[Faith] Keiona Braxton is a young woman
in the prime of her life.
- Keiona was well-loved by everybody.
- She was just starting to do her own thing,
on her own terms.
[Faith] She falls in love,
looking forward to a bright future ahead.
- She kept saying,
"I'm talking to this cute boy on my job."
- He had his baby,
and she was filling that role as stepmom.
That was their little family.
[Faith] But when Keiona is found brutally murdered.
- She was stabbed.
She was struck in the head.
She was shot.
- It's a crime of passion or some sort of
deep hatred for the person.
[Faith] Investigators uncover a terrorizing past
with a history of violence.
- Keiona had to get 22 stitches.
- Keiona gets up off the couch and say,
"What are you doing in my house?"
- That scared her, that kind of woke her up.
[Faith] That leads her down the path
to a killer relationship.
- Everybody is going to tell you a lie.
[dramatic music]
- You know the old saying about relationships,
two's company, three's a crowd.
Well, I've seen plenty of love triangles
play out in family court,
and I can tell you this,
it never ends well.
Twenty-six-year-old Keiona Braxton
certainly never imagined she'd be in a love triangle,
especially after she believes
she found the man of her dreams.
But here's the bottom line,
when one plus one equals three,
at least one person always gets hurt in the equation.
[dramatic music]
[siren wailing]
[piano music]
[Joyce] I raised four kids in Richmond.
Keiona was my baby,
and she was very spoiled,
and she was well-loved by everybody.
- I was born on March of '81
and she was born in July of '82.
But sometimes it seemed like she was the older sister
and I was the younger sister.
She was the boss.
[Joyce] They all were very close.
They stick together.
I had four bedrooms, but you wouldn't believe it or not,
they all slept in one bedroom.
[Temeal] She was a girly girl.
Keiona liked nails and getting her hair done.
She liked doing hair, she liked getting dressed up.
[upbeat music]
- Keiona became popular in middle and high school.
That's when she grew up
and into a little teenager.
- She always got good grades, we all did.
That was one of the things that my mom expected from us.
[dramatic music]
Keiona was figuring out what she want to do.
That's the type of person that she was, a planner.
She was very responsible.
- When she graduated high school,
she was just starting to do her own thing on her,
you know, on her own terms.
She had different odd jobs.
She stayed for years for a cleaning company.
And she was about to become a manager.
She would come in early, did anything they needed done.
They loved Keiona at the job.
[Faith] And Keiona found love on the job.
In December, 2004 when she's 22,
Keiona meets a man and quickly realizes
that he may be the one.
[Paulette] She kept saying,
"I'm talking to this cute boy on my job."
His name Kenny.
Kenny was a driver for this cleaning company.
Kenny was a little older than her.
[Joyce] She brought him over the house
to introduce him to the family.
He was a real nice guy.
She really wanted to be with him
and that was the one for her.
- He surprised her and took her to The Bahamas.
[Caribbean music]
Kenny was good to Keiona.
If she wanted something, he would do his best to do it.
She was happy.
[Caribbean music]
Kenny is Keiona's love of her life.
The love of her life.
[Faith] But Kenny comes with baggage,
the good kind,
and it only makes Keiona love him more.
[Paulette] When Kenny and Keiona started talking,
Kenny had just got out of a relationship
with his high school sweetheart, Kayla Armstrong.
They had a daughter, Michaela together.
Kenny is a great father.
Michaela was a cute little girl.
She's a little chocolate little baby.
She's very friendly,
and Keiona loved Michaela.
[Temeal] And then they started living together
and he had his baby,
and she was filling that role as stepmom.
That was their little family.
[Paulette] Michaela was about three years old.
Keiona made sure when Michaela comes over,
she'll have her own space,
her room, her TV, toys,
to make Michaela feel comfortable.
[Temeal] Keiona loved Michaela.
I heard her mention that Michaela called her mom before.
[gentle music]
- Keiona found out she was pregnant
around Thanksgiving, 2008.
