[boy 1 speaking]
[narrator] this is the story of a young girl with big dreams.
I believe keonte could have done
Anything that she wanted to put her mind to.
[boy 2 speaking]
[narrator] and a big family to raise her.
[woman speaking]
[narrator] but, when one night their backs are turned...
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
I know something was wrong.
[narrator] a wolf in sheep's clothing...
The predators, they're not always on the outside of your family.
...Will be ready to strike.
[courtney] did this really happen to us?
To us? This family? Did this really happen?
[theme music playing]
[woman speaking]
[narrator] November 4th, 1995
In newburgh, new york...
[woman speaking]
[narrator] keonte chavis has just turned one.
Keonte's first birthday party was held at grandma mary's house
In newburgh, new york.
[narrator] keonte is a little camera shy
And quickly looks for her adoring father, tone.
[woman speaking]
[tone] my mother was there.
Her thing back then was she would try to video record things
So she could have it as something to look back later on in the years.
[narrator] for tone, every moment with his daughter is precious.
[tone] the early days of keonte being a baby was a marvel.
It was like every day was something different.
Like watching her grow,
Watching her say things, watching her do things.
She was exploring the world
And already, like, trying to understand things quickly.
I was very proud of her.
[woman speaking]
-[all singing] -[crying]
[narrator] as the family sing,
Little keonte warms up to the attention.
Keonte's mom, 17-year-old nikisha grissom holds her.
[tone] in the '90s,
Newburgh was kind of caught up in the crack epidemic,
So it was kind of crazy.
A lot of people had lost jobs, unemployed,
High drug addiction.
But it wasn't a bad city.
It's just... It was going through a crisis.
[siren wailing]
[narrator] but when nikisha and tone met back in 1993,
Young love was enough.
[nikisha] what I liked about tone is I thought he was cute
And I thought he had swag and he had an outgoing personality.
[tone] I seen her out in front of her house and stuff
And, you know, I just thought that she was a nice person,
So I introduced myself and got to know her.
The young couple are surprised with a blessing.
[nikisha] when I found out I was pregnant, I was nervous.
I was scared. I didn't know what my parents were gonna think
Or my grandmother. That's who I lived with.
And I didn't know how she was going to feel about it.
[tone] I was shocked because I didn't know what to expect of that responsibility.
Will I be a good dad? Will I be a bad dad?
[nikisha] when keonte was born, I was still kind of scared.
Being a first mom and being so young,
But I thought it was the greatest experience I've ever had.
[tone speaking]
[tone] becoming a father changed me
Because it made me feel like now I have a purpose.
[narrator] keonte's godmother, faika, cuts the cake.
But family joker uncle darrell
Doesn't think keonte should wait to get a taste.
[woman speaking]
My girlfriend at that time
Nicknamed keonte "booby-yon." so that's what we called her.
[narrator] after the cake and candles,
Tone makes the most of his time playing dad
And goes through a fatherly ritual.
[tone] back then, they used to make these toys so hard to get to,
You had to unscrew a whole bunch of different things
Just to get to the batteries and stuff,
But it just made me feel good as a father.
[babbling happily]
Keonte's great-grandmother mary watches over her.
[woman speaking]
[nikisha] back in the early '90s, I lived with my grandmother growing up.
She's a very passionate person,
A very caring and kind person,
And she loves to help people.
She was the one that everyone goes to
When they have problems or issues.
She was just that go-to person.
[narrator] great-grandmother mary and nikisha's mother gail
Often take care of keonte
While tone works and nikisha's at school.
[tone] grandma mary was like the head of the family,
The enforcer of the family,
The judge of the family,
The person that called the shots.
And you don't question grandma mary.
Whatever she say is the law.
[narrator] the family is all smiles for the camera.
But a sad truth is about to bring a difficult decision.
Kisha and I, we dated,
And things just kind of went its own way,
I guess because I was kind of young and felt invincible,
Like I could have the world.
[narrator] a few years after this video was taken,
Tone and nikisha amicably split.
