lives and family and friends who lost people because of this monster who was sitting there, but at least he was finally put away. up next, a home invasion turns to murder. >> just extreme overkill. crime of passion, crime of rage. >> to much violence and no one with a clear motive. >> as best law enforcement established, she had no enemy. >> that is until police discovered a romance gone horribly wrong. >> you believe it will be a lover or someone who wanted her out of the way so they could be a new lover. >> i don't know if a triangle can go good, but this one went really bad. ♪

>> life couldn't have been better for avis banks, she graduated from college, found a job she loved in a daycare center and met the man she planned to marry. but an unexpected pregnancy changed some of her plans. >> when i learned ava was pregnant, i wasn't thrilled. i know avis asked for forgiveness, that she was going to make it right by marrying him. >> her fiance was keyon pittman, a middle school teacher and basketball coach. >> mr. pittman was excited about the family that they were beginning, they had already picked the name out for the child. >> avis and keyon bought a house together in the suburb of jackson, mississippi. but tragedy struck just a few months before the baby was due to be born. when keyon came home from work and found avis lying on the garage floor in a pool of blood,

police were called to the scene. >> law enforcement immediately orders him away from the body. they want to make sure that he is not possibly the perpetrator in the case. >> keyon called us and asked my wife, need to get over here. and we turned the corner, and saw the emergency vehicle. and all of these police cars. but when i saw that yellow tape i knew what that yellow tape meant. so i knew then you know that avis was gone. >> avis and her unborn child were pronounced dead at the scene. >> it was obvious that she had been shot in the head, in the chest, and possibly in the stomach. we are weren't totally sure as to how many shots she had received a that time. it also appeared she had been cut with some type of object. >> it appeared that the killer waited inside the house until avis came home from work and then attacked when she stepped

out of her car. the point of entry was the back door where police found two high-quality shoe impressions. >> the prints on the glass door were fairly good prints, good clarity. there were two dimensional impressions in dirt on the glass door. >> analysts estimated the prints were made from a man's size 8 1/2 shoe. it appeared the killer tried to kick the glass in. when that didn't work the killer kicked through the door jamb. >> we were surprised that the glass didn't shatter. the dead bolt was still engaged. so we know the door was locked when entry was made. >> several rooms in the house had been ransacked. immediately suspicious police performed a gunshot residue test on keyon's hands. >> we did discover particles of gunshot residue on mr. pittman, mr. pittman very well may have

fired the fatal shots that killed avis banks. >> and keyon appeared to be unconcerned. >> he was laughing. i had to remind him that he had a fiancee and a baby that were dead. and he said at that point, oh, yeah. >> when keyon called his lawyer, his anger was clearly evident. anger not towards the killer. but the police. >> i don't like this at all. the [ bleep ] think i had something to do with it. i came home. i knew something was up. >> keyon had no criminal record. but he wore size eight and a half shoes. consistent with the shoes the killer was wearing when he tried to kick in the back door. and that wasn't all. >> there was blood on the button down shirt that he had on as

well as blood on the pants. >> dna tests showed the blood had come from avis. >> maybe he didn't want to settle down and be a father and be a husband. maybe he was trying to get rid of her.

police in jackson, mississippi, were determined to find avis banks' killer, she had been ambushed while getting out of her car returning home from work. avis was five months' pregnant. >> we do take it kind of personal. and we were also tasked with fighting for that 5 month-old child who didn't have a chance to live in the world. >> she was my perfect child. i love all of my kids but they were not like avis. they were not like avis. >> the autopsy showed avis banks had been shot four times with a .38 caliber pistol. she had also been stabbed numerous times. >> there were defacing injuries, whoever was doing this was wanting to injury her physically. and injury her appearance. and then with the last and final slash to the throat just extreme overkill.

>> at first, investigators thought the motive was robbery but that theory was discarded when police realized that despite the killer taking time to open drawers, nothing had been stolen. >> to us, the scene itself appeared to be staged. we didn't find anything of value that was missing from the house. >> when police interviewed avis' fiance, keyon pittman, they found blood on his shirt. dna tests showed that the blood was avis'. and the neighbor told an interesting tale. that keyon always parked his car at the front of the house and entered through the front door. but the night of the murder was different. >> this particular day he raised the garage door, we believe he knew that avis was laying in the garage. >> and the background check revealed keyon was a player.

>> he had a lot of girls had he was playing at the time. >> one of the women was 30-year-old brenda martin, the mother of one of the boys on the basketball team keyon coached. >> ms. martin and mr. pittman were in the early stages of a relationship. that was in the form of flirting, telephone calls, text messages, things of that nature. >> brenda martin had no desire the talk to police. >> brenda didn't want to have anything to do with this whole situation because she was married. she was married with children. >> brenda denied any involvement in avis' murder and she had an alibi for the time of the crime. >> we didn't find anything with her that would put her at the scene. phone records or anything. >> brenda wasn't keyon's only love interest. another was carla hughes, the 25-year-old cheerleader coach who worked at the same school

with keyon. apparently they had been less than discreet with their relationship. >> they had been seen kissing several times in the restaurant. so i knew her to be at least more than a friend. >> carla hughes was the one that he was the most involved with. that i guess he had the most serious relationship and that he was seeing basically on a daily basis. >> carla hughes was a former beauty pageant contestant and a single mother of a 3-year-old son. when questioned by police, she adamantly denied the affair. >> he's not a boyfriend. he's just a friend. none of this was sexual with him. no, no, nothing. >> i can understand why carla hughes was lying initially. she didn't want to be in the midst of someone had just been murdered. >> people may have saw us being affectionate towards each other.

but at the most they may have just saw a little kissing. but as far as it like being a full out blown romantic love affair, that is not what it was. it really wasn't. >> carla denied any involvement in avis banks' murder. and was an unlikely suspect but she didn't have an alibi for the time of the murder. investigators believe the murder took place shortly after avis returned home from work. >> avis banks left the daycare about 5:15 and went straight home. she got home about 5:45. no evidence shows that she stopped anywhere in between. and the murder occurred somewhere between 5:45 and 6:00 that night. >> witnesses said keyon was at school running basketball practice at that time. and his cell phone records confirmed he was at the school between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.

>> we had the witness statements. but this again was independent verification through a separate source that he was in fact at basketball practice. and he was miles away from the crime scene at the time we believe the crime occurred. >> but carla's cell phone records showed something else. >> those records show that a little after 5:30 and then again at roughly 6:05, that ms. hughes was in that area. that she was in the area at the same time that the murder occurred. >> and who was she calling? keyon pittman. [ man ] look how beautiful it is. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80%

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>> police had two suspects in the murder of avis banks, her fiance, keyon pittman had an alibi for the time of the murder but blood on his shirt and gunpowder residue on his hands raised concerns. >> we believe that the gunshot residue that was discovered on mr. pittman's hands was not placed there because he fired a weapon. we believe that that was transferred from him handling the body of avis banks. >> just as the blood on his shirt. >> it was determined that based

on those visual examinations that the blood stains on him was from a touch transfer versus him actually being there and having evidence spattered on him at the time of the crime. >> if he committed the murder there probably would have been some blowback or splatter on his clothing. the lab did not find any. we had to realize that keyon was not around. keyon probably didn't do this and now we had to start looking at his other lover, that being carla hughes. >> although carla initially denied having a relationship with keyon, during her second interview with police she changed her story. >> she did confess that she had lied to me and that they were sleeping together. >> six days into the investigation police got a call from one of carla's cousins. >> he tells investigators that he has in his possession a firearm that they believe was used in the death of avis banks.

>> this cousin, patrick nash said carla asked to borrow his gun, a .38 caliber revolver for protection. >> she tells patrick that there has been recent break-ins there at her house, that she is concerned for her safety. >> patrick said that three days before the murder, he gave carla his gun loaded with five bullets. he also gave her a hunting knife. three days after the murder she returned the gun but not the knife. and the chamber of the gun was empty. >> patrick asked carla, hey, what happened to the bullets in it? she told him hey, i went target practicing. >> the experts gave the bullets to the experts and test fired so that they could compare it to the bullets recovered from avis' body. >> the projectile did match from the test firings which told me

that the weapon was the weapon that killed avis banks. >> but this did not necessarily put the gun in carla's hand. so investigators looked again at the shoe impressions from the crime scene. they assumed the impression was made by a man's shoe which would have been a size 8. but it also could have been a woman's shoe, a size 10. with the warrant, investigators searched carla's apartment. >> we went through the master bedroom closet. and carla had probably upwards of 100 pairs of shoes in the closet. that was a needle in the hay stack that we really weren't sure was going to be out there. >> one pair appeared to be promising. >> i was relatively certain looking at the photographs that they were made by these same shoes. >> but visually, investigators saw no traces of blood on the shoe which was disappointing.

