On the evening of November 29, 2006, 27-year-old Avis Banks, a daycare worker, returned to her home in Ridgeland, Mississippi, expecting a quiet evening. She was five months pregnant with a baby boy and looking forward to her upcoming wedding to her fiancé, Keyon Pittman. However, shortly after pulling into her garage, her life was violently cut short. Her fiancé, Pittman, discovered her body later that evening, lying in a pool of blood.
She had been shot multiple times and stabbed in what appeared to be a brutal and personal attack.
The ensuing investigation into the murder of the female victim and her unborn child quickly uncovered a tangled web of secrets and betrayal. Suspicion initially fell on Keyon Pittman, who admitted to police that he was having an affair with a fellow teacher at Chastain Middle School, Carla Hughes. While Pittman had an alibi for the time of the murder, investigators soon turned their attention to Hughes. Cell phone records placed Hughes in the vicinity of Banks' home around the time the murder was believed to have occurred. The investigation further tightened around Hughes when her own cousin came forward, telling police that he had loaned her his. 38 caliber revolver and a hunting knife just before the murder.
Carla Hughes was arrested and initially charged with being an accessory to murder, but the charges were quickly upgraded to two counts of capital murder for the deaths of Avis Banks and her unborn child. The prosecution's case, when her trial began in October 2009, was built on the theory that Hughes was obsessed with Keyon Pittman and killed Banks in a desperate attempt to have him all to herself. Pittman himself testified against Hughes, detailing their affair and her increasingly obsessive behavior. Evidence presented at trial included the murder weapon, which was matched to the bullets found at the scene, and testimony about the shoes Hughes allegedly wore to kick in the back door of Banks' home.
After deliberating for eight hours, the jury found Carla Hughes guilty on both counts of capital murder. While she was eligible for the death penalty, the jury ultimately sentenced her to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole. Hughes has continued to maintain her innocence from behind bars.