[nikisha] we no longer was interested in each other.
And, you know, we both went our separate ways.
[narrator] in 1999, nikisha starts college in atlanta.
So great-grandma mary and grandmother gail
Agree to take care of keonte full-time.
[nikisha] it wasn't a difficult decision.
She was so close to my grandmother.
That bond I guess was just like the bond I had with my grandmother,
So I was okay with it.
[siren wailing]
[narrator] but by the mid-2000s,
Newburgh has one of the highest crime rates in america.
Grandmother mary makes the difficult decision
To move keonte to the safety of her hometown,
Phenix city, alabama.
[tone] that was a hard one to swallow,
But a part of me knew that
Maybe that was the best thing, to get her out of here
So she could have a better chance at a better quality of life.
[courtney] moving to alabama is like night and day.
Forests and trees
And one time some deer mating in the front yard.
But... [chuckles softly] night and day.
[narrator] thanksgiving 2006,
12-year-old keonte chavis' family
Have reunited at her grandmother mary's house.
[boy speaking]
[girl speaking]
[narrator] that's grandma mary there with the glasses,
With her son darrell.
-[darrell speaking] -[man speaking]
[narrator] now in phenix city,
Keonte is closer than ever to second cousin courtney.
That's courtney standing there in the red with daughter lexi.
[courtney] she was my cousin technically,
But it just doesn't seem like a good enough term.
She was closer to me than that.
I guess I was like her aunt, you know.
[keonte speaking]
[narrator] out in the yard, keonte, growing taller by the day,
Braves the cold with her cousin, todd, in the striped shirt.
And his brother tyson.
[tone] she loved basketball.
It started from michael jordan's space jam.
And she used to watch that movie over and over and over again.
[girl speaking]
[todd speaking]
[tone] oh, yeah. She could hold her own.
I'm proud because she really knew how to handle the ball.
[narrator] keonte can be a shy kid.
But surrounded by her family and on the basketball court,
Her personality shines through.
[kids clamoring]
You know, she was quiet, but she had a huge presence.
[narrator] keonte puts passion to practice
And joins the team in high school.
She had dreams of going to college for basketball.
[narrator] but the end of the basketball season
Brings a devastating twist of fate.
Keonte sustained an injury while playing basketball.
She fell on her leg and she messed her knee up.
And after that, she just didn't go back to playing.
[narrator] in a split second, keonte's hoop dreams have been shattered.
[nikisha] it was really tough seeing her...
Something she was passionate about and she no longer could do.
She did lose confidence after that.
[narrator] 2007 in atlanta, georgia.
[children speaking]
[narrator] its keonte's cousin aja's preschool graduation.
There's keonte.
And there's mom courtney, ready to take a photo of the big moment.
Aja was graduating pre-k. She was six.
Keonte was there, you know. She showed up for aja.
She seemed to take an interest to help aja when she was little.
[audience cheering]
[boy speaking]
[narrator] straight a student keonte has been a big inspiration for aja.
[tone] keonte was a person who cared about getting good grades.
She was just very motivated and driven
That she was going to get an education and achieve some of her goals.
[narrator] since her knee injury,
Keonte has put basketball behind her
And starts looking for other opportunities.
[nikisha] keonte had many aspirations.
She wanted to be a veterinarian.
She wanted to become a model,
She wanted to become a rapper.
She had a lot of things she were interested in.
[narrator] 2010.
Sixteen-year-old keonte is now a freshman at central high school.
She's grown closer to her cousin,
Christian grissom jr.,
Known to the family as lil chris,
Who's recently been spending more time in alabama.
[keonte] hey!
They were close as kids.
Him and his sisters would stay at grandma mary's house.
They're cousins, but in my family,
Your cousin is like your brother or sister almost.
[nikisha] keonte and christian had a good friendship.
They got along well with each other.
They would joke around with each other.
You heard this?
[narrator] he has a partner and three kids in florida,
But he wants to split his time between them
And his family in alabama.
