Transcript
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The following is for mature audiences only, so if you aren't cool with dark, disturbing, and depraved, you might want to keep it moving.
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Welcome to 10 Minute Murder.
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10 Minute Murder.
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There's a lot to be said for playing a bad guy in a movie. You get to chew the scenery, steal the spotlight, and walk away with some of the best lines.
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Lloyd Avery II, knew this firsthand when he made him name for himself as a gang member, the gang member who killed Ricky in the movie "Boys in the Hood".
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But for Lloyd, life didn't stop when the director yelled "cut". He took his Hollywood villain persona and really leaned into the method acting.
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Today we're talking about a man who went from Beverly Hills High to a gangland park bench with a stolen bike, somewhere mixed in between a Hollywood dream.
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What happens when a rising star trades auditions for tattoos and scripts for street cred?
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But before we get into that story, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable, you found the right podcast. Hit the follow button now for two episodes per week.
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And now, let's get into it.
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It was 2001, and Lloyd Avery II sat in the family garage with his younger brother, Che.
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Lloyd passed the bong across the dimly lit space, and Che took a hit that nearly floored him.
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"I had a good life," Lloyd said, breaking the silence with a statement that felt more like it belonged in a farewell letter rather than casual sibling banter.
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Then he added, "You want to hear something scary?"
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Che, fully aware that nothing good ever came after words like that, didn't hesitate to shut it down.
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Instead of replying, he grabbed a knife, flashed it in Lloyd's direction, and wordlessly suggested that the conversation end right there.
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Lloyd, apparently unfazed, took the hint, and hailed a few more hits from the bong and retreated to his bedroom for the night.
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If this exchange gives the impressions of two brothers stuffing it out in a rough neighborhood, think again.
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The Avery family wasn't struggling to make ends meet, or on the wrong side of the tracks, quite the opposite.
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That garage wasn't some gritty urban sprawl. It was on Cresson Heights Boulevard, brushing shoulders with Beverly Hills.
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Lloyd Avery's senior, the family patriarch, had built a stable and comfortable life as a service technician, earning enough to provide his family with a beautiful home.
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His wife, Linda, dedicated herself to raising their children, Lloyd Jr., Che, and their sister with care and precision.
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Linda wasn't just hands-on, she was determined. The Avery kids didn't just have a home in a good zip code, they had access to opportunities that parents dream about.
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The Avery family, especially, was a priority. Lloyd Jr. attended Beverly Hills High School, where the student directory read like a who's who of Hollywood royalty.
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Lloyd Jr. wasn't just another student at Beverly Hills High School, he was immersed in a world where the children of entertainment legends roam the halls.
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Rubbing elbows with Smoky Robinson's kids, and music producer Quincy Jones' family gave Lloyd more than just bragging rights. It gave him clarity.
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He knew what he wanted to be, not a lawyer, not a doctor, a rapper.
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Driven by ambition, Lloyd threw himself into his music. He worked tirelessly, eventually earning a spot at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College to refine his production skills.
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The path seemed to be set, music would be his future, but fates, as it often does, had other plans.
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Social connections introduced him to aspiring director John Singleton, a man with a vision and a script that would shake Hollywood to its core.
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Singleton was casting a movie that would become "boys in the hood." He needed someone for a brief but pivotal role.
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Lloyd Avery had that intangible quality, the kind of presence that makes people stop and stare.
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Two minutes of screen time, Lloyd transformed from a kid with a dream into the unforgettable gang member who gunned down Ricky and cold blood.
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That sawdoth shotgun became Lloyd's key to Hollywood, and suddenly, the doors to Tensil Town were wide open.
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Hollywood embraced Lloyd, offering him roles in TV series and films that steadily built his resume.
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He took him higher, painting the picture of an actor on the rise, but while the cameras loved him, Lloyd's heart still beat to a different rhythm.
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Music, he used his growing fame as a platform to reignite his first love, pouring his energy into crafting his own sound.
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For a moment, it seemed like Lloyd Avery the second was living the dream.
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He had a star on screen and a burgeoning musician off screen, but the spotlight isn't always kind. And behind the scenes, cracks were starting to form.
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On the surface, he seemed to be living a life that most could only envy. Hollywood success, connections, and the allure of fame.
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It was all his, but behind the scenes something had cracked wide open.
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Not long after "boys in the hood" catapulted him into the public eye, Lloyd made a move that left everyone stunned.
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He abandoned his life in Beverly Hills for a place called the Jungle, a notorious Los Angeles neighborhood firmly planted in Blood's territory.
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The irony wasn't lost on anyone. Lloyd had stepped directly into the world of his "boys in the hood" character.
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Malcolm Norington, one of Lloyd's co-stars from "boys", later shared his disbelief. He was kind of meek. He was not anything near a street guy.
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Within a year of "boys" I was hearing about him missing auditions. I don't remember when I heard about him joining a gang. I just remember being perplexed.
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To me it was like, "What is he doing? Blooding?" Lloyd, come on.
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But the rumors were true. Lloyd wasn't just dabbling. He was fully committed. He even had jungle tattooed above his eyebrow, a permanent declaration of his allegiance.
