One year later, search and hurt continue over killing of Hubbard man

Staff report

HUBBARD

Pam Kerola describes Cody Pitts, 26, of Hubbard as a “gentle giant.”

A year ago today, Pitts died from a single bullet to the head. His murder remains unsolved.

Following Pitts’ death, Kerola, a family friend, joined forces with other mothers whose sons were friends with Pitts.

“I don’t even remember how it started,” Kerola said. “We just knew we had to do something.”

The “Justice for Cody” committee has since raised more than $20,000 in reward money through CrimeStoppers for anyone with information related to the Pitts case.

Pitts’ body was found face down at 3:24 a.m. March, 7, 2015, on Orchard Avenue near North Main Street. He was last seen around 2:35 a.m. leaving the Downtown Coffee Café. Pitts, reportedly the last of his friends to exit, left the parking lot alone and walked west down Orchard Avenue while wearing a brown stocking cap, a gray hoodie sweatshirt and dark gray sweat pants.

Today, green ribbons and “Justice for Cody” signs proliferate throughout Hubbard. Pitts’ death came as a shock to the small, 8,000-person town, which, until Pitt’s murder, hadn’t had a homicide since the 1990s.

About 200 community members gathered along Orchard Avenue Saturday night for a candlelight vigil.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.