After all, he's one of grandma mary's favorite grandchildren
And just as keonte has always struggled with shyness,
Lil chris has faced his own self-esteem issues.
He was always chubby.
I don't want to say a little fat kid, but that's what he was.
He used to cry a lot,
But he was really tough too.
Sometimes people cry because of built up emotions and stuff like that too,
That to that they don't know how to properly channel.
[narrator] but keonte and lil chris soon discover a shared interest
That brings them out of their shells.
[clecquot] chris was into hip-hop.
And he's rhyming and stuff and I was like, "wow, man."
He had a name. I don't know where he got the name from.
His name was thirst mega.
[narrator] encouraged by lil chris, keonte challenges her shyness.
[rapping] ♪ yeah, yeah ♪
[narrator] and develops her passion for rap.
♪ once upon a time there was a little chick ♪
[clecquot] keonte's rap name was wondaflo.
Like wonderful, but wonder flow.
♪ the only dis is a little way and you don't even know that you a dj ♪
[narrator] she writes her own music
And records a copy for her uncle, clecquot,
Who also used to rap.
[clecquot] keonte sent me an email
And she was like, "uncle cle, check this out."
And I was like, "whoa, where'd this come from?"
Like...
Because, like I said, she was quiet.
Keonte had surprised all of us
Because I didn't know she could rap.
[narrator] but rap is just a hobby for keonte.
After graduating, she decides to follow her uncle cle's footsteps
And join the air force.
[nikisha] she always said that she was gonna help take care of me and the family
And I guess that's one of the reasons she wanted to go into the military.
[narrator] August 2014.
[keonte laughing]
[narrator] she passes the first air force written test with flying colors.
Mom, I did it. I passed.
[tone] she scored very high on the military test.
At that point in time, I believe keonte could have done anything
That she wanted to put her mind to.
[narrator] and things in her personal life are going well too.
Keonte's boyfriend, tray, I met him a couple of times,
And he seemed to be, you know, a kind person.
[tone] she told me that one day she would love to get married,
And she would love to have plenty of kids.
And then I asked her, "who's gonna take care of all those kids?"
She said, "you and mommy."
[chuckles]
[narrator] August 6th, 6:30 p.M.
[cell phone ringing]
Nikisha gets a phone call from keonte.
Hey, honey, you good?
She was explaining to me she had a job interview the next morning.
Which was at sam's club.
When she talked about her job interview,
She was very excited and looking forward to it.
Oh, that's fantastic.
[narrator] it'll be enough income to support her until she joins the air force.
All right.
[nikisha] I ended the conversation with keonte
Wishing her good luck, letting her know
I will call her the next morning to talk with her,
You know, to get her prepared for the interview.
[narrator] the next morning nikisha calls her mother gail's house,
Where keonte has been staying.
[phone line ringing]
[nikisha] I called the house to check on keonte
And keonte wasn't there.
A lot of things raced through my mind
Because I know she usually would be home that time of morning.
Hey, honey, it's mom.
I called her several times.
I haven't heard from you.
But her phone went to voicemail.
I called sam's club that morning and asked to speak with the manager.
I asked him, did they have an interview scheduled for keonte that morning,
And he said yes,
But she never showed up.
That wasn't like keonte to miss the interview,
Not something she was looking so forward to.
After I heard that news, I became frightened
Because I know something was wrong.
[narrator] 12:00 p.M., August 7.
A 19-year-old keonte chavis' uncharacteristic silence
Is worrying her family.
I was still in atlanta, still trying to figure out what was going on,
Still calling her phone to see why she wasn't answering
And just trying to put things together.
[narrator] the last person to hear anything from keonte is her grandmother, gail.
I don't know.
[nikisha] that night when keonte went missing,
Keonte's car had broken down somewhere in phenix city.
Keonte had called the house to let my mother know that her car had broken down.
[narrator] that day, her cousin lil chris
Had just arrived from florida for a family visit.
