North Carolina man serving life for ex-girlfriend's murder speaks in new prison interview

Grant Haze had a burgeoning music career playing nightclubs and bars on the Caribbean Island of St. John, but one fateful night would change that forever.

Haze, who is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina prison for the July 2011 murder of Laura Ackerson, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his sons, maintained his innocence during a new "20/20" interview.

"I'm not in prison for being a bad person," Haze told ABC News' Juju Chang. "I'm in prison for killing a woman, and that didn't happen."

During the phone interview, Haze would ultimately admit to some details about what happened to Ackerson that night.

Ackerson, a Michigan native, moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she began waitressing and hoped to begin life after high school. Haze met Ackerson while he was performing as a musician in local clubs. The two became a couple, eventually welcoming two baby boys.

Haze, who legally changed his surname Hayes to his stage name Haze, decided to grow his career beyond Raleigh, so he moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands to work in the thriving nightlife scene.

ABC News spoke with a former music booker for Haze on the island of St. John. "He knew how to work his crowd and play the right music for the people in the audience," Jose, who requested we use only his first name, recalled to "20/20" about Haze.

Ackerson eventually followed Haze to the island to raise their family together. But her friends and family say they warned her against Haze, claiming there was trouble growing in the relationship.

"He was very possessive, it was like he owned her," Robert Ackerson, Ackerson's father, alleged.

Ackerson eventually returned with both the couple's sons to North Carolina because their younger son was facing a medical issue that the family believed would be better treated in the U.S. Haze stayed behind and eventually met Amanda Hayes. Hayes, a background actor who appeared in "The Stepford Wives" and "The Sopranos," quickly grew close to Haze romantically.

RELATED: Woman convicted in Laura Ackerson murder case released from NC prison, moved to Texas

As the relationship between Haze and Hayes developed, they made the decision to leave the island and move to New York City. There he continued the pursuit of his music career.

In a rapid turn of events, the two married in Las Vegas. At the same time, Haze moved to take custody of the two boys he had with Ackerson, sparking a custody battle.

"The worst time in her life was when she did not get to see her kids. She was devastated," Ackerson's close friend Heidi Schumacher said.

Haze and Hayes moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and soon after welcomed a baby girl together.

On the evening of July 13, 2011, Ackerson went to the couple's apartment to visit her sons. She left a voicemail telling a friend that she would be stopping by to see her after the visit. That would be the last time anyone heard from Ackerson.

Chevon Mathes, Ackerson's close friend and business partner, said her fear began to grow when Ackerson suddenly stopped responding to her calls. "It was very odd that it was going straight to her voicemail because she always had that phone on," Mathes said.

Mathes filed a missing person's report and Raleigh police searched Ackerson's home and contacted those closest to her. They spoke with Sha, Hayes' eldest daughter from a prior relationship. Police learned that the couple rented a U-Haul trailer and drove more than 1,200 miles to visit Hayes' sister, Karen Berry, in Texas.

Maj. Robert LaTour of the Raleigh Police Department made this same journey days later, and when he arrived at Berry's house, Latour says she began to cry and told him, "I've been expecting you. Before we speak do you mind if I pray?"

Berry told investigators that the couple, who had left to return back home to Raleigh, seemed nervous during the visit. She said they asked peculiar questions about alligators in the creek across her street and if they could use her boat to fish. Berry also told detectives that Hayes had spoken to her about Ackerson, allegedly saying, "I hurt her. I hurt her bad." Berry's account sparked a thorough search around the home and surrounding property as well as the creek across the street.

Investigators scoured the murky and alligator infested Oyster Creek and when they found portions of a human torso floating among the vegetation they wondered --- Is it Ackerson?

Dive team members for the Houston police department then searched beneath the surface of the muddy creek. Dive team member Mark Thorsen explained "a body part, especially a hand, can get lost in something like that." Eventually they discovered more body parts --- including a skull that was identified as Laura Ackerson's.

The police continued their investigation and found video of Haze purchasing muriatic acid and chemical resistant gloves in Texas.

Back in North Carolina, investigators found video of Haze in the early morning of July 14, only hours after Ackerson disappeared, buying a reciprocating saw and heavy-duty cleanup items.

Haze and Hayes were both arrested and charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. They were tried separately, and Haze's trial began in the fall of 2013. The prosecution established Haze's and Ackerson's antagonistic relationship prior to her disappearance and revealed a mountain of evidence they claimed tied him to the coverup of the murder.

Haze's defense team argued that just because he participated in the coverup of her murder, does not mean he killed Ackerson. Instead, the defense alleged that Hayes was responsible for Ackerson's death. They built their case on Amanda's statement to her sister that she had hurt Laura.

But it didn't take long for the jury to come back with a first-degree guilty verdict. Haze was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A few months after Haze's conviction, Hayes' trial began in North Carolina. Her defense team portrayed her as another victim of Haze. Hayes testified that she didn't learn Ackerson was dead until they arrived in Texas at her sister's house, where Haze threatened to harm both her and her daughter unless she helped him dispose of Ackerson's remains. But prosecutors revealed images of Hayes disposing of evidence, acting alone, that appeared to counter the defense.

Hayes was found guilty of the lesser charge of murder in the second degree. She was sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison.

Following the conviction in North Carolina, prosecutors in Texas brought additional charges against Hayes for tampering with the evidence of a crime. She was put on trial, found guilty, and sentenced to 20 years in Texas to be served after her North Carolina prison term.

In the summer of 2024, Hayes was transferred from a prison in North Carolina to serve her sentence in Texas.

During his interview with "20/20," Haze admitted dismembering Ackerson's corpse, but insisted that he did not murder her. "Disrespecting Laura's corpse is indefensible, but I didn't kill Laura; I had nothing to do with her death," claimed Haze.