Bench Warrant Issued For Ex-Boyfriend Of Woman Found Dead In East Hills
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A bench warrant has been issued for the ex-boyfriend of the 19-year-old woman who was found dead, along with her grandmother, in an East Hills home Thursday.
The warrant for issued for Cesar Mazza. Mazza is the ex-boyfriend of Tionna Banks.
KDKA's Harold Hayes reports:
The horror of the deadly discovery of two bodies came just a day after Mazza, who had PFAs filed against him by Tionna Banks, was to appear in court on charges including aggravated assault against her as well as against her then unborn child.
She filed a protection from abuse petition against him last October after an incident at Magee Hospital when he claimed to be the father and she alerted police
She wrote, "Cesar currently beats me while I carry a baby he also is threatening to kill me and my family."
In December she claimed Mazza called her from jail asking her to drop criminal charges against him and claiming her grandmother was harassing his current girlfriend.
On Nov. 9 "he was arrested for domestic violence," she wrote. "He knocked me down and kicked me in the stomach and told me that he will kill me if his son doesn't have his name when he is born."
Then in March she wrote that "Cesar told my cousins that if I don't allow him to see his son he will shoot me in the head and if I had any other man around his son or me he will kill me."
But on the day of trial for the November arrest Mazza did not show up for the hearing and neither did Tionna Banks.
Mazza currently is not in police custody, nor has he been charged in relation to Banks or her grandmother, 72-year-old Valerie Crumpton's, murders.
However, police have issued a Be On the Look Out alert for Mazza, saying that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Banks and Crumpton were found dead in Crumpton's East Hills home Thursday, after police stopped by for a welfare check when Banks did not appear for a scheduled appointment with a social service agency.
Family members of Banks and Crumpton spoke out Friday after they were discovered.
"As we speak, there are two voices, Valerie Crumpton, my mother and Tionna Banks, my niece, who are forever silent," said April Crumpton.
KDKA's Bob Allen Reports:
"Words escape me," she went on to add. "I've never had a murder in my family. And for my mother to succumb to such and her door was always open, it's ... heartwrenching."
April Crumpton did not want to speculate on the possible suspect, but she did point an accusing finger at domestic violence.
"Are we doing enough to help those who are involved with domestic violence?" she asked.
As investigators eyed the crime scene Thursday, it became evident there was some sort of struggle.
"All I can tell you, there was blood found away from the bodies," Police Spokesperson Sonya Toler said.
An autopsy was conducted Friday and determined that Banks died of blunt and sharp force trauma to the head and trunk. Crumpton died of blunt force trauma to the head.
A police SWAT team also went to a townhouse in the 300-block of Burrows Street in Oakland on Thursday afternoon, but they left quickly without a full deployment. A police spokeswoman refused to give details about that operation, only saying it was an "integral part" of the double homicide investigation.
Anyone with information regarding Mazza's whereabouts is asked to call the Homicide Squad at 412-323-7161.
Stay with KDKA for more information.
Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter