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When a 911 call came through at about 5 am on Friday, October 7, 2022, Jacob Piercy told the dispatcher that his roommate’s young daughter had just woken him up, telling him, something is wrong with mommy, mommy won’t wake up.
When first responders arrived at 28-year-old Katlyn Lyon Montgomery’s Forest, Virginia apartment, they found her unresponsive & immediately suspected she’d suffered a drug overdose. Jacob insisted that neither he nor Katlyn were drug users while police & first responders remained adamant that Katlyn was suffering from classic symptoms of an overdose.
As investigators remained in her apartment, they quickly realized that there were no drugs at the scene while medical staff noticed injuries forming on her head & neck. Wrapped up in the comforter on her bed, an investigator found multiple charging cords that may have caused those injuries.
Katlyn’s mom, Crystal Sale, was holding vigil at her daughter’s bedside when she was told that what was going on with her daughter had nothing to do with drugs, instead, someone had strangled Katlyn. She couldn’t imagine who would have wanted to hurt her daughter since as far as she knew, Katlyn didn’t have an enemy in the world.
According to her obituary, Katlyn Elizabeth Lyon Montgomery was born on May 22, 1994 to parents Crystal & David. She had three brothers, Jacob, Jordan & Grayson. When she realized she was pregnant & would soon be a single mother, according to Crystal, her independent daughter never missed a beat, somehow managing to juggle parenthood while working full-time as a restaurant manager.
Katlyn’s main focus in life was caring for her young daughter, Milani. She adored traveling, mac n’ cheese & everything she did, she did with an iced coffee in hand. She was a fashionista who loved the color purple & electronic dance music, something she discovered alongside her brother, Jake.
According to investigator Robbie Burnette, there were two distinctive marks running parallel to each other across Katlyn’s neck. Since they hadn’t initially been visible, the injuries happened very recently, likely within an hour or so of her transfer to the hospital.
Katlyn’s apartment, which is on the second floor on the right end of the building, was secured & processed after it was determined to be a crime scene. Unfortunately, by this time it had been disturbed by first responders as well as her roommate’s dogs.
Since first responders immediately suspected a drug overdose rather than foul play, Katlyn’s family were given permission to wash her sheets & clean up, potentially washing away valuable forensic evidence. It wasn’t until the charging cables were found & bruising was seen when investigator Michelle Alderson suspected that she had been attacked on the bed. There were no fingerprints or DNA found at the scene, including on the charging cords that had no doubt been used to strangle Katlyn.
29 hours after arriving at the hospital, doctors had sadly determined that Katlyn was brain dead. She was removed from life support the following day on Saturday, October 9. Before this happened, she was escorted from her hospital room to fulfill her final wishes to be an organ donor, a moment her aunt shared on TikTok, while other family members posted photos & videos in remembrance of Katlyn.
Feeling utterly devastated at the sudden, violent loss of her daughter, Crystal couldn’t comprehend that her granddaughter would grow up without her mother after someone had intentionally taken her life. Investigator Burnette assured Crystal that they would find whoever did this to her daughter.
Since there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment, paired with the fact that Katlyn’s new roommate, Jacob Piercy, had been the only other adult present, made him an obvious suspect. Although he had been the one to call 911, investigators felt 99% certain that he was the killer.
However, Crystal’s sister, Tina Hopkins, believed otherwise, suspecting that Katlyn’s ex-boyfriend, Trenton Frye, had been responsible. Her niece had only broken up with him ten days earlier after catching him in a massive lie.
When investigators spoke with Trenton on the phone, he said that he hadn’t been in Virginia recently & had been working three hours away in North Carolina where he lived, but he agreed to come in for an interview. Since he seemed cooperative & appeared to have an alibi, authorities focused their attention on Jacob Piercy in the meantime. Their suspicions against him only ramped up when Milani said my brother killed my mom. Apparently Brother was a nickname she used for Jacob.
While the investigation continued, sisters Crystal, Tina & Sherry, who often made TikTok videos as a fun way to stay connected, began using their platforms to bring attention to Katlyn’s case. Since Crystal was so engulfed in the grief of losing her daughter, Tina stepped up to the plate & often posted updates.
Jacob remained adamant that he had nothing to do with Katlyn’s death & said that he’d last seen her while they were watching TV together in the living room. He was interviewed multiple times, his body was photographed for any signs of defensive wounds & his cell phone was confiscated.
