RALEIGH — When news from Texas led local TV stations to report he and his wife were already arrested, Grant Hayes exited his parents’ house in Kinston and began chain-smoking.
That was the testimony of Raleigh Police Department Ofc. Kevin Crocker, who was observing the house the evening of July 24, 2011, for the RPD’s fugitive squad. Hayes is on trial for the murder of ex-girlfriend and former Kinston resident Laura Ackerson.
Amanda Hayes’ silver Dodge Durango had been spotted at a Kinston law office the afternoon of July 22, and Crocker spent the weekend conducting covert surveillance on Grant Hayes’ parents’ residence.
On the afternoon of July 22, Crocker said he noticed the couple drive up to the house, wait for Grant Hayes’ parents to arrive, then take their children inside and unload the car.
Crocker said he noticed Grant Hayes take from the vehicle a pink bag, grocery bags and a couple blue coolers. Afterward, he said Grant Hayes parked the vehicle inside the fence behind the house.
After the 11 p.m. TV news broadcast on July 24, Crocker said Grant Hayes appeared nervous, and his parents stepped out multiple times to try to calm his nerves. Not long thereafter, Raleigh detectives approached the house with a search warrant, taking possession of the Durango and the Hayes’ mobile phones.
Shortly after midnight, the Hayes were taken into custody with the assistance of the Kinston Department of Public Safety and the house was searched.
Five days later, Raleigh detectives came into possession of and searched bags of garbage linked to the Hayes’ apartment. Discovered were multiple “workshop odor respirators,” a set of protective goggles, several sets of rubber gloves, a black shower curtain, a beige shower liner, bath mats that have the same colors and pattern as a living room rug in the apartment, and several items of clothing.
There was a pair of black women’s pants, a thoroughly stained white medium-sized “jersey” — as RPD Sgt. Brian Hall called it — a white woman’s or girl’s sock, a pair of shoes, a pair of sandals and a gray pair of Starter-brand men’s boxer-briefs.
An identical pair of the boxer-briefs was shown in a photo taken at Grant Hayes’ parents’ residence during the search of the house by RPD Detective Zeke Morse.
Other witnesses earlier testified the hall bathroom of the Hayes’ apartment — where the garbage is believed to have originated — was unusually devoid of bath mats, a shower curtain and a curtain rod after Ackerson’s disappearance, and appeared unusually clean.
Morse also testified he took out warrants to receive the data from Grant Hayes’ and Ackerson’s Facebook accounts.
Grant Hayes sent friends Facebook messages in the spring and summer of 2011 before Ackerson’s disappearance saying he shelled out $85,000 in costs related to the custody battle over their two sons, and lamenting how even though he was married to someone else, he had to deal with Ackerson on a daily basis.
He also sent Ackerson a message the day before she vanished saying she should possibly take the children, because he was only allowed custody while staying in North Carolina, and said he couldn’t make a living in the state. Grant Hayes previously performed his music in New York and the Virgin Islands.
Shannon Quick, an agent with the City-County Bureau of Identification in Raleigh, was on the stand as testimony concluded Monday. She said she obtained and tested — or sent to the State Crime Lab to be tested — multiple shower and bathroom fixture from the hall bathroom.
By the end of the Monday court session, she hadn’t said she found evidence of blood in the bathroom. She returns to the stand today.
Court resumes at 9 a.m. today at the Wake County Justice Center.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.