He killed his grandmother, cut his brother’s throat. He’ll serve about a dozen years.

Police arrived around 5 a.m. and found the lights cut off and a 62-year-old woman in bed, stabbed, lying beside an 18-month-old baby covered in her grandmother’s blood but unhurt.

A 4-year-old boy was bleeding from a cut across the throat.

His then 17-year-old brother, Travon Evans, initially told police he had found them this way Feb. 26, 2014, at their grandmother’s apartment at 3421 Glasson St., said Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn.

But on the ambulance ride, the 4-year-old brother said it was Evans who had made it dark and cut him, Montgomery-Blinn said.

The child said he could hear his grandmother, Carolyn Hemingway, screaming as Evans stabbed her “with that old ugly knife,” the prosecutor said.

Hemingway was stabbed 23 times.

“Some were defensive wounds on her hands and arms, and the others were fatal wounds to her heads, face and torso,” Montgomery-Blinn said.

When police brought Evans in for questioning, he again said he had found his family that way and then said it was Mexican gangs.

“And then, finally, he gave a confession,” Montgomery-Blinn said.

Evans, now 22, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

A maximum of 59 years

Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha said the maximum sentence Evans faced was about 59 years.

Under the plea deal, Evans was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison and credited for the roughly 2,000 days he has been in jail awaiting adjudication.

The case, the second-oldest murder case in Durham, has been pending as officials awaited DNA testing, performed multiple psychological tests on Evans, and gathered records from his school, Department of Social Services and prior hospitalization records, Montgomery-Blinn said.

The plea was offered by a different assistant district attorney under former District Attorney Roger Echols, Montgomery-Blinn said.

Echols’ term ended Jan. 1 after he lost his re-election bid.

Montgomery-Blinn and current District Attorney Satana Deberry spent time reviewing the case “and while it was not the offer we would have chosen,” they believe it is their duty to honor the original plea offer, Montgomery-Blinn said.

In response to a question about whether Deberry would have chosen a harsher sentence, Sarah Willets, her spokesperson, said the new administration didn’t contemplate another offer and didn’t want to speculate on how they would have handled it differently.

Montgomery-Blinn said Evans’ mother supported the plea for reasons that include his younger brother not having to be put through a trial.

‘Extremely traumatic childhood’

The plea deal considers two mitigating factors, the prosecutor said. Evans’ age and mental condition reduced his culpability in the case.

Evans had an “extremely traumatic childhood,” she said.

He was removed repeatedly by child protective services and faced severe abuse, leaving him with a diagnosis that includes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the prosecutor and Evans’ defense attorney said.

Evans told police that his girlfriend had been living with him and his grandmother, and that his grandmother had kicked her out and said she couldn’t come back, Montgomery-Blinn said.

“Travon said that he was trying to go to sleep and kept having thoughts about killing people, killing his grandmother,” Montgomery-Blinn said.

He said he had thoughts before about killing his father and his stepmother, Montgomery-Blinn said.

Julius Robinson, Hemingway’s brother and Evans’ uncle, told The News & Observer that he thought Evans should have been sentenced to at least 20 years in prison. Robinson was the only family member present at the hearing.

Hemingway had taken Evans in at 6 years old and raised him, he said in court.

“She showed nothing but love for him,” he said. “So I have never been able to figure that out.”

Robinson then asked Evans why he killed his grandmother. He also asked about a book he had heard his nephew had written.

Evans didn’t respond.

“Your honor, Mr. Evans does not wish to answer those questions,” said defense attorney Dawn Baxton. “He does want the court to know and his uncle to know that he is sorry for what happened to his grandmother.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2019 at 6:40 PM.