A Texas man was convicted of shooting his pregnant ex-girlfriend in her bed on April 14, 2017, thereby also killing the woman’s unborn child.
Keith Haynes, 33, received an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole for capital murder, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said on Monday.
Prosecutors said that he “set up” the victim, Kenishia Walker, 25, by asking her to leave the door unlocked for him.
“This was Easter weekend,” assistant district attorney Allenna Bangs told the jury. “It is about Spring and new life. Kenishia had a new baby coming. And the Friday before Easter, just like the first Easter, Kenishia was betrayed. She had no idea when Mr. Haynes called, asking her to leave the door unlocked for him, that she was being set up.”
Keith Haynes, who was an employee for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, shot and killed his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Kenishia Walker, when she was in her bed, (Mug shot: Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office)
Walker’s 8-year-old son found her body.
“He was such a coward, killing her and his unborn baby,” Bangs said. “Kenishia is important. The unborn baby’s life was important. And they both mattered.”
Haynes, a civilian employee serving as a “courtesy patrol” officer for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, wanted to restart his and Walker’s relationship, but Walker wanted to leave it at co-parenting because he had lied to her in the past, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Dallas Morning News. He was reportedly said to be in relationship with another woman, who was also pregnant with his child.
At the time, police reportedly said that Haynes claimed he went to the victim’s home on April 12, 2017, to talk about daycare issues, then he returned to his home in the city of Plano.
He agreed to let them look through his phone, but they discovered that he deleted his texts with Walker.
According to prosecutors on Monday, Walker feared her ex would kill her. She went as far as to send screenshots of their text conversations, giving it to a friend.
“If I ever come up dead please show the police this and other screenshots,” she said.
“The case is not a mystery,” assistant district attorney Sarah Sherman said. “All the evidence has pointed to one person.”
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