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The middle child of three daughters, Avis Banks was engaged to be married to her live-in partner. She was five months pregnant when she was found shot and stabbed multiple times with her throat slashed in the garage of her Ridgeland, Mississippi home in November 2006. The scene of her murder seemed staged and it looked like she was likely attacked in the garage after she returned home from work.
Authorities initially suspected Banks' fiancé Keyon Pittman, who was a teacher and basketball coach at a local school. However, when they discovered that he was having an affair with a colleague Carla Hughes, they suspected her. Carla was eventually linked to the murder after a gun and a knife that she had borrowed from a cousin matched the ones used to commit the crime. She was convicted of two counts of capital murder.
American Monster on ID revisits Avis Banks' murder in an episode titled With Honors. The synopsis of the episode slated to release on Friday, May 19, 2023, at 7 pm ET, states:
"Book smart Avis Banks always puts her career ahead of her love life, until she meets handsome teacher Keyon Pittman. But just when she's on the brink of having it all, a dirty secret tears them apart in the most brutal way possible."
A pregnant Avis Banks died due to multiple gunshots, stab wounds, and a slit throat
Avis Banks, who worked at a daycare center in 2006, was engaged to be married to Keyon Pittman, her live-in partner. Banks was five months pregnant when she was killed and just months away from getting married to her fiancé. Meanwhile, Pittman was a teacher and basketball coach at the local Chastain Middle School.
On the night of November 29, 2006, Pittman returned home to find his fiancé dead in the garage of their Ridgeland, Mississippi home.
According to The Cinemaholic, 27-year-old Banks was shot multiple times - once in the head, twice in the chest, and once in the leg. She was also stabbed at least thrice and her throat was slit open.
The inside of the house seemed to have been ransacked and authorities believed this was an attempt to stage the crime scene to mislead them. They concluded she was ambushed in the garage after returning from work.
As mentioned earlier, detectives initially suspected her fiancé of the murder. While he claimed to have been at basketball practice at school, they still treated him as a potential suspect. While questioning his colleagues, they encountered Carla Hughes for the first time. The 25-year-old was a language arts teacher who claimed to have been good friends with Pittman.
However, upon further investigation, authorities discovered that Pittman and Huges had been having an affair since August of that year. Admitting to the relationship, Hughes said that they would use students to pass notes in school. She had also reportedly referred to Pittman as her "future husband" on multiple occasions.
Carla Hughes was linked to Avis Banks' murder through the murder weapon, cellphone records, and a shoe print at the scene
Initially, there was no evidence to link Carla Hughes to the murder until her cousin went to the authorities with some information. He told them that Hughes had borrowed his gun, a .38 revolver, and knife for alleged safety purposes shortly before Avis Banks' murder. Ballistics confirmed that the same gun was used to shoot the victim.
Detectives believed Hughes murdered the mother-to-be sometime between 5:50 and 6 pm on the evening of November 29. Cellphone records placed her close to the crime scene although she claimed she was at home at the time. Additionally, a shoeprint found at the victim's house was consistent with found at the suspect's house, and the shoes in question even had Banks' blood on them.
During Carla Hughes' 2009 trial, Banks' fiance Keyon Pittman testified that he was never serious about his relationship with the accused. He claimed that it was a "s*xual, caught up in the moment" kind of a thing for him and that there was never "a long-term plan with Carla." He also stated that she would introduce him as his future husband and had previously stalked him and Banks.
Hughes was found guilty of two counts of capital murder in Avis Banks and her unborn child's murders. She was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
ID's American Monster will further delve into the case this Friday at 7 pm ET.