She was so happy, she couldn't hold it in.
Keiona wanted to have a baby,
but she say first Kenny say he didn't want it.
Kenny wasn't too happy about having a baby.
- He was upset that she was pregnant.
He didn't want any more kids at the time.
He really wasn't excited about the baby.
[Joyce] But Keiona said he went on and accepted it.
They good.
She was pregnant.
They was going to get married.
I was happy for them.
- Whether it's an additional strain on finances,
the added responsibility,
or simply the sheer lack of sleep,
adding a newborn baby to the mix
puts a mountain of pressure on any couple,
but particularly when one of them isn't ready.
At least outwardly, Kenny seems to come to terms
with how drastically his life will change.
But then, just a month after the pregnancy announcement,
it's Keiona's life that takes a terrible turn.
[ominous music]
- December 31st, 2008,
at 6:40 in the morning New Year's Eve,
my police cell phone rings.
There's a death in an apartment complex
about a mile and a half
north of the border of Richmond, Virginia.
Neighbors awoke because of the smell of smoke.
So, I thought it was smoke inhalation issue
or something like that.
It was becoming light when I arrived.
At that point, the fire was extinguished.
[dramatic music]
- Earlier when the fire department first arrived,
they noticed smoke coming outta the upstairs window
of the apartment.
Only in that apartment.
They don't get a response at the door.
So, they break the door in.
- When they made entry into the apartment,
immediately saw the blood.
[ominous music]
And then, at the same time,
there was apparently a African-American female
found inside in the back of the apartment
near the patio door.
[Kevin] The fire department pulled the victim
out of the house...
realized she wasn't breathing,
performed CPR
and other attempts to save her.
- She was stabbed.
She was shot.
She was struck in the head.
She had defensive wounds.
Obviously a fight occurred.
- It appeared that her death was consist
more with a homicide.
- It was clear that the fire was set
to try to cover up the murder.
I had spoke to the young ladies who lived next door.
They informed me who the deceased was,
Keiona Braxton.
So now, I'm looking for a brutal killer.
Somebody who planned it,
and then, made sure that she was dead.
[dramatic music]
[Kevin] The fact that almost all the stab wounds
are in the abdomen,
that's probably not a coincidence.
- I just always felt something weird about him,
like he was hiding from something.
- He broke up with her,
but when he was done, she wasn't done.
[Charles] There was a fight 18 months prior.
Keiona had to get 22 stitches.
It's hard to understand, to wrap your mind around
going through that type of assault.
- A tragic way to end the year here in Henrico County, today.
You can see investigators still on scene
as firefighters found the remains of a young woman
inside this two-story townhouse style apartment
early this morning.
- The young woman is identified
as 26-year-old Keiona Braxton.
Even without an official ruling from the coroner,
it's obvious to first responders
that her death was not caused by the fire.
Keiona is the victim of a brutal homicide.
While fire crews sift through the ashes,
Keiona's mother receives a call that ultimately turns
into her worst nightmare.
- I was at home.
I got a phone call from Kenny.
- And he said a neighbor called,
said that they had a fire at their house
and he was up north for his job.
- Kenny was like,
"Could you all go check on Keiona?"
I start calling her and she's not answering the phone.
- He acted like he was worried.
I said, "Do you think she in there?"
He said, "Yeah."
And then I rushed over there.
And I saw ambulance came
from where her apartment at
with no sirens on.
It went past and my heart just dropped.
I know my daughter in there.
- They took Joyce
and asked her to come into the police car.
- That's when they told me,
and I just ain't going to say no more.
I jumped out the car,
and I told all the family and everybody,
you know, just hugging and crying and all
'cause we couldn't believe it.
- She told me she was pregnant about a month before
she was killed.
It's horrible, hurtful.
It hurts you to your soul.
[Faith] As the reality of the loss
of Keiona and her unborn baby
slowly sinks in for her family,
the investigators quickly began scrutinizing a crime scene
compromised by ash and smoke.
