Keyon Pittman Sure Did Leave a Mess
(“Textbook Murder,” Forensic Files)
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Carla Hughes’ charmed life hit a pothole one day and, a few years later, it took an unthinkable turn into a bloodbath.
Just a few years before she killed romantic rival Avis Banks, Carla was winning beauty pageants and hitting the kind of educational milestones parents like to write about in their Xeroxed holiday letters.
Innocence doubted. It was an affair with a promiscuous educator named Keyon Pittman — who lived with Avis Banks and was expecting a child with her — that spurred Carla to do what she did.
Keyon never faced any charges related to the murder, but many found it suspicious that he and Carla spoke on the phone just before and just after Avis died in the garage of the house she and Keyon shared in a suburb of Jackson, Mississippi.
For this week, I looked around to find out how Keyon Pittman has fared in the court of public opinion. I also searched for more background on Carla Hughes and the downfall of her storybook life.
Humble beginnings. But, because Avis Banks is the innocent victim in this tragedy, let’s start the recap of “Textbook Murder” with her story:
Avis Banks was the middle of three daughters born to Frederick Banks, a city street sweeper, and Debra Banks, who babysat part-time. The family lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The first in her family to enter college, she studied early childhood development and graduated cum laude from Alcorn State University. She snagged a position at a daycare center and began dating Keyon Pittman, who taught math and coached basketball at James G. Chastain Middle School in Jackson.
Young homeowners. Avis clearly came from a strict background. During his Forensic Files appearance, Frederick Banks said that Avis asked for forgiveness upon telling him that she and Keyon Pittman were having a child. But she intended to make things right by marrying Keyon.
The two of them got engaged and bought a house in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
But their future together ended on Nov. 30, 2006, when Keyon, 31, returned home from work to find Avis, 27, in a pool of blood on the garage floor.
Parents’ worst fears. He called 911 and also summoned Avis’ mother and father to come immediately, but wouldn’t say what was wrong.
The Bankses told Dateline Mystery that they thought Avis had lost the baby. But the news was much more grim. They arrived to the sight of police tape. The coroner told them their daughter had died a horrible death.
It looked as though someone had ambushed Avis, who was five months along in her pregnancy, after she stepped out of her car at around 6 p.m.
Staged scene. She had been shot four times with a .38-caliber pistol and stabbed repeatedly in the upper body. The assailant had slashed Avis’ throat. One of the bullet wounds had been fired at close range to the back of her head, police ascertained.
Investigators found shoe impressions where they believed the assailant kicked a door before breaking into the house and creeping into the attached garage.
The intruder had ransacked some rooms, leaving drawers open, but didn’t steal anything.
Resentful survivor. Lab-testing identified some gunshot residue on Keyon’s hands, and he had some bloodstains on his clothing. Police later concluded the forensic evidence came from his handling the body, not firing a gun.
But there were other indicators that didn’t look so good for Keyon. The video footage of him talking to his lawyer shortly after he discovered the slaughtered mother of his unborn child revealed a man utterly without grief or anguish. His only noticeable emotion was disgruntlement because police considered him a suspect.
Investigators found out that Keyon usually entered the house through the front door, but on the night of the murder, he went in through the garage. Maybe he knew he’d find a body there.
Not exactly Michelangelo’s David. There was also the question of why he ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911, when he had a cell phone with him. He also reportedly called Carla Hughes before summoning help for Avis.
And Keyon — who reporter Kathryn Kight described as “not a looker” but with “lots of confidence” — was clearly a serial cheater and liar.
Staff members at Chastain Middle School said that, in addition to the affair with Carla Hughes, he’d been getting close to the mother of one of the basketball players he coached. That woman denied a relationship, and she had a solid alibi anyway.
Pretty blatant. But so did Keyon. He was at school when the murder happened, and numerous witnesses could vouch for his whereabouts.
Police had a better suspect in cheerleading coach Carla Hughes, who had been enjoying a not-so-discreet relationship with Keyon. Colleagues saw them carrying on out in the open.
Carla was a former beauty pageant winner and mother of a 3-year-old boy. At first, she told police that she had no dog in the race, that she and Keyon were just friends — but she lacked a convincing alibi.
Lethal loan. Phone records showed that Carla was near Avis and Keyon’s house around the time of the murder.
Soon enough, Carla Hughes reversed herself and admitted to the affair with Keyon but denied having anything to do with Avis Banks’ murder.
The big break in the case came when Patrick Nash, one of Carla Hughes’ cousins, told police that Carla had borrowed his folding hunting knife and Rossi .38-caliber gun, which was loaded with five bullets, on Nov. 26, 2006.
The ammo was gone when she returned the firearm to him on Dec. 1, 2006. She said she had gone target shooting.
Wrong feet forward. Although Carla would later deny it, Nash said that she was crying when she brought back the gun.
Investigators matched the bullets recovered from the victim’s body to Nash’s gun.
Police discovered that the footprints from the crime scene matched a pair of size 10 TredSafes found in Carla Hughes’ closet, and they had Avis Banks’ blood on them.
