In December 1999, the Los Angeles Police Department charged Lloyd Avery II with the murders of Annette Lewis and Percy Branch. Investigators alleged he'd killed the pair over a drug debt that July, per the Chicago Defender. Police said Avery shot Lewis with a .45 caliber pistol, killing her, and mortally wounded Branch with a shot to the stomach. The shooting occurred outside in broad daylight, per King magazine. Lewis had five bullet wounds, including one in her back. In between the time of the murders and his arrest, Avery acted in two films. In 2000, a judge sentenced Avery to life in prison.
While incarcerated, he became religious, earning the nickname "Baby Jesus." But when he tried to convert his cellmate Kevin Roby, who was an avowed Satanist, conflict ensued. Roby had raped and murdered his own sister in 1987, according to The Los Angeles Times. Roby choked Avery to death in September 2005 after an alleged altercation over religion and later performed a ritual over the remains. At the time of his death, Avery had been continuing to work on the film script about gang life.
