Second man on trial for shooting death of 'Twink,' a beloved barber

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. --The state’s key witness came into the courtroom Tuesday in a wheelchair.

Trevon Giddens said he didn’t know he was part of a plot to track Brandon Golden - a man his cousin, Demaury Haywood, “had some personal problems with” - at the Fraternal Order of Eagles casino the night of Feb. 19, 2023. 

Devonte Travier

Giddens, a casino habitué, agreed to track Golden’s movements at the charity casino on Bluffton Road and report back to his cousin, Haywood, in texts on his cell phone, even though Giddens said he did so without knowing what was planned. 

Giddens went so far as to exit the casino to watch Golden and Fitts get into Golden’s minivan after a night of blackjack. All of it was caught on the casino’s camera.

The state says Haywood, 32, and Devonte Travier, almost 31, acted in concert that night and ambushed Golden’s minivan at the intersection of Winchester Road and the Airport Expressway, killing Daisha “Twink” Fitts in error and missing their target, Golden, altogether.

Golden and Fitts, 39, a popular barber in town, left the Bluffton Road casino at 11:24 p.m. and by 11:31 p.m. Golden was tearing back to the Eagles, distraught and crying out for help as Fitts lay back into the back seat, mortally wounded.

Haywood, 32, was convicted of murder in November, 2023, and sentenced to 60 years for murder and another 20 years for using a gun while committing the crime.

Demaury Haywood

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Chief Counsel Tesa Helge and Deputy Prosecutor Alik Hall, along with homicide detectives Liza Anglin and Luke MacDonald, are back as a team for Travier’s trial taking place this week in front of Magistrate Judge Samuel Keirns.

Travier is charged with murder. He’s also charged with methamphetamine dealing after he was pulled over in a traffic stop on Feb. 28, nine days after the homicide, with 128.5 grams of meth, but not before leading the Fort Wayne police on a chase and tossing the bag of meth out the window. 

For that he received additional charges of resisting arrest and obstruction of justice.

It was obvious when Giddens testified there was no love lost between him and Travier, who he claimed he didn’t know anyway.

When asked to identify Travier, he barely turned his neck around to indicate where Travier was sitting, while Travier stared straight past him.

Giddens testified he knew nothing of the homicide until the morning after it happened.

Giddens, who just after the homicide, was interrogated by the Fort Wayne Police for five hours, finally agreed to testify in exchange for no charges,  something Travier’s attorney, Tyree Barfield, pointed out. 

Barfield is attempting to throw shade on the state’s case by insisting that there is no direct evidence - no eyewitnesses or video to link him to the crime. 

Barfield discredited the use of GPS cell phone tracking to place his client at the casino location.

Helge in her opening arguments said that Haywood, held in the Noble County Jail on federal charges, called Travier to “give him instructions.”

Travier is also accused of ditching a key fob at Nail and Parrot Roads after he got in an accident. Anglin took herself and other homicide detectives to the area and dug around in the muck to find the key fob and a gun, both linked to the homicide.

Tying all of these components together will be the state’s task this week while Barfield does his best to change the narrative.