Inset: Christopher Ebanks (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Arizona apartment building where Christopher Ebanks allegedly killed his pal and then forced the victim’s girlfriend to help him hide the body and evidence (KSAZ/YouTube).
In a shocking case out of Arizona, a woman was coerced into helping conceal her boyfriend’s gruesome murder. Authorities report that she was forced to wrap his decapitated body in carpeting and an air mattress before hiding it in a closet. This horrific act followed his slaying with a hatchet by a friend in Phoenix.
Christopher Ebanks, aged 32, faces charges of murder and kidnapping related to the brutal killing that took place on May 7. According to a probable cause affidavit seen by Law & Crime, Ebanks compelled the victim’s girlfriend to assist in covering up the crime after she witnessed him attacking her boyfriend with a “triangular ax-like blade” in their apartment.
The affidavit details how Ebanks instructed the woman to help clean up the crime scene and hide the body. Initially, the victim’s remains were placed in a bathtub before being wrapped and stowed away in a closet, the document reveals.
The Phoenix Police Department reports that the victim had called Ebanks over to their home to assist with gathering rent money after a dispute with his girlfriend over financial matters. When the couple continued arguing about the rent in front of Ebanks, the situation escalated into a physical confrontation.
According to the affidavit, Ebanks was angered by the physical altercation and challenged the boyfriend to “fight an actual man.” The girlfriend recounted seeing Ebanks draw a hatchet and repeatedly stab her boyfriend during the confrontation.
After the attack, the affidavit alleges that Ebanks instructed the woman that they needed to clean up the aftermath. Together, they reportedly used cleaning supplies, knives, towels, an extension cord, carpeting, and the air mattress in their attempt to conceal the body and eliminate evidence of the crime.
“The victim was wrapped in carpeting and an air mattress and bound with a white extension cord and additional items,” the affidavit says. “The victim appeared to be dismembered (missing head and hands).”
Ebanks allegedly stuffed the missing head and hands into a suitcase and left the apartment. He ordered the girlfriend to get into his car with him and go to his apartment, where she was “forced to shower at knife/gunpoint in an attempt to destroy evidence,” according to the affidavit.
Police say the girlfriend told her father about what happened and he notified authorities. This led to cops searching Ebanks’ apartment, where they allegedly found the suitcase with the boyfriend’s remains.
Ebanks was arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping. He has refused to speak to police and is being held on a $1 million bond.