>> we then decide to submit those shoes to a second laboratory. the examiner places the shoes under the microscope. >> this time, they found several microscopic stains that appeared to be blood. and this time, dna testing confirmed what investigators already suspected. >> those shoes do in fact contain dna and were late to match the dna of avis banks. it puts her there in the presence of ms. banks at the time of her death. >> the only thing police needed to figure out was whether keyon pittman was involved. q.

>> carla hughes had never broken the law and had no violence in her past. no one thought she was capable of murder. >> she led bible studies. she led exercise classes. she was a leader. and she is also a very pretty lady somebody who you woul never suspect to do something wrong. >> but three years before the murder of avis banks carla suffered a devastating emotional blow. she was two month's pregnant and

about to be married to the baby's father. the day before the wedding he called it off. >> carla hughes was a door mat for men, her cousin did tell me that whenever she fall for a guy, she fall hard and most guys just take advantage of her. >> investigators believed carla saw keyon pittman as the answer to her problems. >> carla wanted to be where avis was, she wanted to be the one who was getting married, who the man truly loved her and they were going to have a family together. but that wasn't the case. >> prosecutors believe carla hughes wanted to eliminate the only person standing between her and keyon. avis banks. so she borrowed her cousin's gun and knife. and went to the home avis and keyon shared. she attempted to break into avis' home late in the afternoon

by kicking in the glass on the back door leaving remarkably clear shoe impressions. when this didn't work she kicked in the door jamb. once inside she pulled out drawers to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. then, waited for avis to return from work. cell phone records show carla placed her first call to keyon before the murder, most likely as she was staging the scene. no one knows what was discussed during that call. when carla heard the garage door open and avis' car pull in she sprung into action. carla fired three shots. the fourth shot from close range. close enough to spatter the tiny speck of blood found on her shoe. carla then used the hunting

knife to stab avis repeatedly and cut her throat. after the murder, carla got rid of the knife and her bloody clothes. and placed a second call to keyon shortly after 6:00 p.m., again, no one knows what was discussed. >> just leaving practice, i can't really talk. >> what shocked me the most, this woman has a child. how could a mother do that to another woman, and knew she was expecting? >> as for keyon pittman, he claims he played no part in planning or instigating the murder, and carla never implicated him in the crime. some speculate he learned about the murders after they happened, but, before he found avis' body. >> we felt like there was probably some conversation that night prior to keyon going home that led keyon to know that

something had happened and that carla probably told him we can't be together. we can be now, i've taken care of what was in our way. that is what threw up the red flag for keyon. >> did you kill her? >> no, sir. >> did you kill your unborn child? >> no, sir. >> do you know who did? >> no, sir. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, carla hughes, guilty of capital murder. >> carla hughes was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> it is a love triangle gone bad. i don't know if a love triangle can go good but this one went really bad. >> carla hughes probably would have been a suspect anyway just based off of the relationship she had with keyon, i don't know if we would have been able to tie her to the crime if we didn't have the gun. >> we built our case on the ballistics. we built our case on the shoe print impressions. we built our case on the dna

evidence. so really without that all we would have had would have been a motive. and there would have been nothing that we could have charged and ever got a conviction on in this case. >> up next, a teenage girl goes missing. >> this child had walked into the darkness and disappeared. >> was tara munsey the victim of foul play or did she run off to be with a friend? >> it was horrible. people just didn't know what to make of it. >> for weeks, there were many questions but no answers. >> just not right. you know, it's just too weird. >> until police find evidence of an encounter gone wrong. >> she would have put up a tremendous fight. >> this is good science, this is absolute good stuff.