Carla Hughes was indicted on charges of capital murder.
Too many children. Still, those who knew Carla Hughes weren’t willing to connect the dots — she was too nice.
So, who was this woman and what made her stake her happiness on a long shot like Keyon Pittman?
Carla Hughes was born June 12, 1981, to a mother who already had more kids than she could support, according to Dateline Mystery.
Overachieving girl. Fortunately, her relatives Lynda and Carl Hughes, who were both schoolteachers, adopted her as an infant. She would be their only child.
Carla excelled at horseback riding as well as her regular schoolwork, according to information from Murderpedia, and she grew into a tall, pretty young woman with even features and high cheekbones. Friends described her as bubbly and fun-loving.
She belonged to student council and Key Club and was a majorette, a cheerleader, and a page in the Mississippi State Senate.
Things go askew. Carla Hughes’ beauty pageant wins included Washington County Junior Miss and Miss Greenville Teen.
She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and went on to earn a master’s degree in education at Belhaven College.
During her upward trajectory, she met the man of her dreams and got engaged, but he suddenly panicked the day before their scheduled wedding in 2004.
Suddenly alone. He left her single and two months pregnant. That was the first sign her fairy tale was not to be.
She gave birth to a son, and eventually took a job as a language arts teacher at Chastain Middle School, where she met Keyon Pittman.
As the internet meme says, “If you don’t like the end of your story, write yourself a new beginning.” In Keyon Pittman, Carla Hughes saw a fresh chance at Camelot.
Optimistic — or delusional. There’s no way of knowing what Keyon Pittman really told her about his intentions, but he would later testify that Carla Hughes knew that she was merely a secret side dish and he had made it clear to her that he intended to marry Avis Banks, according to court papers.
But Carla, 25, insisted upon referring to him as her “future husband,” he said.
Investigators believed Carla Hughes wanted to eliminate and basically replace Avis Banks. Carla longed for a home with a husband and probably imagined Keyon would adopt her son and help her replicate the life her baby’s father should have given her.
Claims no role. Prosecutors contended that Carla broke into Keyon and Avis’ house and ransacked drawers to make it look like a burglary. She lay in wait for Avis in the attached garage and shot her, stabbed her, and slashed her throat. Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but Avis Banks’ pants had been pulled down, perhaps in an effort to make the crime look like a burglary that turned into a rape-murder, according to Dateline Mystery.
When questioned by detectives, Carla didn’t implicate Keyon.
At the trial, however, Carla’s defense team pointed out that Keyon sometimes borrowed her shoes — their feet were the same size.
On the witness stand, Keyon denied having anything to do with the murder. (Although investigators strongly suspected otherwise, they never had enough evidence to charge him.)
Wages of sin. Carla Hughes sobbed in the courtroom when the jury returned with a guilty verdict after deliberating for eight hours. Although eligible for the death penalty, she received life without parole for capital murder, on Oct. 14, 2009.
The victim’s mother, Debra Banks, later told Snapped that she felt a huge burden lifted from her upon hearing the verdict.
Carla Hughes went off to prison.
She lost a 2012 appeal based on the defense’s claim that the judge hadn’t made it adequately clear to jury members that Carla’s refusal to testify in her own defense was not an indicator of guilt.
Lots of blame to go around? Carla’s mother, Lynda Hughes, maintained that Keyon Pittman wanted to get rid of Avis Banks — and that he framed Carla for the murder. She set up a GoGetFunding page to finance a new investigation, the Clarion Ledger reported in 2016.
Carla’s supporters also lay blame on forensic pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne, a witness for the prosecution. They noted that he was doing 1,500 autopsies a year — bagging more than $1 million annually, according to the Innocence Project — and that some evidence from Hayne in other cases didn’t hold up in court. The state of Mississippi had voided some convictions from trials where Hayne testified for the prosecution.
And the pro-Carla Hughes Justice4Carla blog said that her own lawyer was at fault, too. His specialty was tobacco litigation — not defending clients against murder charges.
Fit behind razor wire. Right or wrong, the Justice4Carla website seems to have some integrity — dissenting opinions are allowed in its comments section. For example:
“She killed my cousin over a guy that didn’t want her the way she wanted him. I hope you raise millions because you will need it for representation that will allow a jury to ignore facts.” Shannon Royal
Today, Carla Hughes is serving her life sentence in the Central Mississippi Correctional Institution. At a trim 140 pounds, the 5-foot-7-inch Carla has apparently resisted the siren song of heavy prison food.
Her son is being raised by his maternal grandparents.
Bounced right back. So where is Keyon Pittman — the cause of so much heartache?
According to a number of media accounts, he got married and moved out of Mississippi.
“And look at Keyon Pittman now,” the No Single Mama Drama website notes. “He’s cuddled up with his new wife, while [Carla’s] off to prison, where she can’t be a mother to her son for the rest of her life.”
There’s no telling whether Keyon is making his wife’s existence into a fairy tale, but it’s sure to have a better ending than what Avis Banks and Carla Hughes got.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