[nikisha] my mother, since lil chris was already out,
She had decided to tell him, can he pick keonte up.
[narrator] but neither she nor lil chris have heard from keonte
Since the early hours
After lil chris had dropped her off at her boyfriend tray's house.
Keonte's family head to the local police station to report her missing.
But despite their pleas,
As she's been missing for less than 24 hours,
Phenix city police insist there's little they can do.
[lt. Harold smith] typically, when someone's reported missing,
They have just went off with friends
Or maybe they don't wanna be found at that point.
Probably 99% of the time, missing persons are found.
[narrator] the family are distraught,
But with little choice, they return home.
Nikisha calls keonte's father, tone.
[tone] when I received the first calls from kisha,
Kisha told me that our daughter is not answering the phone
And kisha told me something happened to her.
And at this point, now, it's starting to worry me.
I caught a plane to atlanta. Once we got to alabama,
Some of the grissom family met us at mary grissom's house
And we jumped in different cars.
We circled the block.
We asked people, "did you see this person?"
And was putting out missing person flyers and stuff.
[narrator] after two days with no contact from keonte,
Grandmother gail returns to the police station.
[officer speaking]
[gail speaking]
Her car had broken down,
And her cousin christian was the one
That went to help her.
[gail speaking]
[officer speaking]
[gail speaking]
[indistinct chatter]
[narrator] lil chris had told gail they'd both gone to a small gathering
At keonte's boyfriend tray's house.
Later, they left together from her boyfriend's house.
They went to get something to eat.
And then christian says he dropped keonte
Back at the boyfriend's house at 1:30, 2:00.
And then he goes home.
[narrator] concerned for keonte, gail makes another call.
[gail speaking]
[officer speaking]
[gail speaking]
[officer speaking]
[gail speaking]
[narrator] but only a few hours later,
At 5:29 p.M.,
Russell county sheriff's office
Receives a call from a family
Driving down a remote dirt track in seale, alabama.
The passenger observed what she thought
Was a body laying off on the side of the road
And immediately called 911.
[narrator] investigators from russell county sheriff's office
Rush to a remote dirt track in seale, alabama,
Where a body has been discovered.
Chief investigator lieutenant harold smith is dispatched to the scene.
[camera shutter clicking]
When I arrived at the scene on ridge road,
The crime scene tape was up.
[camera shutter clicking]
We try to get an initial round of photographs
To document the scene,
Working our way up to the body.
I knew immediately when I looked at the body
That that was keonte.
[camera shutter clicking]
We could tell, um,
That she had been there for a little bit of time
And she had some decomposure.
[narrator] forensic officers estimate she died
Sometime between 3:00 to 4:00 a.M.
On the morning of August 7th.
[lt. Smith] she had blunt force trauma to the head
And it appeared that she had been strangled.
We noticed that her pants were kind of turned sideways.
I don't know if that means
That she was sexually assaulted or not.
[narrator] the appearance of keonte's clothing
Leads investigators to initially suspect sexual assault,
But there is no forensic evidence to support the theory.
[max smith] there's just no way of knowing
And I couldn't prove it.
[narrator] by 7:00 p.M., two hours after her body has been located,
Officers break the devastating news to keonte's family.
We received the call from the police about keonte.
My family and I were told to come down to the police station.
When we got to the police station, the head sheriff came
And announced to us that keonte's not coming home.
[nikisha] lord, after I heard that news,
I felt like I wanted to just faint.
It was like a blow.
And I felt numb.
Um, angry.
[narrator] the family is called in to identify the body.
They said, "please do not let her mother
Go out there to see her daughter like that.
It's not her anymore.
No one needs to see that
As they last memory of their child."
Said it would haunt her forever.
So grandma mary and, um, her grandmother gail,
They both went to view her.
[narrator] gail and grandma mary confirm the family's worst fears.
Keonte is dead.
It's late at night on August 9th,
When investigators interview keonte's family and friends
In what is now officially a homicide investigation.
We looked at everybody
And spoke to everybody and interviewed everybody.