[Charles] One of the things we would be looking for
is signs of a burglary, a breaking and entering,
but in this case,
because the fire department
broke the door down to gain entry,
we don't know how the person got into the house.
[Kevin] There was blood all over the house.
Blood was transferred along the walls and floors.
To commit murders of this intensity
with that many stab wounds,
and then, an additional shot from a firearm,
it's a crime of passion
or some sort of deep hatred for the person.
[ominous music]
[Charles] The fire originated from
an upstairs bedroom
where a collection of presents were on the bed.
Downstairs, the burners from the gas stove,
they were actually on.
The knobs to the gas are taken off.
And there were actually aerosol cans within the oven.
The only reason I can think of
why somebody would place aerosol cans
into an oven that's on
is to cause an explosion.
So, this isn't a run-of-the-mill homicide.
Somebody wanted to make sure that
Keiona was dead.
[Andrew] Recovered from the home were hairs,
fibers,
photographs,
clothing was seized,
and they were able to locate one .380 caliber shell casing.
- But there was no .380 handgun found
at the scene.
- What investigators do find at the scene
is plenty of expensive jewelry and electronics.
It's a telltale sign.
The killer didn't come for Keiona's things.
The killer came for Keiona.
[Andrew] We wanted to speak to the neighbors
to see if they saw anything or heard anything.
It is strange, but they didn't hear a full-blown fight.
They did not hear gunshots.
They did not hear screaming.
[Faith] With no eye witnesses to the crime,
detectives turned their attention to the first suspect
in any murder investigation,
the significant other.
In this case, it's Keiona's boyfriend, Kenny Lee.
- The primary person of interest initially
was the live-in boyfriend, Kenny.
Where is he?
Where was he at the time?
[Charles] When I spoke to him,
he was on his way back on 95,
leaving the Philadelphia area.
He already knew that Keiona had passed away.
Kenny Lee, sort of in a frantic state.
He did agree that he would come to our office
to speak with us when he gets back to town.
He was probably at least three-and-a-half hours away.
All we had was Kenny's word
that he was not there that morning.
[Faith] But is that word the truth?
After they finish at the crime scene,
investigators head over to the Braxton home.
As difficult as it is when the family is grieving,
it's the people who know the victim best
who often provide the most helpful information.
[Temeal] The police officers, they came to the house
and talked to my mom.
I think my mom was trying to keep it together
for the family,
but I know that was really hard for her, she was hurting.
- Things weren't clicking too well for me.
I was just thinking about my daughter
and my grandbaby.
[Temeal] But my sister was dead
and her baby.
I really wanna know why?
How can you be so cruel,
so evil?
[Charles] Speaking to the family,
I could feel the hurt in their voices
and the room was packed with family members
and friends of Keiona Braxton.
That says to me that Keiona is a good person,
Keiona was loved.
[ominous music]
So, you know, wanting justice for Keiona,
I would name all the people
that she could have had problems with.
Could be old boyfriends of the deceased,
could be old girlfriends of Kenny Lee.
[Joyce] Kenny's ex-girlfriend Kayla,
she was jealous of my daughter.
I'm quite sure she did that to my daughter.
[Charles] They said that we needed to look
at Kayla Armstrong.
One of the questions they asked was,
you know, "Have you spoke to Kenny Lee?"
- Nobody wants to believe
that somebody's gonna kill somebody in a relationship
that is going on,
but the family had strong feelings against him.
[Paulette] Definitely Kenny had something to do with it.
Maybe him and Kayla is in cahoots with this.
That was the first thing on our mind.
[dramatic music]
- Just hours after Keiona Braxton is found
murdered in her burning apartment,
investigators in Henrico County, Virginia
are speaking to those closest to her.
The question is,
did this loving girlfriend,
daughter and friend have any enemies?
And what about her fiance, Kenny Lee,
who claims he wasn't in town at the time of her death.
Keiona's family isn't so sure.
[Temeal] Keiona and Kenny, they loved each other,
but, I just always felt something weird about him
like he was hiding from something.
