The Murder of Tiffany Pugh
For this case, I watched an episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn. It’s season 27 episode 5, titled ‘When the Music’s Over.’
A loving mother is killed in her home while her children were asleep just feet away.
Background
Tiffany Pugh was just 30 years old at the time of her death. She met her husband, Andre Pugh during her senior year at Clark University in Atlanta. After graduating with a degree in business, she started working at Delta Airlines and quickly moved up in the company.
Tiffany and Andre got married on February 14, 2009, and quickly had 2 children. Andre worked as a DJ in the Atlanta nightclub scene and was known as DJ Awesome.
It seemed like they had a perfect life, family, and home together.
Tiffany was described by her father, Tommy Jackson, as an amazing wife and mother. He also said she was fun-loving, smart, and driven.
Tiffany Pugh
The 911 Call
In the early morning hours of Sunday, November 23, 2014, Andre Pugh called 911. He said he had been at work at Club Onyx and received a phone call from ADT that his alarm had been triggered.
Andre told the dispatcher that his 2 young children were also inside the home.
Tiffany was found dead in a guest bedroom on the first floor of the home. One of the children was found in the bedroom with her. Both of the children were found unharmed and were reunited with Andre.
When the police arrived, they found a back gate, side door, and back window open.
Tiffany had been shot at 3 times. The first shot missed her, went through the headboard, and out the back of the house. The 2nd shot went through her chest, and the 3rd was to her head at point-blank range.
Despite Andre telling the police that he believed it was a home invasion, nothing had been taken from the home.
The Home Surveillance System
The police obtained the surveillance footage from the Pugh home. There were about 6-7 cameras on the exterior and interior of the home.
Just minutes before the alarm was triggered, a black colored car was seen pulling up to the home. The footage was too blurry to reveal the license plate number. The shooter was never seen on camera almost like they knew where the cameras were.
Andre was questioned at the police station and asked about his whereabouts leading up to the murder.
On Saturday night, Andre was DJing at Club Onyx. He then received a call from the alarm company. He told the police that he wasn’t concerned at first, and asked for the alarm to be turned off so the kids wouldn’t wake up.
On his way home, he tried calling Tiffany several times, but there was no answer.
Andre said he called his boss, Cliff, and asked him to meet him at his house. When he arrived home, he noticed that the side gate was open. He said he had never left it open before.
He said he walked to the bedroom and called Tiffany’s name. He called 911 when she didn’t respond.
Andre said that he and Tiffany had a great marriage He said they had arguments like every other marriage. He told the police that Tiffany was “his heart,” and spoke about how beautiful their children were.
Andre told the police that Tiffany slept in the guest room on Saturdays so that he could get a good night's sleep after his club appearances. He said he often returned home around 5:30 am on Sunday mornings.
A Possible Theory
The police interviewed Andre’s boss, Cliff. Cliff revealed that Andre called him around 6:05 am. He said he arrived before the police did. Cliff said that Andre told him the alarm was triggered by the basement window being opened.
However, the windows in the house were equipped with glass break sensors. A window in the guest room and the living room had been set off even though they weren't open or broken. Any loud noise can set off the glass break sensor. The gunshots had triggered these sensors. The alarm company also never revealed to Andre which window had been opened.
Andre was asked to hand his phone over to the police and was given a gunshot residue test. The test came back negative.
Andre also revealed to the police that another DJ had been killed about 10 months before Tiffany was. William Fernando Barnes, also known as DJ Nando was shot and killed on his front doorstep in January.
The police investigated whether or not Andre was the intended target. However, that was quickly ruled out.
A Troubled Marriage
The police quickly learned that Tiffany and Andre’s marriage was in trouble.
The manager of Club Onyx said that the fame quickly went to Andre’s head. She also heard rumors that Andre was leaving the club with different women and that Tiffany may have found out about it.
Tiffany’s dad, Tommy said that Tiffany had confided in him that she had asked Andre for a divorce. Tommy asked her how Andre took this and she said he didn’t seem upset by it.
When Tommy revealed this to the police, he also asked them if they had located Andre’s 2nd cell phone. The police didn’t know anything about a 2nd phone and obtained a search warrant for it.
The records showed that Tiffany and Andre had been exchanging messages in the days leading up to the murder. Tiffany wanted to leave but Andre wasn’t going to let her. In one message she told Andre that she wasn’t going to let him threaten her.
The Evidence
One of Tiffany and Andre’s neighbors reported that they had seen some unusual activity on their surveillance footage from the night of the murder. The police originally had seen one dark vehicle showing up at the Pugh home. However, a 2nd dark car with a broken front light was seen driving around the block several times.
The police believed that Andre was in the 2nd car. Both of the lights on his car were working. The other car belonged to the shooter.
The police collected the records from a cell tower near the Pugh home. They searched the phone numbers of every phone that used it in a 3-hour window.
The numbers were cross-referenced the phone numbers from both of Andre’s phones. It revealed that the number belonged to someone named Adrian Harley. Adrian was Andre’s best friend. He had been Andre’s best man at his wedding. He was also the godfather of one of their children and had been a pallbearer at Tiffany’s funeral.
Andre Pugh and Adrian Harley
With Friends Like These…
When the police went to speak to Adrian, they noticed that one of his front lights was out on his car.
The police didn’t reveal anything to Adrian when they interviewed him. But he lied about his whereabouts from the night of the murder.
After his interview, Adrian visited Andre at Club Onyx to tell him about his police interview. After Adrian and Andre were seen whispering to each other, several witnesses saw Andre throwing up in a trash can.
Both men were arrested. There was evidence evidence to charge both of them with murder.
Andre told the police after his arrest that Adrian had revealed to him that he killed Tiffany. He said Adrian had a bad temper. Adrian became angry when Tiffany said he was stealing money from her.
Adrian refused to talk and refused to testify against Andre.
The Convictions
It’s believed that Andre and Adrian had been planning the murder for weeks if not months. The downfall of their murder plot was the alarm going off.
Andre also believed that his 2nd cell phone with evidence of their phone calls would never be found.
In 2018, Andre Pugh was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Adrian Harley was also sentenced to life in prison.
Harley and Pugh’s mugshots
FINAL THOUGHTS
My heart goes out to Tommy and to Andre and Tiffany’s children. Andre knew his children would be in the home that night and didn’t care about their safety. Not only did they possibly hear the gunshots, but one of them was in bed with Tiffany. They have also lost both of their parents. Andre thought he was the shit and didn’t want to lose his home, his possessions, or the control of Tiffany and the children. Adrian ruined his life after he agreed to go along with his “friend’s” plan.
Sources
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/club-dj-convicted-in-wifes-murder
