Kelton Breshon Fox pleaded guilty on June 14, 2018, to the second-degree murder of Tierra Hall, his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend and a Jordan High School student he stabbed to death in Durham, North Carolina on March 27, 2015. Fox, who was also 17 at the time of the killing, was sentenced under the plea agreement to 144 to 185 months in prison, roughly 12 to 15 years.
What Happened on March 27, 2015
Tierra Marcheal Hall went to class that Friday at Jordan High School. School security cameras recorded Fox taking her cell phone and the two leaving campus together at 12:25 p.m., walking toward Garrett Road.1ABC11. Gruesome Details Revealed in Local Teen’s Murder A neighbor’s surveillance camera near Trotter Ridge Road picked them up again, walking toward a vacant house that had previously been occupied by Fox’s mother.2WRAL. Search Warrants Detail Evidence in Tierra Hall Case
About 30 minutes after leaving, Fox was recorded returning to the school alone, his hands pulled inside his sleeves. He went straight to a bathroom, skipped the rest of class, called his mother from the office, and left campus early.2WRAL. Search Warrants Detail Evidence in Tierra Hall Case Investigators later found blood in that bathroom.1ABC11. Gruesome Details Revealed in Local Teen’s Murder
Hall’s mother, Koteya Hall, did not immediately report her missing, thinking she was at a friend’s house for the start of spring break.3WRAL. Durham Police Investigate Death of Teen Found Behind Vacant Home The next afternoon, around 4:45 p.m., neighbors looking at a house for sale in the 4100 block of Trotter Ridge Road found Hall’s body behind the vacant property.4ABC11. Police Identify Teen Found Dead Behind Home
Hall had been stabbed at least 14 times in the head, neck, shoulder, and arm. The medical examiner recovered the tip of a knife blade broken off in the muscles of her left cheek.5WRAL. Warrants Reveal Details in Durham Teen’s Killing
How Investigators Linked Fox to the Killing
Two threads tied Fox to the scene. The vacant house on Trotter Ridge Road had previously been occupied by his mother, so he knew the property.2WRAL. Search Warrants Detail Evidence in Tierra Hall Case And on a door of that house, someone had written the words “King K Tha Savage,” which detectives recognized as a nickname Fox used on his Facebook page.1ABC11. Gruesome Details Revealed in Local Teen’s Murder
Fox was arrested the following Tuesday, March 31, 2015, and charged with first-degree murder. He was held in the Durham County Jail without bond.6Spectrum News. Arrest Made in Death of Durham Teenager He had no prior criminal record.7WRAL. Durham Teen Charged in Killing of Ex-Girlfriend Because he was under 18, he was not eligible for the death penalty, but the judge told him he could face life without parole on a first-degree conviction.2WRAL. Search Warrants Detail Evidence in Tierra Hall Case
The Guilty Plea and the Sentence
More than three years passed between the arrest and the resolution. On June 14, 2018, Fox pleaded guilty in a Durham County courtroom to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. Before accepting the plea, the judge again advised him that a first-degree conviction could have meant life without parole.8ABC11. Ex-Boyfriend Accused in Murder of Durham HS Student Pleads Guilty
The plea agreement set his sentence at 144 to 185 months in prison.9WRAL. Ex-Boyfriend Pleads Guilty in Durham Teen’s Death Available reporting did not publicly detail the reasons prosecutors reduced the charge from first-degree to second-degree murder.
Community Response
On April 4, 2015, dozens of mourners gathered at Vintage Church in Durham for a prayer vigil. Attendees wore purple, Hall’s favorite color, and her classmates spoke about her before the crowd released balloons in her honor.10ABC11. Friends, Family Attend Vigil for Durham Teen Family friend Patricia May told reporters the family was getting through the loss with “the love and support and prayers from the people in the community and the family.”11CBS17. Murdered Durham Teen Tierra Hall Honored at Prayer Vigil
The killing drew local attention to teen dating violence. Stephanie Francis, who led education and training on domestic violence at the Raleigh nonprofit Interact, told reporters that cases like Hall’s push the issue “to the forefront” but that most teen abuse happens quietly. Coverage cited a statistic that one in three U.S. adolescents experiences some form of dating abuse, with warning signs appearing in children as young as 12.12ABC11. Durham Murder Draws Attention to Teen Domestic Violence Issues