In Depth Coverage

Jennifer Cave Murder

Aug. 18, 2005:
Jennifer Cave, 21, was found dead in an apartment near the UT Campus. A family friend broke into the apartment of UT student Colton Pitonyak, 22, and found Cave's body in bathtub. She had been shot, stabbed, and dismembered.

Aug. 19, 2005:
Police identified Pitonyak as a suspect. He was on the run and believed to be in Mexico.

Aug. 24, 2005:
Police arrest Pitonyak and fellow UT student Laura Hall, 22, in Eagle Pass on the Mexican border. Hall told Austin police she was on a romantic vacation to Mexico with Pitonyak, but police say she was trying to help him evade arrest. He was charged with murder. She was charged with hindering apprehension.

August 2006:
Flowers heard defense arguments to suppress evidence found in Pitonyak's apartment. Defense attorney Samuel Bassett contended the apartment was illegally searched. Flowers rejected the argument.

Jan. 22, 2007:
Pitonyak's murder trial began.

Jan. 25, 2007:
Hall invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and did not testify.

Jan. 26, 2007:
Pitonyak took the stand in his own defense. He said he didn't remember killing Cave, but he knows he did it. But he said he did not dismember the body and Laura Hall must have done it.

Jan. 29, 2007:
The jury found Pitonyak guilty of murder and sentenced Pitonyak to 55 years in prison.

June 2007:
A Travis County grand jury indicted Laura Hall on the new charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Aug 2007:
A jury convicted Hall of felony tampering with evidence and a misdemeanor charge of hindering apprehension in connection with the death of Jennifer Cave.  She  is sentenced to five years in prison

October 2008:
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to hear Pitonyak appeal.

Feb. 11, 2009:
The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole denied Hall's appeal.

Feb.19, 2009:
An appeals court threw out Hall's sentence. She is released from jail on bond.

Feb. 21, 2009:
KEYE TV conducted an exclusive interview with Hall. She said she was another victim of Pitonyak and that she was "young and stupid" when she began dating him.

October 2009:
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals grants Hall a new trial on her sentence but did not overturn her conviction.

February 2010:

During a pre-trial hearing, Judge Wilford Flowers rescinded Hall's bail and ordered her back to jail.

July 2010:

Hall's second sentencing trial takes place. A new jury sentences her to 10 years in prison, five more years than before.

January 2011:

Laura Hall denied parole

November 2011: