and he enjoyed basketball. Fred had a high opinion of Kian. He called him a great provider and the son he never had. And Avis adored him. Fred and DeVille. Deborah knew how much Keon meant Avis, and they were so excited to see their daughter happy. It was a match made in heaven.

And after a year, they were still going just as strong. Then Avis and Keon revealed they were moving in together. And for Fred and Deborah, this was exciting, but a little bittersweet. Keon had gotten a job offer in Jackson, Mississippi, which was about a 50-minute drive. This job paid a lot better than his current one. So Kean was going to be working as a sixth grade science teacher at Justain Middle School, and he would also be the boys basketball coach over the winter, which paid a little extra. Avis decided it would be the best for her life journey to move in with him and scope out job opportunities.

Together, they bought a brand new home in Ridgeland. This is a suburb in Jackson with a population of about 20,000 people. They moved into the house at the tail end of 2005 when Avis was 26 and Keon was 30. The house was an acute, safe neighborhood called the Blackthorne Subdivision at the far end of Lincolnshire Boulevard, sat 708 Old Square Court. It was a three-bedroom house with a garage and a quiet neighborhood without many trees, but a nice big yard. It's located on a cul-de-sac. The housing in this area was affordable and the neighborhood consisted of new couples who were starting to raise their families. It was also the perfect distance for Keon to drive to work. He preferred to commute and it was only about a 25-minute drive from the middle school. To help bring in even more

income, Kian got a part-time bartending job on his off-time. This was at a Mexican restaurant called On the Border Mexican Cantina, which wasn't far from the middle school, only about eight minutes. So for a few days after school each week, he would pick up shifts for some extra cash and it can't be the tips you get when you're bartending or you're a server. That summer, Avis was excited to come to Chastay Middle School to help Keon prepare his classroom for the incoming sixth graders. He introduced one of his colleagues to Avis, and she recalls how beautiful she was, just this gorgeous lady and remembered how Keon's eyes just lit up when he introduced them. He let it be known right away that Avis was his girlfriend and you could tell how happy

they were together. While all of this was going on and they were settling in, Avis was still holding on to her dream of owning her own daycare. Her dad had even driven up from Vicksburg a couple of times to help her look at rental spaces where she could open up her own company. She was really serious about starting her own business, but life was getting busy. After the move in 2005, Avis landed a 9 to 5 job at Bright Horizons daycare. This was a company that provided daytime childcare to Blue Cross Blue Shield employees. She worked Monday through Friday and had the weekends free. She specifically worked with babies and children under two.

According to Avis's boss, she was a wonderful employee. She was quiet, always on time. She got along with everyone. She valued teamwork and she was an absolute natural when it came to taking care of kids. Avis' boss was not the only one who had glowing reviews. In March of 2006, Avis and Keon got new neighbor. When Johnny Coleman and his kids moved in next door to them, Avis and Keon stopped by to introduce themselves.

I wish more people did that, but I feel like it's such a thing of the past now. Johnny said they were super welcoming and friendly and they seemed like, quote, a very happy couple, end quote. He said Avis was very soft-spoken and introverted and was pleasant to be around. She spent a lot of time in her house, and her favorite moments were spent having quality time at home with Keon and her family.

And in August 2006, Ava's had some big news. She found out that she was pregnant, and they weren't planning on this happening right away, but they both agreed they definitely wanted kids and were excited to be expecting. Frederina remembers the day she found out that she was going to be an aunt. Ava's called one morning and their mother answered the phone, but Friedrina was close by, and you could hear her mother excitedly asking questions, and she wanted to know what was going on. So Deborah just handed the phone to her youngest daughter, and Avis asked her, are you sitting down?

And that's when she told her sister, she was going to be an auntie. This was going to be for Drina's first niece or nephew. So she was very excited. When Fred and Deborah found out, they were overjoyed. But the truth is, they weren't really that happy about the fact that their daughter was having a child out of wedlock. So they did put a little pressure on Avis and Keon to get married. This was fine with Avis. She was 27 now and down to get married at any time.

Kian was really excited. He told all of his coworkers the big news, and one of them asked him if wedding bells were coming soon. That's when he kind of shyly said, oh, I know where you're going with that question. Yes, we're going to get married soon. And Kian did end up proposing to Avis that fall, and they set their wedding date for a few months later in the new year,

mid-January 2007. That way, you know, maybe she wouldn't be showing as much. should only be about six months pregnant, and everything was falling into place. But life was continuing to get busier for the couple, and they were experiencing the stress of balancing all the parts of their lives. In August, Keon started the new school year at Chastain Middle School. Every day he left for work at 7 a.m., got out of school at 3.30, ran Samarans, went back to school, and then coached the basketball team.

He would finally get home around 7.30 or 8 o'clock. And on the evenings and weekends when he wasn't coaching, he was working his part-time, part-tending job. So on those nights, he would come home. home even later, but he was putting in the work to pay for their wedding and of course their new baby coming soon. Avis was super busy herself. Not only was she excitedly planning a wedding and space for their new baby in their home, but she was still working full time, doing housework, spending time with her parents, and planning to open her own daycare, all while being pregnant, going to all her appointments, experiencing morning sickness, cravings, you name it.

By November of 2006, her baby bump was just starting to show that. through her clothes, but she was exhausted. Excited to be a mom, but exhausted. She did find out the baby's gender. It was a boy, and she and Kian already decided on a name, Keelan. Avis and Kian told their families about the new baby's name over Thanksgiving break. When they traveled to Picayune to visit Keon's family as well as Houston, to spend time at La Tanya's for Thanksgiving dinner with Avis's family.

But at both celebrations, Kian was acting a bit strange. While Avis was hanging out with his mom, Kian was gone for hours from the home. And at Latanya's house, Kian was on his phone all the time. He seemed really absent from the conversations and would go outside to take phone calls, which if you ask me, is a little sketchy. Why can't you just have the phone call in front of everyone else? At dinner, Fred noticed that Avis was feeling some type of way about Kian's behavior. He said, quote, I remember Avis was just sitting across from him,

and he walked by on his phone and Avis kind of looked at him, you know, kind of gave him a little look, end quote. It's hard to know what she was thinking during Thanksgiving break, but obviously Keon had a lot going on. And when the family asked him what was up, he said he was having some family issues and speaking to his mother. Avis's family totally understood. But Keon was always a little bit sketchy. Like you couldn't quite tell if something else was going on or who he was talking to. had a lot of friends. But Fred and Deborah knew that Avis was head over heels for him. She trusted him. But they started to wonder if Keon returned those feelings completely. He was charismatic, but he was definitely flaky. But since they trusted Avis, they trusted her judgment. The last

time Fred and Deborah saw Keon and Avis together was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. They drove up to Ridgeland to spend time with her daughter and help her decorate her house for Christmas. Fred helped Keon put those hanging icicle kind of lights from the roof. They lit up all these light up candy canes right in front of the porch area. And they had a Christmas tree made of a swirling strand of lights in the front yard. Avis invited her family over for Christmas and they were looking forward to go into church and spending the rest of the holidays together. But I want to fast forward to Wednesday, November 29th.

When Avis was getting off work, she got a call from Keon at 512 p.m. He told her he was on his way to basketball practice and he'd see her later. She left the Bright Horizons location on Lakeland Drive at 5.15 p.m. feeling tired after a long day. At 536, she gave Keon another call. She asked about his plans for dinner and he said he'd take care of everything when he got home from basketball practice. Satisfied with his answer, Avis drove the rest of the way to their house. She stopped in front of it to pick up the mail from the mailbox.

This was her usual routine. She would drive up, get out of her car, check the mail, then get back in her car, and drive up to their garage. Then she would open the garage door with the remote in her car, drive inside, and then make sure the garage door was completely shut before she got out. Then she would proceed to the door inside the garage that led into their home. She was pretty street smart, and she always made sure to be safe, acknowledging her surroundings in case something happened. Well, something did happen. something horrible and devastating. Keon's whereabouts over the course of the night are all over the place,

and I'll get into that later, but one thing is certain. When Keon got home around 8.30 that evening, he opened the garage door and found his pregnant fiancé collapsed next to her Honda accord. Abbas was lying right next to the driver's door in a large pool of blood that was trailing down the slope of the garage floor towards the driveway. She was still wearing her work scrubs along with a light jacket and her keys were clenched in her hand, showing that she had been attacked as soon as she got out of her car. Avis's purse and some of the pieces of mail were scattered all around her body.

Kiann ran to Avis. He tried waking her up. He was hugging her. He was shaking her. He was shaking her. He was crying and he even kissed her on the lips. But sadly, she was gone. She had already passed away. Kian noticed that her pants had been pulled down, and his heart just broke. In an absolute flood of emotion, Kiann raced into the house and all around it trying to see if the culprit was still on the scene. There was no one to be found.

The house was a disaster. There were papers everywhere, drawers opened. It was completely ransacked. It looked like Avis and Kian were the victims of a burglary gone wrong. Kiann raced back to his fiance's body, and this is where things get weird. Instead of calling 911 from his cell phone, which he had on him, he frantically ran to the neighbor's house and started banging on their door.

The couple who lived next door had no idea what was happening. All they see is this man running and knocking and yelling at the top of his lungs trying to get into their house. The woman picked up her phone and she dialed 911. On this recording, the neighbor begins to make her noise complaint, saying that there's this man outside, hollering and banging on her door. And she told the operator that he was running from door to door doing the same thing in the neighborhood.

But while on the line, she's looking at the window. And she realizes she recognized him. She tells the operator she thinks it's her neighbor. So she sent her husband out there to go check. That's when she hears her husband yell, call 911. She said, why? What is going on? And her husband yelled, somebody killed his wife.

In a panic. This woman relays to the operator. that their neighbor said someone killed his wife. Kian went back to where Avis was laying, and he remained there until the police showed up. He also called Deborah for a second time that night. The first time had been when Keon was driving home from basketball practice.

He had called Deborah around 8.31 to say Avis wasn't picking up her phone, and he was really worried about her. He wanted to know if Deborah had heard from her in the past few hours. Deborah thought that was very out of character for Keon, because he had never called to say was concerned about Avis before. Maybe she was watching her favorite TV show, or she fell asleep. So when Debra got another call from Keon around 8.45, she picked it up wondering, what was he

going to say now? On the other end of the line, he was screaming, and his words were jumbled. She said, Keon, what is going on? Where's Avis? And he just said that her and Fred needed to get over to Ridgeland now. Something happened to Avis. I can only imagine what was going on in Fred and Deborah's minds when they got that call. They were preparing for bed on a Wednesday night in the middle of a long work week, and they get this call from their future son-in-law saying that it's urgent and to come over now. They fluctuated between panic and confusion, and thoughts were whirling around in their minds. Was Avis hurt? Did she fall? Was the baby okay? Deborah suspected it must be a miscarriage. She knew it was imperative that she'd be there for her daughter to support her

through one of the most heartbreaking things that can ever happen to a woman if that was the case. But it turned out to be much worse. Friedrina heard her mother screaming from the other room as she was in the middle of giving her baby son a bath. She was alarmed so she asked what is going on, and Deborah simply handed Friedrina the phone. And she said, it's Keon. He's saying something's wrong with Avis.

Fedrina gets on the phone, and again, he repeats what he told Deborah, that they needed to get over there now. And Virginia was like, for what? What's going on? But Keon just hung up. Deborah, Fred, Fred, Friedrina, and her baby jumped into the car, and they drove the 55 miles east to the Jackson suburbs. When they pulled up to Old Square Court,

Avis's family was anticipating her house lit up by Christmas lights on the dark, quiet street, and it was lit up with Christmas lights, but also with police lights as well. Virginia just remember seeing a bunch of cops and an ambulance and yellow police tape around Avis's home. There were a bunch of neighbors along the edge of the property who were trying to figure out what was going on.

Deborah walked slowly up to the house. It was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. As soon as Fred saw that crime scene tape, he knew in his gut that something really bad happened to Avis and that nothing would ever be the same. As they joined the crowd around the house, they run into Keon who was just screaming and crying and not making it any sense. And Virginia was like, Keon, you got to get up and you got to tell us what's going on. but he was unable to speak. Finally, it was the coroner that came up to this family. And he said in these words, quote,

your daughter is deceased. She died a horrible death. End quote. Wow. How absolutely devastating are those words. There's no good way to deliver that kind of news. And it is the truth. Fred and Deborah lost their beloved middle daughter

and the grandson that they were so excited. excited to meet. Avis was five months pregnant. Her unborn baby was a victim to this vicious murder as well. And from their vantage point, Avis' mom and dad could see their future son-in-law sitting in a cop car, and they were confused as to why. They figured he was just going to be questioned so they could figure out what happened to Avis, because of course he wouldn't be involved, right?

