Council trial: CresCom bank robbery victim’s family details getting news of her death
Tracy Skeen tried to call his wife, Katie, shortly after 1 p.m. on Aug. 21, 2017, when the Conway CresCom bank she managed was robbed. She didn’t answer, which was odd, so he headed to the branch.
That is when police called and asked him to come to the station instead.
“I knew when they didn’t want me at the hospital. They didn’t want me at the bank. I knew it was bad,” Tracy Skeen said.
At the station, he saw a husband of one of Skeen’s coworkers who told Tracy his wife died.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Tracy Skeen said, fighting through tears on a federal court witness stand.
Several of Katie Skeen’s friends and family testified Wednesday. Their comments were part of the prosecution’s case to convince a jury to sentence Brandon Council to death for a double murder and robbery at the bank.
The jury convicted Council earlier this week. Council shot and killed Skeen and coworker Donna Major during the robbery.
Throughout most of the trial, Skeen’s and Major’s families have sat silent watching the proceedings. Wednesday was different. It was filled with a few laughs at stories about Katie Skeen. Mostly the silence was replaced by sobs as the family talked about the impact of Katie Skeen’s death.
Tracy Skeen recalled how he told their two sons about Katie’s death. The next day their teenage son posted on social media about his mom.
“You were my everything,” he wrote and Tracy Skeen read to the jury.
“I love you momma,” the teen wrote. “I just never told you enough. I wish I could tell you every second.”
Tracy Skeen read the message through tears, though the moment overwhelmed him and a prosecutor finished reading the post.
Katie Skeen was always there for the boys and knew what to say to make them feel better, Tracy Skeen said. She kept food on the table — though it took her a while to hone her cooking skills — and the bills paid.
Tracy Skeen said he frequently went by the CresCom bank to eat lunch with his wife or to drop off a Mountain Dew. Katie Skeen asked her husband on the day she died if he was coming to lunch. He declined as he was still tired from the couple’s trip the weekend before to chaperone teens from their church.
Throughout his testimony, monitors in the courtroom showed images from Skeen’s life, including one of Katie as a blonde. She was wearing a black dress and a pink happy birthday tiara. Tracy Skeen said that moment best described Katie.
“She’s glowing and the bright smile,” Tracy said. “She just lit up a room. She made the world a better place.”
Katie Skeen’s mother, Betty Davis, talked about how Katie had her father wrapped around her finger. Just a couple of words could often get her out of trouble. Davis initially spoke in a matter-of-fact tone about Katie’s childhood, until prosecutors asked about the impact of Katie’s death.
“Oh God, I didn’t tell her how proud I was,” said Davis as she started to cry. “For the way she cared for people. The way she cared for her kids.”
On Aug. 21, 2017, Davis’ husband received a call about the bank robbery, and he said he had to leave. One of Skeen’s children was at the house and Betty told him they needed to follow her husband to see if Katie was OK.
While traveling from the Green Sea home to Conway, Davis said they were told not to go to the bank and instead head to the police station. They did. She said she wouldn’t make the same decision today.
“I would have went to the bank,” Davis said, now in full tears. “She needed me. I needed to hug her. She didn’t have to die alone. I could have been there.”
As Davis left the witness stand and went back to the gallery, she dobbed her teary eyes with a tissue. That was until she walked between a table that housed the prosecution and one where the defense sat.
Davis’ head turned and she stared at Council, who sat just feet away. No words were exchanged, but the look conveyed her thoughts toward the man who killed her daughter.
This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 1:57 PM.