Now, he got a baby on the way.
Maybe he felt like that was his way out.
He would not have another child to be responsible for,
I don't know.
[suspenseful music]
- Keiona was three months pregnant.
That added to really having to look at Kenny.
[dramatic music]
- Here's a shocking statistic,
the number one cause of death in pregnant women
is homicide.
And not surprisingly,
the killer is usually the father,
but there's something else.
[Charles] There was a shell casing found at the scene.
Kenny Lee owned a handgun,
but there was no handgun found at the scene.
It all just adds to the story
of what we're looking into.
[Faith] A few hours after investigators
meet with Keiona's family,
Kenny Lee finally shows up
at the Henrico County Police Department.
[Charles] We discussed where he was?
He was a delivery driver for a cleaning service.
The region that he worked in
went all the way up to New Jersey.
He had left on the 30th.
- If we could confirm that
what Kenny said he was doing
was actually where he was,
and there was no way that he had the opportunity
to kill her,
but at this point, I just don't know that.
[Charles] Kenny explain to us
about his relationship with Keiona.
It sounded to me like they got along just fine.
He did tell us that Keiona was pregnant,
but there were no tears.
He sort of was
more in disbelief
that Keiona was dead.
When we spoke to Kenny, he had questions,
about what happened,
how it happened, and everything,
which is something we look for.
If somebody is a suspect
and they aren't asking us questions about what happened,
they start going up the, uh, the suspect list
because clearly they might know.
And we asked Kenny if he had a handgun
and he explained that he did have a .380
and he kept it in his bedroom
where he and Keiona slept.
The shell casing was a .380 also, so, it matched.
That was a really big circumstantial
piece of evidence.
[Faith] Still,
Kenny insists he doesn't know where the weapon is,
and he's adamant he didn't kill Keiona.
[Charles] Towards the end of our interview,
we asked Kenny who he thought had issues with Keiona
that they may want to kill Keiona.
He said the mother of his daughter, Kayla Armstrong.
[suspenseful music]
Kenny had told us about a fight that occurred
a few days prior to this murder at the apartment
between Kayla and Keiona.
[dramatic music]
And he explained that he basically had to break them up.
It was a real fight between the two
because Kayla was jealous
of Kenny and Keiona's relationship.
[dramatic music]
So, at this point, we needed to corroborate Kenny's story,
but also, we needed to find out more about Kayla Armstrong.
[Faith] But before they can find out more
about either person of interest,
Keiona's autopsy results come in
painting a horrific picture of the last moments of her life.
- Twelve blows to the head.
Forty-three stab wounds to the abdomen...
that struck Keiona and her fetus.
Then gunshot to the abdomen.
It's hard to understand, to wrap your mind around
going through that type of assault.
[shot blast]
[Kevin] The cause of death in this case
was the gunshot wound to the torso,
and, of course, the 40-plus stab wounds.
[dramatic music]
Keiona Braxton was three months pregnant with a child.
The fact that almost all the stab wounds are in the abdomen
and she was shot in the abdomen,
in my view,
that's probably not a coincidence.
- Is Keiona's murder connected to her pregnancy?
Who would stand to gain from her loss?
And having just learned about an altercation
between Keiona and Kayla, Kenny's ex-girlfriend,
detectives have to wonder,
was Keiona caught up in a love triangle
she couldn't escape?
[Charles] I spoke to one of Keiona's cousins, Paulette,
and she explained to us that there's been a feud
between Kayla and Keiona for some time now.
- When Kenny and Keiona started talking,
Kenny had just got out of a relationship
with Kayla Armstrong.
He broke up with her,
but when he was done, she wasn't done.
Kayla just wouldn't take no for an answer.
[dramatic music]
Somehow, Kayla gets Keiona's phone number.
[eerie music]
Starts texting her dumb stuff,
you know, Kenny still wants her,
anything.
Then tires start get the slash.
[dramatic music]
The family will say, "Keiona, this girl is crazy."
- Keiona was really good with Michaela.
