Bitter Remains

by Diane Fanning

  Late in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 19, the jury announced they had reached a decision. They filed back into the courtroom. Foreperson Timothy Mock handed over the documentation.

  Judge Donald Stephens read the verdict: guilty of second degree murder.

  Afterward, jurors said that, at one point, there were nine people in favor of first degree murder, two who wanted acquittal and one who was undecided. All of them agreed, though, that they didn’t want a hung jury and worked out their compromise. They said they were all willing to do so because not a single one of them believed Amanda’s story that she didn’t know Laura was killed and cut up until after they arrived in Texas.

  —

  DEFENSE attorney Rosemary Godwin stood before the judge to plead for his leniency. “Except for her relationship with Mr. Hayes, it is extraordinarily unlikely that Mrs. Hayes would have found herself in a courtroom of any kind.” She continued talking about duress and coercion, mental and emotional abuse, and Amanda’s upright character. “If Mr. Hayes had met Mrs. Hayes first and Ms. Ackerson second, it could very well be that Mrs. Hayes would be the victim in this case.”

  The judge appeared offended by that final suggestion. “But that would require Ms. Ackerson to participate in the killing of Amanda Hayes. My problem here is that I personally believe, with regard to the evidence, it is quite possible or likely that Amanda Hayes could have saved the life of Laura Ackerson and she chose not to. She chose instead to participate in her killing. Advise your client of her right to speak.”

  Amanda had something to say and she delivered it in the tiniest, sweetest voice she could muster. “Your honor, I would just like to apologize with my whole heart, being, soul. First to Laura. I apologize to her, to her family, to her children; to my family, to Grant’s family, to everyone who had to work this case, to everyone who had to sit through this trial, to everyone in the media who had to watch this and, in fact, have it touch their lives. I am so sorry that this touched my life in any shape, form or fashion or anyone I love or care about or anyone. And I am truly, truly sorry with every ounce of my soul.” She nodded her head as her lower lip quivered and lowered herself back into her chair.

  The judge asked her to stand up. “Having pled not guilty to this charge of murder in the first degree, the jury having heard the evidence and returned a unanimous verdict of murder in the second degree, the state having prayed judgment, the defendant having no prior record . . . therefore, for a Class B felony, at the top of the presumptive range, can be sentenced by the court to a minimum term of one hundred fifty-seven months in the North Carolina Department of Corrections and a maximum term of one hundred ninety-eight months. This is an active prison sentence, give her credit for time served in jail awaiting charges. She is in custody of the sheriff.” She definitely fared far better than Grant, who would be behind bars for the rest of his natural life.

  —

  THE next month, Patricia Barakat’s tale of the preferential treatment Amanda had received came home to roost for the Wake County Detention Center. An internal investigation concluded that Lieutenant Linda Hicks violated the fraternization policy prohibiting guards from having any kind of relationship with inmates outside the performance of their assigned duties. According to WRAL, several of their sources alleged that there were telephone recordings of romantic and sexual conversations between Lieutenant Hicks and Amanda Hayes. Hicks resigned on March 3. Five additional officers were also fired on March 7 for similar behavior with other inmates.

  In April 2014, Amanda Hayes learned her legal tribulations were not over. A grand jury in Texas indicted her on a second degree felony for tampering with physical evidence in the state. If convicted of the offense relating to the dumping of Laura’s remains in the creek, the sentence could range from two to twenty years in Texas on top of the time she is now serving.

  On August 21, 2014, Amanda filed for divorce from Grant. Her petition was finalized that October.

  Grant Hayes’s appeals attorney filed a brief requesting a new trial on August 29, 2014. It claimed prejudicial and unfair evidence, testimony and actions in the court. They cited, among other items, the admission of the lyrics to “Man Killer,” Ginger Calloway’s custody evaluation, the testimony of Pablo Trinidad, the reading of the defendant’s e-mails during trial and the judge’s ruling that exhibits had to be viewed by the jury in the courtroom.

  The state responded with a denial of any abuse of discretion by the trial court and then argued the grounds for inclusion of all evidence the defense team regarded as prejudicial. They contended that some of the points raised regarded testimony and exhibits that had been presented to show motive and ill will toward the victim, not to prove the truth of the charges against him. The higher court rejected his arguments and refused to hear them in a second appeal. Grant Hayes remains behind bars without hope of release.

  —

  SHA Elmer continued to work on rebuilding her life in New Mexico, the state of her birth. Little Grant, Gentle and Lily were being raised by their grandparents Grant and Patsy Hayes. Sha and the Hayes family all have an agreement that if something would happen to prevent the grandparents from caring for the kids any longer, it would be ideal if they could still remain together. Sha planned to travel east every summer for the children’s big combined birthday party—since the siblings were born in May, June and August—and is committed to, at minimum, ensuring that little Grant, Gentle and Lily are together every year for their annual birthday celebration.

