Murder of Jennifer Cave

The murder of Jennifer Cave occurred in the West Campus area of Austin, Texas.

[1] In 2009, Chuck Lindell of the Austin American-Statesman called it the "most infamous West Campus crime".

[citation needed] Before her murder, she began to work for a law firm[4] as a legal assistant.

[6] Colton Aaron Pitonyak[7] was a finance major at the University of Texas at Austin,[6] originating from Bryant, Arkansas, in Greater Little Rock.

In 2004, police found cocaine, prescription sleeping pills that he had unlawfully obtained, and anxiety medication in his apartment.

[6] Laura Ashley Hall[12] was a University of Texas at Austin student who at one time had been Pitonyak's girlfriend.

[6] Jennifer Cave died in Pitonyak's apartment at the Orange Tree Condominiums,[15] at 2529 Rio Grande Street in West Campus, Austin, Texas.

He shot her through the arm, bullet traveled into the chest, through the heart pretty much killing her instantly.

Toxicology tests concluded that during her death, Cave had alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamine in her system.

On August 18, the Sedwicks traveled to Austin and found Cave's car at Pitonyak's apartment.

[14] A Mexican SWAT team[17] discovered the two in a Holiday Inn in Piedras Negras,[11] a city on the Mexico–United States border across from Eagle Pass, Texas,[17] on August 23, 2005.

[19] In 2010, a jury in Travis County, Texas, resentenced Hall to the maximum possible sentence, including prison and $14,000 ($19561.12 when adjusted for inflation) in fines.

[13] On August 3, 2010, Hall was taken into the custody of the state prison system, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).

[20] As of 2023, Colton Pitonyak, TDCJ#01413729 and State ID (SID)#07004898, is incarcerated in the Memorial Unit in Rosharon, Texas.

[3] In 2008, Kathryn Casey wrote the book A Descent into Hell: The True Story of an Altar Boy, a Cheerleader, and a Twisted Texas Murder (ISBN 9780061230875) about the crime.

In 2020, A seven-part podcast called "The Orange Tree", published by The Drag, which is an audio production house at the University of Texas, took a deep dive look at Jennifer's life, the trials and the appeals.