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As his Hollywood trajectory stalled, so did Lloyd's grip on the life he worked so hard to build.
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Family members found themselves fielding visits from detectives, looking for him. And his younger brother, Che, began noticing a change.
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Che could sense a weight on Lloyd's shoulders, the heaviness of choices that couldn't be undone.
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He also knew that his brother had gotten tangled up with dangerous people. People he didn't cross lightly.
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The unease, simmered, unspoken, but palpable.
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The answers, Che feared, would come soon enough. The night and the garage would be their last ordinary moment. By the next day, the truth about Lloyd's downward spiral would come crashing into the light.
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By the time the police caught up, finally, to Lloyd Avery II, he wasn't exactly hiding. It was more like he had grown tired of running.
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One morning Lloyd left the house on a bicycle. A stolen one he'd once swiped to get to a movie set on time.
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He stepped up to the driver's side of a police car station nearby and casually asked the officer, "What's up?"
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For a moment, it looked like Lloyd was ready to turn himself in. The officer sprang into action, but Lloyd's resolve wavered.
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He took off on the bike, darting through narrow streets and what can only be described as an ill-conceived escape attempt.
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It didn't last long. A second police cruiser blocked his path, and Lloyd was arrested.
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While Lloyd's Hollywood roles cast him as a criminal, it turned out the line between fiction and reality was razor-thin.
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Authorities had been searching for Lloyd for over two years, and it wasn't just for minor infractions. He was wanted for double murder.
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In the summer of 1999, Lloyd confronted two people in a park in the heart of the jungle, a net Lewis and Percy Branch.
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The two allegedly owed the blood's money for drugs. Lloyd, eager to prove his worth to the gang, demanded they pay up.
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The situation escalated quickly. A net and Percy refused, and an argument broke out.
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Determined to win, Lloyd pulled out a gun and fired. A net succumbed to her injuries later that day.
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Percy, hit in the stomach, clung to life for three agonizing weeks before the complications from the gunshot claimed his life.
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Lloyd's double life was laid bare. At home, he played the role of the ambitious, well-educated eldest son with a budding Hollywood career.
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But in the jungle, he became the gang-affiliated criminal he'd once only portrayed on screen.
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Convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, Lloyd was sentenced to a life in prison.
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Once inside, the man who had worked so hard to shed his privileged upbringing pivoted again.
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He claimed to have found God, adopting a devout faith that earned him the nickname "Baby Jesus" among his fellow inmates.
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But this wasn't a story of redemption. Lloyd's cellmate, Kevin Roby, better known by his chilling nickname, "Satanic Christ" had other plans.
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In 2005, he orchestrated a ritual meant to send a message to God himself. During a Satanic ceremony, Roby strangled Lloyd to death.
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Lloyd Avery II was just 36 years old. His murder went unnoticed by prison officials for two days, a grim and fittingly chaotic end to a life of duality, deception and unfulfilled potential.
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He's been a 10-minute murder for today, brief and binge-a-bull true crime. I'm Joe, the host, and thank you for taking the time to listen.
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And new listeners? Hear my words. Subscribe right now. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, hit the subscribe button right now.
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And it's more easily going to help you catch up on all the back episodes. And when you come to the app, whatever app you use to listen, when you open it, boom, right there is going to be 10-minute murder.
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And you can also follow me on social media, links or in the show notes or you can go to 10-minute-murder.com. And that'll have all the links there as well.
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I haven't read an email in a little while, so let's do that. Hello, Joe, the host. I'm curious as to why you decided to start a new podcast. Are you getting tired of covering murders all the time or what?
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I do love the new one, but I just wanted to know if there was a reason. Melanie in ATX. And Melanie, I'm assuming ATX is Austin, Texas, right?
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I think I'm right about that. Melanie, first of all, thanks for the email. And second, I could answer this as simply as saying, "I just like mystery stories." But obviously there's more to it.
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And you're close with what your assumption is that I'm getting tired of doing murder stories. I'm not getting tired of it, but I can tell you that it weighs on me mentally.
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And day in, day out, your researching cases, your reading about murder stories, and this isn't fiction. This stuff happened.
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So for like you, you can take a little bit of a break. You can not listen to the podcast for a couple of days and come back to it, refreshed.
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For me, if I want to keep up with the grueling schedule of putting out episodes, I almost always have to be looking into cases and reading up on this stuff.
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Let's take a toll on me mentally so I need it like another outlet, and I love mystery stories. So I created the podcast, "10 Minute Mystery."
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And it's much more fun than this one is. I wouldn't call it what I do here, "Fun." It's interesting. What I do over there is more fun for me. I can be a little funnier. I can say things that I can't say here, over there. I can be a little bit weird over there on 10 Minute Mystery.
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But true crime, and specifically talking about these cases, is always going to be my true love. I do love this podcast. I love doing it. And I wouldn't stop doing it even if you gave me the opportunity to do it.
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I enjoy doing this podcast for you to listen to. And by the way, if you haven't checked out the new podcast, "10 Minute Mystery," it's available nearly every place that this podcast is available. So give it a follow.
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And that's going to do it. That is your episode for today. Thank you so much for listening to "10 Minute Murder."
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[Music]