Kayla was jealous of that.
And Kayla was obsessed with Kenny.
She just was nonstop.
[dramatic music]
It's not fair that
people just can't move on
and
not be jealous or angry or upset
because things doesn't work out for them.
Why is it so easy for people to be evil?
[Joyce] I know Kayla did it.
I know who did it when I got the phone call,
she was obsessed with Kenny
and she wasn't gonna let him just have nobody else.
[dramatic music]
[Faith] And detectives soon learned
that this wouldn't be the first time Kayla attacked Keiona,
which is not surprising
since behavior like this
doesn't usually just fizzle out on its own,
it escalates.
[Charles] So, we did identify
that there was a fight 18 months prior
where Keiona had to get 22 stitches.
- On May 7th, 2006,
Kayla Armstrong was arrested and charged with felony assault
for stabbing Keiona Braxton in the head,
and she served four months.
- When Kayla stabbed Keiona, that scared her,
that kind of woke her up.
I believe him and Keiona did fight a lot
about the way Kayla was doing things, but she loved Kenny,
and, you know, they was working on their relationship.
- When you can't interfere in no one's relationship,
they're gonna tell you what they want you to know.
[Charles] Kayla just continued to go after Keiona.
In early November, 2007,
Keiona made another police report
this time regarding threatening phone calls
where Kayla alluded to adding more stitches in her head.
[Temeal] My sister would go to court for restraining order
and she would tell the judge,
"This girl is trying to kill me.
Kayla is trying to kill me.
She is going to kill me."
[ominous music]
[F
of Keiona Braxton,
detectives have uncovered a volatile relationship
between Keiona and her fiance's ex-girlfriend,
Kayla Armstrong.
I've seen it before,
when it comes to exes,
things can get heated,
especially when children are involved,
and especially when boundaries aren't clearly defined.
So, were there boundaries?
Where does Kenny fit into all of this?
- I think Kenny could have went to the police with Keiona
and filed those reports.
Kenny could have been a witness.
Both of them could have did a lot of things
except ignoring it.
- We all know ignoring a problem rarely makes it go away,
and Kayla once again went on the attack.
[dramatic music]
- Three days before New Year's Eve,
Kayla's mom knocked on Keiona's door
to pick up the baby.
Kayla is supposed to sit in the car.
Kayla was not allowed to come to Keiona's house
because of the fight where Kayla stabbed her.
But Kayla busts in the door.
Keiona gets up off the couch and say,
"What are you doing in my house?"
And they get into a fight.
She had a knot on her head.
- On December 27th,
three days before my sister was murdered.
I believe that's when Kayla found out
that Keiona was pregnant.
I think that's what pushed Kayla over the edge.
- At this point,
Keiona goes and takes out a protective order
against Kayla Armstrong.
[Charles] Because there was that altercation
the Saturday before the murder,
we can use that information from Kenny Lee,
who was a witness,
to get warrants on Kayla Armstrong.
If she is stopped for whatever reason,
they will detain her.
And then we notified all of the Richmond metropolitan area
law enforcement agencies be on the lookout.
[Andrew] We were out checking addresses.
We were not able to find her.
- While we were trying to get in contact with Kayla,
we were checking Kenny's alibi.
We were able to corroborate Kenny's story
and with his employer
of him being assigned the specific route.
We also did receive the hotel receipts that he used.
So, all of that corroborate his story.
[Faith] Kenny's alibi is checking out,
but can they trust him?
Does he know more than he's letting on?
- Is it possible Kenny and Kayla
conspired to kill Keiona
because Kenny didn't want to have another child?
So, we requested his cell phone records.
- Let's look at the texts,
did he have something to do with this case?
[Faith] While investigators wait for the phone records,
they also try to tighten the net around Kenny's ex, Kayla.
[dramatic music]
- And we worked
trying to locate Kayla Armstrong
through the weekend.
[Andrew] We had gotten a tip that she was hiding
at a storage facility
in the residence of the full-time manager
that lived on site.
- Officer shows up,
Kayla is hiding underneath the desk.
[Andrew] They arrested her,
and Kayla was brought to the police station
in Henrico County where she waived her rights
and we interviewed her.
[Charles] She explained to us that
she still has a relationship with Kenny,
that she is the mother of Kenny's daughter,
Michaela.
Their relationship is based upon Michaela.
She explained that she and Keiona got in a fight,
but it was mutual combat.
- And then when we talked about the homicide,
she said she, she wasn't involved.
- The weirdest thing about the interview
was that as we started talking about the murder,
she started
not burping, but belching,
over and over.
- She came up with the idea of
making sure Kenny wouldn't testify.
Kayla actually asked if Kenny was home that night.
- Kayla is so slick.
It seems like she's always one step ahead,
but not really.
[mysterious music]
- Six days after the murder of Keiona Braxton,
detectives finally get their chance
to speak to the one person
with a history of violence against Keiona,
Kayla Armstrong.
The investigators hope she'll crack, instead,
she burps.
- My partner, who's a little more
blunt than I am,
he said, "What's wrong with you?"
- I believe that the more people talk,
the more that they'll say something,
but she didn't give us anything that we could use.
- After the interview was completed,
Kayla was taken over to Henrico County jail
and served with her misdemeanor warrants
on the protective order
for the assault days before the murder.
[Charles] We subpoenaed her phone records also.
Phone records can tell you a awful lot
about who the person is.
[Faith] As police continue investigating Kayla and Kenny,
on January 8th, nine days after she was murdered,
Keiona Braxton is laid to rest.
- The day we buried my sister
was the hardest day of my life.
[Joyce] It was just so much,
my daughter gone.
I know the little baby was in her stomach...
that just took, took my heart away.
[somber music]
- That was pretty bad.
- Kenny came to the funeral.
He didn't say too much to us.
- He was like way in the back with his head down.
[Faith] Keiona's family still harbors concerns
that Kenny might be involved with Keiona's death,
but a new development shows that it's just not possible.
[Charles] We received the cell records
from Kenny's phone
and he was utilizing cell towers in the Philadelphia area
at the time of the homicide.
So, everything lined up.
Kenny was telling us the truth.
If Kenny and Kayla still were sexually involved,
I don't have any proof whatsoever that they were.
Without the gun, we couldn't say it was Kenny's gun
'cause we never found the gun.
[Andrew] But he was not a viable suspect
for this murder.
[Faith] With Kenny removed from the suspect list,
investigators are now fully focused on building a solid case
against Kayla Armstrong.
- There was no DNA that matched Kayla's.
There was no DNA that matched anyone at the scene
other than Keiona and Kenny because they both lived there.
- I would've thought that
a personal up close homicide
where you're stabbing somebody,
you would cut yourself and leave some of your blood,
you would step in some blood and leave a footprint,
you would think there was DNA and there was none.
[Charles] However,
there was something else.
Kayla Armstrong made multiple calls
the evening before the murder
to Kenny and Keiona Braxton's next door neighbors.
Kayla actually asked if Kenny was home...
[mysterious music]
that night.
Those are all things that
add into the circumstantial evidence bucket.
[Faith] But investigators hit a snag in June of 2009,
six months after Keiona was murdered.
[Charles] During this whole time
while she was in jail for the assault
that happened on the 27th,
I sat in court for the trial,
the judge who listened to the case
couldn't ascertain who was the aggressor.
So, the charges
were dismissed.
It was a blow to the investigation.
So, once she got out,
it, it was just tougher to deal with a lot of the witnesses
or a lot of the people that we were talking to.
- The investigation went from months to years.
[Joyce] As time went on, I've been angry,
I've been hurting,
and I just always just keep my daughter on my mind.
I got a big picture on my wall.
Every time I look at it, I'll tell her I love her.
[Temeal] It was so wrong.
Everybody knew that Kayla did this
and the family is devastated.
[Joyce] I just trust in God and believe in God
and God just brought me through it.