[narrator] lil chris is already on his way back
To his family in florida.
While detectives try to reach him,
They speak to keonte's great-uncle darrell.
[detective speaking]
[narrator] darrell corroborates what gail had told the police
Just hours earlier.
Next door, investigators speak to another family member.
[lt. Smith] keonte's cousin todd toliver
Spoke with christian on the telephone
After he had left to get a specific timeline.
[detective speaking]
[todd continues speaking]
[detective speaking]
[narrator] investigators request cctv from the liquor store
To confirm chris's story.
And on the night of August 6th,
Just before 11:00 p.M.,
They get a hit.
[taylor] we were able to see christian's vehicle pull up.
Christian got out, went into the liquor store.
[narrator] lil chris appears to be alone.
[taylor] but then, keonte followed him into the liquor store.
Christian bought a couple of items.
Everything appeared normal between christian and keonte.
She did not appear to be stressed in any way.
It seemed like they were having a normal night.
[narrator] back in the interview rooms,
Another potential suspect is coming under the spotlight.
[detective speaks]
[taylor] you know, a lot of these cases turn out to be
A domestic violence scenario
Between a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
So we were thinking, absolutely.
I mean, it could be tray.
[narrator] grandmother gail's boyfriend also highlights his suspicions.
[narrator] on August 10th, police are dispatched to tray's house.
They discover he lived with his cousin garrett,
Who was also at the house the night keonte disappeared.
Police bring them both in for questioning.
[taylor] when we spoke to tray about that night,
I remember him saying that he comes home from work,
It's 6:30 or 7:00 in the afternoon.
He sees keonte and christian there in the yard,
Speaks to them.
He has to go back to work.
So he leaves and goes back to work.
[narrator] when officers speak to garrett,
He confirms tray's story.
Garrett relayed that he had seen
Keonte and christian at the house
During the time that tray had come by.
And then tray went back to work.
And garrett says that keonte and christian
Were going to get some food.
And then they were gonna go by the liquor store,
And then they were coming back to his house.
[narrator] they eventually left around 9:30 p.M.
Throughout the night, garrett claims
He was out on the porch, waiting for keonte,
But neither she nor lil chris ever appeared.
Because of previous run-ins with police,
Garrett was wearing an ankle monitor that night.
[taylor] we were able to check garrett's ankle monitor
And the gps, um, stated that he was at the house
During the time of keonte's death.
[narrator] and despite their earlier suspicions of tray,
Investigators find him cooperative
And his alibi solid.
So we felt pretty good that they had
Actually not been involved.
[narrator] all leads point to the moment
Chris says he dropped her back at tray's.
Either something happened to keonte
Before she made it to the house
Or lil chris has been lying.
And when russell county sheriff's office
Obtain lil chris' phone records,
What they discover will blow the case wide open.
His cell phone pinged off of a cell tower
That was 0.95 miles from the body.
[narrator] the ping is recorded at approximately 3:00 a.M.
On the morning of August 7th.
[taylor] which meant he had to be extremely close
To keonte's body on ridge road.
[narrator] police drone footage of the area
Shows a remote rural expanse.
[taylor] there was no place in the city
That would have hit that tower.
That told me that he purposefully was on that road,
Putting his cell phone in the vicinity of the body.
That was a huge step for us.
We felt like we had our man.
[narrator] but lil chris is nowhere to be found.
August 11th, 2014.
Plattekill, new york.
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
[narrator] the caller is outside christian grissom's mother's house.
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
[operator speaking]
-[man speaking] -[operator speaking]
[woman speaking]
[man speaking]
[narrator] lil chris isn't back home in florida.
He's at his mother's house in plattekill.
And keonte's newburgh relatives
Are about to confront him.
[man speaking]
[operator speaking]
[siren wailing]
[narrator] when the police arrive,
It's lil chris who's put in cuffs.
[max smith] when they got there, the defendant was there
And they arrested him
And they impounded his vehicle.
