Sounak Sengupta
Investigation Discovery’s ‘Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda: Make My Day’ depicts how a perpetrator allegedly killed 24-year-old Keith Andrews and escaped prosecution with the help of a newly passed legislation in late June 1986 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. However, the episode offers another ironic twist at the very end, making it one of the most memorable cases covered by the series. If you’re interested in finding out what happened, including the alleged killer’s identity, we’ve your back. Let’s begin then, shall we?
How Did Keith Andrews Die?
After working a long shift at his job with US Air Force, engineer Earl Frasier was getting ready to call it a day around 12:05 am on June 27, 1986. While preparing for bed, he heard banging and yelling in the hallway. A concerned Earl decided to open his door and investigate and saw a man wearing a light blue robe knocking on other doors. However, Earl was mortified when he noticed the robe was covered in blood. Before the engineer could process the scene and gather his thoughts, the stranger barged in and asked him to call 911.
Officers from the Colorado Springs Police Department arrived at the apartment on 1205 South Chelton Road in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to find a 24-year-old black male with serious stab wounds. The victim was rushed to a local hospital, and a license in his pocket identified him as Keith Alexander (the show changed his name to Keith Andrews). According to his sister Diana McNeece, she and Keith were born to a young, unwed mother. The siblings were adopted out when they were kids and ended up being extremely close to each other.
Diana recalled her brother as an “extremely smart and handsome man with a beautiful smile.” Keith succumbed to his injuries at the hospital the following day, and the coroner determined a fatal stab wound to the heart as the official cause of death. The medical examiner noted Keith had been stabbed 32 times, indicating a furious attack or an overkill. The investigators stated the multiple stab wounds signified the perpetrator had a lot of repressed anger toward the victim.
Who Killed Keith Andrews?
After Earl called 911, the first responders arrived to find Tyron Juarez “Lloyd” Carmen in his bloody robe. He told the officers he was inside his apartment and watching television with his wife, Debra Michele Carmon, when there was a knock. According to his claims, Keith Andrews barged into the apartment with a knife and attacked him. Lloyd further stated he and the intruder wrestled on the ground until he managed to get a kitchen knife from the counter and stab him in self-defense.
The investigators asked Lloyd to come down to the station for questioning. Meanwhile, some officers questioned his wife, Debra Michele Carmon, who was also present during the incident. The detectives were suspicious of how Debra reacted to the stabbing — she was crying for a stranger who had allegedly attempted to assault her husband. When the police pressed her further, she broke down and told them she knew Keith, her former lover and a good friend of the couple.
According to Debra, she and Keith had been in an illicit relationship while on a break from her marriage for a few weeks. She also claimed Lloyd knew about their relationship, and she had ended it before returning to her spouse. However, she alleged Keith kept calling and bothering her even after she reconciled with her husband. Her statements negated Lloyd’s claims about him not knowing the alleged perpetrator. Keith died the following day, and the coroner told the detectives about the frantic nature of the stabbing.
The overkill indicated the crime was personal, and the police suspected Lloyd did not kill Keith in self-defense but murdered him in cold blood. Their suspicions were further cemented by the vast blood stains and the two weapons found at the crime. One was the kitchen knife that Lloyd used to deliver the fatal injuries, while the other was a three-inch-bladed pocket knife — a highly unlikely weapon in a crime of assault. One of the investigators explained it would require lots of effort to inflict any fatal wounds with such a small blade.
The detectives also checked Lloyd’s apartment’s front door to find the lock assembly was not damaged and had no kick marks or footmarks. It again contradicted Lloyd’s statement of how Keith allegedly barged in to attack him. To establish their murder hypothesis, the officers contacted the victim’s friends and acquaintances until 23-year-old Dante Smith came forward. He told the investigators he and Keith were drinking on the night the latter was murdered. A drunk Keith had decided to go over to confront Debra. With all the testimonies and evidence, the police charged Lloyd with first-degree murder.
Lloyd Carmen’s Death: Fatal Shooting by Keith Williams
According to police, Keith was wielding the pocket knife when he allegedly broke into Lloyd’s apartment. But Lloyd disarmed him and proceeded to murder him in cold blood instead. However, erstwhile 4th Judicial District Attorney Barney Iuppa decided not to prosecute Lloyd because he pleaded immunity under the “Make My Day” law. Colorado passed the legislature in 1985, granting “homeowners immunity if they respond accordingly when threatened by a home invasion and burglary.”
While Lloyd escaped being prosecuted, the episode stated how he died at the hands of another assailant around 14 years later. According to reports, he had been arrested at least a dozen times on investigations of assault, larceny, burglary, and driving under the influence of alcohol between 1984 and 1993. His wife of 17 years, Debra, died in December 1999, and he lived with his live-in girlfriend, Misook Sledge, in their Pebble Creek Apartments at 2005 South El Paso Avenue.
Reports stated Lloyd and Misook had a bitter argument on June 7, 2000, and she took a cab to see her ex-boyfriend, Keith L. Williams, then 43. After hearing her grievances, Williams called Lloyd, and the two argued over the phone. Shortly afterward, the former boyfriend saw Lloyd slashing his car tires, and he went out to take revenge with a friend. Lloyd was also with a friend, Andrea Phillips, who told the investigators how Lloyd and Williams had another altercation in the former’s apartment’s parking lot.
According to Andrea, Williams fatally shot 38-year-old Lloyd after the latter sprayed mace into his face. The shooting happened around 3:55 am, with the perpetrator fleeing in his blue Datsun. Police sources stated Williams shot Lloyd in his chest. 45-year-old Williams was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison in September 2002.
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