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One year after his murder, friends, family remember Cody Pitts
By Sarah Lehr
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 about 2:35 a.m. leaving the Downtown Coffee Cafe. 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 hooded 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. Many of them were teammates of Pitts when he played football for the Hubbard High School Eagles.
At his funeral last spring, Pitts’ family requested attendees wear casual athletic gear to honor Pitts’ love of sports.
He was a 2007 Hubbard High School graduate. Those who knew him described him as a dedicated friend, brother and son.
“He was never one to boast or seek the spotlight,” Kerola said. “He was quiet, but he was strong. If you got to know him, you realized why he was such a great guy.”
Hubbard Police Chief James Taafe, whose son was a friend of Pitts, described Pitts as “generous to a fault.”
“He never made any enemies as far as I know,” Taafe said. “He was happy go-lucky.”
Taafe declined to comment on specifics of the ongoing homicide investigation, but said he remains hopeful that someone will come forward with information.
“To tell you the truth, the most frustrating part of this, from a law- enforcement perspective and from the family’s perspective, is that someone out there knows something, heard something or was involved in some way and hasn’t come forward,” Taafe said.
“As to why someone would sit on that type of information, especially when this young man was so beloved by the community, I can’t explain it.”