  According to Sha, “All the children are healthy and doing well.” She talked to four-year-old Lily on the phone every week, and said she’d reached a place where she felt that “it’s the best possible solution that all three kids are together with Patsy and Grant II. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Patsy and Grant Hayes face years of parenting with a formidable burden waiting in the future. They will, one day, have to be totally honest with little Grant, Gentle and Lily about the dark side of their childhood. But how will they possibly explain that one parent is dead and the other two are in prison for taking that young mother’s life?

  AFTERWORD

  Attempting to discern the truth through contradictory versions of events given by two defendants is always a difficult task. In this case, the poor state of the victim’s recovered body added to the complications presented to investigators.

  To me, the document signed by Laura Ackerson accepting twenty-five thousand dollars in exchange for custody of her children and putting all control of visitation in Grant Hayes’s hands was the one item that cast immediate doubt on both of their stories. I feel certain that Laura would never participate in the drafting of that agreement of her own free will. When I close my eyes, the murder scene becomes vivid. A review of all the evidence and the application of common sense moved me to a conclusion about the events that led to her death.

  I can see her walking through the front door of Grant and Amanda Hayes’s apartment. Little Grant, Gentle and Lily were all on the bed in the back bedroom while the two boys watched the animated movie Cars. Amanda and Grant were at the table with Laura.

  At that point, Laura was threatened with the possibility of physical harm to herself or to her children or both. The stab wound to her throat could have been a part of the persuasion and would account for the disposal of the rug beneath the dining room table. It also could have been a part of the latter events.

  No matter how terrified Laura was at that moment, she knew, in the end, she clearly had the upper hand. Like always, her tape recorder would have been rolling—she was capturing Grant and Amanda’s coercion in audio. It would be the card she could play before the judge that would guarantee that she got full custody. There was even the distinct possibility that both of them would face criminal prosecution, and if Grant got any visitation at all, it would be supervised.

  I can see Laura on her way out of their home, fear and jubilation forming an une
asy cohabitation that banished logical thought. I can picture her standing on that piece of carpet where the large bleach stain was found, allowing years of anger, frustration and self-doubt to overwhelm her common sense.

  I can hear her crowing over her victory as she informed them that it was all on tape. I can imagine her turning to Amanda and saying, because of that audio, “You took my children, now I’ll take your daughter from you.” I believe that section of discolored carpet is where Laura lost her life. Did Amanda or Grant lunge and stab her to prevent her escape? Did Grant’s rage and simmering thoughts of homicide finally burst forth, causing him to wrap the computer cord around her throat and squeeze until she went limp, maintaining his grip for the four or five minutes it would take until her physical death was apparent from the reaction of her body?

  On a personal level, the exact way Laura died and who delivered the final deadly insult is irrelevant. The tragic outcome remains the same—Laura lost her life long before she should have, and her little boys lost their mother.

  In the name of justice, it is not really vital to know, either. The evidence makes it apparent that Grant and Amanda acted in concert to achieve the common purpose of “obliterating” Laura.

  Still, we are left with a bevy of questions that don’t have comprehensive answers. How can someone see murder as the best solution? How can a person value his or her own wants over another individual’s life? And how can anyone even conceive of the idea of cutting apart a human body like a cow in a slaughterhouse? What kind of a person could do that to another?

  Experts cite a lack of empathy, an inability to properly experience emotions, poor integration in society and family, occupational problems, drug abuse and mental disease. Between Grant and Amanda, all of those points appear to be covered to one extent or another.

  The experts go on to divide individuals who kill and dismember their victims into five types: 1) Aggressive, where the act is a continuation of the violence and rage of the murder itself; 2) Offensive, where the sole object of the killing is to obtain a body to dismember (this category includes necromantic obsessions as well as callous curiosity); 3) Psychotic, wherein the break with reality is so extreme that the perpetrator is driven to carry the act out by a disordered thought process or voices ordering that it be done; 4) Communication, where the sole aim is to deliver a gruesome threat or warning to another individual or group of people; and 5) Defensive, the most common of all, where the motive is to complicate the identification of the victim, to get rid of evidence or to make it easier to hide or move a body.

  The latter seems to apply well to the crime against Laura Ackerson, both from the evidence available and from the words of Grant and Amanda, either in the courtroom, in interview or to acquaintances. In light of the fact that both of them indicated a desire for alligators to consume the last of the evidence, it seems that their mutual desire to “obliterate” or “erase” Laura was gratified by her dismemberment and disposal.