He couldn't be. He was like a son to the bank's family. But we know that most women are sadly killed by someone close to her. to them and who's closer to Avis than Keon? All they could do was wait. So let's go back to the crime scene. Investigators had arrived at 8.46 p.m. and found Keon hovering over Avis's body with blood all over his hands, pants, and shirt. Head Lieutenant Neal and Detective Frank Dillard of the Ridgeline Police Department immediately took steps to secure this crime scene and figure out what happened. They told Keon he needed to back up, but Keon didn't want to

leave Avis's side. It took a lot of convincing to get him to get him to to wait in that patrol car. Then the paramedics arrived confirming that Avis had passed away as well as her unborn son. Avus had been shot and one of the bullets had missed hitting the bottom left corner of the garage door. There was a hole right through it. But that wasn't all. A knife or a sharp-bladed object had been used to stab her multiple times and she was slashed across her throat. There were For no signs of a struggle, it appeared that everything happened so fast that Avis was in shock when she passed away. It didn't seem like she saw this coming at all.

And what kind of monster could have done this? We know Avis. She spent her time working hard, being with her family, and giving back to others. So who in the world would want to hurt such a lovely person? Lieutenant Neal looked over the crime scene, and first they started looking in the garage for evidence. They found that bullet hole in the garage door. But when they tried to look for shell casings, it turns out there were none.

So either all of these shells had been meticulously and carefully picked up from the floor or a revolver had been used because they don't leave empty cartridges behind. They remain in the cylinder. So next they noticed that the door between the garage and the house was wide open. They did a walkthrough of the home and realized someone had slammed the back door open with such force that the doorknob dented the wall. left an impression. Lieutenant Neil wondered if this was a sign of anger or if the perpetrator was just in a hurry to get into that house. He also found Avis's blood on the wall between

the garage and the house as well as a light switch near the back door. They found several really important pieces of evidence. To get into the house, the perpetrator had walked past the garage door to the back door, which had a glass panel on it. They attempted to force it open by kicking it. Dirty shoe prints were left behind on this glass in the process. They were able to measure the prints. They took pictures of them. They lifted them from the glass. And after analyzing them, they determined that they were a men's size eight shoe. The forensic team also noticed they had a very distinctive pattern of tread. So they made sure to document the prints so carefully, so they could analyze them and try to match them if any other shoes were found in this investigation.

This is where it gets really interesting. The house was a mess. This made sense for burglary and robbery, but there was nothing missing from the house. Expensive jewelry, electronics, and other easily pawnable items were all left behind. Detective Neal said that this house did not look right to veteran officers. Someone had unplugged all the electronic devices and they'd stacked them up, but they didn't steal a single one. Then they'd gone to the main bedroom, opened every other drawer in the dresser, and rummaged through them. He said they even went into the bathroom and did the same thing to the bathroom cabinet. every other drawer. Lieutenant Neal had never seen a robber go through a bathroom like that because

people don't usually keep their valuable items in the bathroom. So what was this perpetrator looking for? How close were they to Avis that they could have known where to look in her bathroom for something? That's when they start to question whether the scene was staged. Lieutenant Neal had taken notice of Avis's scrub pants that they had been pulled down and it was easy to jump to conclusions, but there were no signs of a struggle. Since the robbery seemed staged, he wondered if this could be staged as well. In Neal's 20 years as a detective, he had seen a lot of crimes of passion and failed attempts at covering up evidence. And this seemed like one of those cases where the perpetrator was trying to throw off the investigators. He was also shocked and horrified by Avis's multiple wounds

with two different styles of weapon. It appeared to be overkill and that she sustained what he considered defacing injuries. He decided that this murder was driven by rage or revenge. Someone had hurt Avis with a motive and wanted to make sure she was dead and possibly her unborn baby too. During the initial search, police were not able to find any fingerprints or DNA evidence in that house that wasn't Keons or Avis's. They even brought in a police dog, but no luck. The dog was like, nope, can't smell any strangers here. Naturally, the police wondered if Keon was the one who had who had done this. The same guy who was sitting in their car waiting to be taken back to the station for questioning. He knew the exact time Avus got off work. He knew Avis better than anyone,

and he, more than anyone, had a motive. I mean, if you look at the statistics for the majority of women who are murdered, most of the time it's their boyfriend, husband, or ex. Domestic altercations are a huge issue. Not to mention, Keon was the one who found Avis, but he hadn't even called 911. So what was going on with this guy?