- Faith is a powerful thing.
And Joyce had faith
that she would get justice for her daughter, Keiona.
That along with the investigator's
neverending pursuit of justice
finally pays off.
[suspenseful music]
- It took three years for the prosecutors
to feel comfortable with prosecuting the case.
And I think a lot of that occurred
because the family also said,
"Hey, we know Kayla did this."
[dramatic music]
Our Commonwealth attorney had changed.
We had a new prosecutor.
We get the indictments for the murder
and then we try to find her.
[suspenseful music]
To this day, I have no idea how Kayla knew
that indictments were coming.
She basically fled.
[Paulette] Kayla is so slick,
it seems like she's always one step ahead,
but not really.
[dramatic music]
- On October 19th, 2011, almost three years
after the savage murder of 26-year-old Keiona Braxton,
detectives bring homicide charges against Kayla Armstrong.
But with Kayla on the lamb,
Henrico County calls the US Marshal's fugitive task force
for assistance.
Three months into the search,
there's still no sign of Kayla
until they get a tip.
- On January 20th of 2012,
the task force conducted an extensive surveillance
on a residence that we believe Kayla to be hiding out in.
I gathered up the team.
We hit the house, surrounded it.
I was greeted at the door by a male.
He then gave consent to search the residence.
Coming down the stairs was a closed closet.
I had someone else open the door
and I'm coming in like this.
I put my arm, threw some clothes hanging up,
immediately grabbed an arm.
This woman most likely stabbed someone to death
and used a gun that hasn't been recovered,
so, just pulling her out of the closet,
we don't know what she's gonna pop out in.
Fortunately, she wasn't armed.
- We felt relieved,
but she did not want to talk this time.
[Paulette] When Kayla was caught, we were happy,
but it wasn't over.
[Charles] So, the defense attorney gets a list
of the witnesses that the prosecutors plan to call,
and Kenny was one of our main witnesses.
The one person who she's always obsessed after
now was going to actually testify against her
for murdering his girlfriend
and his unborn child.
So, she came up with the idea of
making sure Kenny wouldn't testify.
[Andrew] She struck up a conversation
with somebody that was in jail with her,
and Kayla advised this person
that she wanted to find somebody to kill Kenny.
The happened to be an informant
for the Henrico County Police.
- Which became enough for prosecutors
to charge her with the attempted murder of a witness.
- Kayla Armstrong stood before a judge today,
and she waived her right to a speedy trial.
[Charles] This was a frustrating case.
There really was no smoking gun.
So, I think the prosecutors said
probably the best that we can get
with the evidence that we have,
which is a plea agreement.
[Andrew] She pled to an Alford plea.
What she's saying is that the court has enough evidence
to prove that she did it,
but she's not gonna say that she did it.
[Charles] Kayla was sentenced to 10 years
for the voluntary manslaughter of Keiona Braxton
and 20 years for the murder for hire plot,
so, altogether she received 30 years.
Ten years isn't even close
to a fair sentence
for killing Keiona Braxton.
[gentle music]
- Even with Kayla behind bars,
the verdict is a bitter pill to swallow
for all those who loved Keiona
and were excited to welcome her unborn child
into this world, including Kenny.
[Paulette] I've talked to Kenny recently.
He said how much he loved Keiona saying,
you know, "I'm just so sorry."
Kenny is raising Michaela
and he has a wonderful life going on.
Keiona loved Michaela,
and Michaela is thriving.
[Temeal] Keiona was
everything.
When she was taken away,
this world lost a good one.
- I feel she's still with me.
She know I ain't forgot about her,
and I never will.
I'll meet her someday.
[somber music]
- They say, not only do you date the person you are with,
but also everyone they've ever dated.
And Kayla Armstrong's refusal to let go of Kenny Lee
resulted in the death of Keiona Braxton,
a vibrant, beloved young woman and her unborn baby.
It's a tragic reminder that sometimes
the killer relationship
is the one that ended a long time ago.