  Grant Hayes had long exhibited a narcissistic attitude that his desires were of more importance than those of anyone else. He often referred to himself as one of the “chosen.” Additionally, he demonstrated the desire to control and manipulate others—and he certainly controlled Laura’s life to the point of its termination. That he had not been able to completely make every shred of her disappear was not because he didn’t try—we owe that failure to some measure of luck and the dogged pursuit of the investigators in the case.

  As a stepmother, I can understand the almost biological yearning for the children of the man you love to belong exclusively to the two of you. I can understand the wish that the other woman would simply disappear. In that, Amanda was just like many of us—but to act on those primitive desires is another matter entirely. Amanda had to have a cold, compassionless heart in order to even contemplate sacrificing Laura’s life on the altar of her personal desire, ignoring the best interests of the children and throwing away any moral compass or law-abiding instincts.

  Amanda’s daughter, Sha Elmer, struggles, too, trying to find a new place in the world as she accepts the reality of what her mother has done. As Sha said, “Don’t be fooled. Amanda was a manipulator, too. Grant was not the only one. Amanda met her match in Grant.”

  We are left with the mournful disquiet of those who cared for Laura Ackerson, the guilt-tinged anger of many who wished they had done more. And most important of all, the empty hole in the hearts of little Grant and Gentle, whose memories of their mother will fade and only a void will remain—a cold space with no capacity for comfort.

  Keep those two little boys, as well as Lily, in your thoughts. Not one of them has a mother or father in their daily lives. Send them wishes for a much brighter future than this legacy of violence portends and a life in which they find happiness, acceptance and healing despite the scar on their souls.

  Laura Jean Ackerson smiling at a happy time shortly before her death.

  All photographs courtesy of the Wake County Clerk of Court, Raleigh, North Carolina, unless otherwise noted.

  In her Kinston apartment in Nantucket Lofts, Laura had a separate bedroom for her two boys. Little Grant slept in the car bed on the right, and Gentle in the white bed on the left. Between them, on the little table, Laura placed a photo of herself and her ex, Grant Hayes III, because she wanted the children to know that both Mommy and Daddy loved them.

  Amanda and Grant Hayes with Gentle and their newborn daughter, Lily.

  The contract in which Laura Ackerson signed over custody of little Grant and Gentle to Grant Hayes III. Friends and law enforcement insisted that she would not have done so of her own free will.

  The big, suspicious bleach stain that police found on the carpet next to the entrance in Grant and Amanda Hayes’s apartment.

  The Woodfield Glen apartment complex where the Hayeses lived. In the foreground is the Dumpster area where they tossed the shower curtain, rugs, a vacuum cleaner and more in the aftermath of Laura’s death.

  The pile of debris originating at the Woodfield Glen apartments’ Dumpster that law enforcement needed to examine at the East Wake Transfer Station before it was transported to the landfill.

  Two of the coolers that Grant and Amanda used to transport Laura’s dismembered remains halfway across the country—North Carolina to Texas.

  The back porch of the Berry home, where law enforcement found another of the coolers that had been used as a temporary coffin for Laura’s remains.

  Houston Police Department divers Brian Davis and Mark Thorsen, in Oyster Creek.

  The path leading to Oyster Creek, where Grant and Amanda Hayes dumped Laura’s dismembered body. The johnboat they used is secured on the left.

  Views of Oyster Creek showing the obstacles presented by the extraordinarily dense lily pads that obstructed the search for Laura’s remains.

  Law enforcement believed that the notes written by Grant Hayes on the back of this envelope were bullet points for a press conference he was planning.

  Amanda Hayes caught by a stealth camera unloading the boxes of muriatic acid from Shelton Berry’s Critter Catchers pickup, parked at the end of Skinner Lane.

  Amanda Hayes at an ATM in Texas, getting cash for her family’s trip back to North Carolina.

  Booking photos for Grant Hayes and Amanda Hayes, after their arrests for the murder of Laura Jean Ackerson.

  Grant’s machete, found abandoned in Texas and secured in an outbuilding by Karen Berry until police arrived.

  A photograph of Amanda Hayes taken by police after she claimed that Grant had struck her leg with a machete while en route back to North Carolina.

  Chevon Mathes, Laura’s business partner and friend who filed the missing persons report to the Kinston police, testifies in the courtroom. Courtesy of the Raleigh News & Observer

  Laura Jean Ackerson’s final resting place, in Tuttle Cemetery in Ionia, Michigan. Courtesy of Tracy Rademacher<
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