Kriti Mehrotra
When 20-year-old Key’Undta Devor Barrett was rushed to a hospital in the early hours of April 20, 2019, it left his entire family and the community of Tyler, Texas, shaken to the core. That’s because, as explored in Investigation Discovery’s ‘The Murder Tapes: Stage Fright,’ he was reportedly just a young man with a lot of potential and trying to live his own life. But alas, everything was swept from right underneah his feet in the blink of an eye as he was killed, with the ensuing investigations pointing towards just one individual being responsible.
Key’Undta Barrett Was Fatally Shot Outside a Music Venue
In the late 1990s, when Susan Allen and Ron Barrett welcomed Key’Undta Devor Barrett into their world. They did so with the utmost excitement, eager to raise him with care, faith, and love. Unfortunately, from what we can tell, the couple parted ways at some point, before finding love again with different partners, resulting in their son growing up in a blended household. In fact, he essentially had two sets of parents as his mother tied the knot with Dewayne Allen, and his father married Tiffany Barrett, which led to him having a total of 17 siblings.
According to Key’Undta’s loved ones, he had the brightest smile, was incredibly kind, and had such an infectious personality that he attracted attention in every room he walked into. The 20-year-old graduate of Whitehouse High School was reportedly very compassionate too, which is why the incident in the early morning hours of April 20, 2019, baffled everyone. It was roughly 1:27 am when the Smith County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from the 4800 block of Tidwell Drive in Tyler, Texas, only to find a “chaotic” scene outside a music venue.
There was a crowd of bystanders and witnesses gathered around, so officials quickly secured the area while also dealing with the realization that three young individuals had been shot. They were all rushed to a nearby hospital, but while 21-year-old Kentrell Miller and 18-year-old Ira Brown sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Key’Undta sadly wasn’t as lucky. In other words, while the former two were eventually able to make a full recovery, the latter passed away within a few hours at the medical center at the tender age of 20 from a gunshot wound.
Key’Undta Barrett’s Perpetrator Was Arrested the Same Day
When authorities kick-started their investigation, they were able to gather enough information from the witnesses and the survivors that they had a positive identification of the triggerman. Therefore, on the very same day, they arrested a fellow 20-year-old Tyler native named Treyvon Dewayne Maddox on the charge of deadly conduct, for which he was held on a $100,000 bond. According to records, he even admitted to the shooting under questioning, following which the weapon was retrieved from a pond in Chapel Hill and sent for forensic testing.
It was only after all the testing had concluded that Treyvon was charged with first-degree murder, because not only was he connected to the firearm, but ballistics also came out to be a match. In other words, the bullets from the retrieved gun matched the ones recovered from Key’Undta’s remains. So, after the shooter pleaded not guilty to this charge, his bond was set at $250,000. However, following a grand jury hearing that reportedly indicated that Treyvon had not planned the incident, his indictment was reduced to manslaughter.
Treyvon Maddox is Currently Serving His Sentence Behind Bars
Treyvon was detained at the Smith County jail on a $350,000 bond while legal proceedings regarding both the charges against him continued until December 4, 2019. On that day, he reportedly waived his right to a trial by pleading guilty to one count of manslaughter, in exchange for not being prosecuted on the deadly conduct indictment. As a result, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole/early release. Thus, today, at the age of 25, he remains incarcerated at the Smith Unit in Lamesa, Texas, where he will remain until his term concludes on May 12, 2029.
Read More: Nathan and Krystal Maddox’s Murder: Where Are Lloyd Paul and Letha Westfall Now?
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