[taylor] I immediately dispatched my chief investigator at the time,
Lieutenant harold smith, to drive to new york with the arrest warrant.
[camera shutter clicking]
[narrator] detectives take lil chris to the station.
[camera shutter clicking]
But before they can get him into the interrogation room,
He lawyers up.
They look for signs of a struggle.
[camera shutter clicking]
[taylor] we were able to see a bite mark on his chest.
A plain, very visible bite mark.
Perhaps keonte bit him in an effort to defend herself.
[operator speaking]
[lil chris speaking]
[woman speaking]
[lil chris speaking]
We were able to get a recording
Of christian admitting that they were bite marks.
We were able to speak with his girlfriend in florida.
[narrator] lil chris' partner's cooperative
And responsive to police enquiries.
She emphatically said that when he left florida
That he did not have bite marks
Of any kind on his chest.
[lil chris speaking]
[narrator] that same afternoon, lieutenant harold smith
Finally arrives at plattekill police department.
We wanted to be present for the execution
Of a search warrant on his vehicle.
[camera shutter clicking]
Pretty quickly saw that there was a blood smear
On the headliner at the dome light.
So we cut that piece of material
Out of the headliner
And submitted that to the alabama department of forensic science.
[narrator] and later, the results confirm his suspicions.
That was keonte's blood.
[narrator] it's the final piece of evidence they need
And lil chris is charged
With the murder of his own cousin.
It's just hard for me to live with the fact
That the betrayal came from within,
Uh, a family circle.
[narrator] lil chris's motive remains a mystery.
[nikisha] why did he do it?
What could she done so wrong to make him take her life?
I don't know if he was drinking
And maybe took his frustration and anger out on her.
[narrator] but some family members do have another theory.
I think, personally, he may have been attracted to her
And maybe tried something and it didn't work out
The way he thought it was gonna work out.
And then I think it came to her maybe saying
That she's gonna call some family
And call somebody on him and he just lost it.
[narrator] at his trial on August 28, 2017,
Lil chris maintains his innocence.
What else is he going to say? "I did it"? No.
He committed to the fact that he wasn't involved in this.
He denied ever doing this to her.
[narrator] prosecutors lay out their theory.
After leaving tray's house at around 9:30 p.M.,
He took her to the liquor store to buy her drinks.
[max smith] after they left the villa nova liquor store,
They went driving around the area here,
And they ended up on that lonely, remote dirt road.
And they got into a fight.
And the fight occurred right there
Where we think the body was left.
[narrator] it's likely she fought back.
She was unable to overpower him.
He strangled her, he hit her in her face,
And then he bludgeoned her to death.
It's a pretty horrible way to kill someone,
Especially someone that you are related to.
[narrator] he dumped her body on the side of the road
And then drove to gail's house.
[taylor] the jury was out 30, 40 minutes
And came back with a guilty verdict.
[narrator] christian grissom jr. Is found guilty of murder
And is sentenced to life without parole.
Christian's action shows me he's a sociopath.
I mean, he cares nothing about anyone else,
Only about himself.
That's a monster and he's where he should be.
[narrator] for the family, it's a cruel pill to swallow.
[courtney] did this really happen to us?
To us, this family.
Did this really happen?
[tone] the predators that can harm your family
Is not always on the outside of your family.
Sometimes they can be in your family core
And lurking and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
[narrator] on the sixth anniversary of her death,
Keonte's family reunite
To release balloons in her memory.
[nikisha] I want people to remember keonte and her warm spirit
And just keep that in their hearts.
[courtney] I'd like to remember the saying
We put on our shirts for her funeral, is,
"heaven couldn't wait for you"
Because I don't know any other explanations, you know?
[woman 1 speaking]
-[woman 2 speaking] -[woman 1 speaking]
[tone] you gotta let it go.
You gotta move forward
Because keonte doesn't want to see me upset.
She just wants me to go ahead
And live the best life I can live.
And when my day come that I descend into the afterlife,
We'll see each other again.