Although Jacob was extremely cooperative, investigators were hung up on what Milani had said about seeing him murder her mom. However, investigator Burnette soon realized that what Milani had been describing as Jacob murdering her mom had actually been the description of him performing CPR on Katlyn. When Milani demonstrated what she saw with her hands, it matched the motions of chest compressions. When Burnette listened to the 911 call, he could hear Jacob’s exertion as he performed CPR while he remained on the line.
At this point, investigators turned their attention back to Katlyn’s ex-boyfriend, Trenton Frye. When they tried reaching him after their initial conversation, they learned that he’d checked himself into a mental health facility after having some sort of breakdown.
When authorities spoke with Katlyn’s friend & former roommate, Hannah McDowell, she indicated she & Katlyn had connected over their shared frustrations about the local dating scene in Bedford County, Virginia. This prompted them to begin searching for love online, which was how Katlyn met Trenton in January 2022, nine months before her death.
Katlyn had been hoping to find a man who she could settle down with, someone who could step in as a father-figure in Milani’s life & Trenton seemed to be the perfect fit. The North Carolina native was successful, tall, very much into fitness & seemed to be marriage material.
According to Katlyn’s brother, Jake Lyon, Trenton seemed like a really impressive guy who ran a security company as well as a construction company. Since he always spoke about contracting work, Katlyn’s Aunt Sherry had talked about him doing her floors.
However, Katlyn’s roommate Hannah couldn’t understand how Trenton, who lived & worked three hours away in North Carolina, managed to spend weeks at a time at their place while running two businesses. When she left for work in the morning, came home for lunch in the afternoon & then again in the evening, he was always there, lounging on their couch. She couldn’t help but notice that Katlyn wasn’t leaving the apartment all that much either.
After meeting Trenton, Katlyn, who had always been such an outgoing, vibrant woman, seemed more quiet & isolated than her usual self. Rather than hanging out with friends & going out to dance, she was spending all of her time with Trenton. When she did go out, he would track her location.
Crystal was concerned about her daughter’s relationship, but when she brought it up to her, Katlyn never discussed any issues. Since her daughter was strong & independent, she knew she could handle herself.
Katlyn had however, opened up about some of her frustrations to her Aunt Sherry, venting that she was always the one to pay for everything despite the fact that Trenton owned multiple businesses.
As their relationship progressed, Trenton was trying to convince Katlyn to move to North Carolina, promising he would find them an apartment.
However, moving forward to early September 2022, one month before Katlyn’s death, Trenton admitted that he wasn’t able to find a place for them since he lacked both the credit & source of income to qualify. Aunt Sherry remembers getting a phone call from her niece who called her from work. Katlyn was hysterical as she told her that their entire relationship had been a lie. Not only did he not own two businesses, but he had no job. The car he drove was owned by his mom & because he didn’t have a place to live, he’d been sleeping in his car.
Feeling utterly betrayed, Katlyn ended their relationship days later & blocked Trenton from all forms of communication. When she realized that her friend, Jacob Piercy, was looking for a place to live, she asked if he would want to move into a new place with her & Milani. He agreed & they moved into the Jefferson Forest Manor Apartments in Forest, Virginia.
When Trenton checked himself into the mental health facility after Katlyn’s murder, investigators were able to get his cell phone. Although he claimed that he hadn’t recently been in Virginia in the timeframe before her death, they learned that his cell phone had been pinging off of a tower in Virginia near Katlyn’s apartment on October 4, three days before she was attacked.
When authorities spoke with two of her neighbors in the complex, they recalled seeing an unfamiliar man sitting at a picnic table for hours on end. One had even snapped a photo of the man in question on the afternoon before her attack on Thursday, October 6.
The photo clearly depicted Trenton while Katlyn had been completely unaware that he’d been watching her. Two hours after the photo was taken, surveillance video showed Trenton’s SUV pulling into a gas station near the apartment complex. When he went inside, they could see he’d changed his clothing & he now wore all black.
Right around this time, he texted Aunt Sherry, asking if she still wanted him to do her floors. Rather than responding, she immediately called Katlyn, who unblocked his number & texted him, telling him not to contact her aunt anymore.
Their texts got heated & he told Katlyn he didn’t like that she was living with Jacob. He called her a lowlife piece of sh!t & told her karma is a b!tch.
Kaitlyn called Jacob to let him know what was going on & he was able to hear how scared she sounded as she told him that she wanted to go to her mom’s house to get a pistol to protect herself. However, in the end, she decided not to. That night, Jacob, Katlyn & Milani had dinner together & watched TV.
Right around midnight, Jacob heard a noise near their second-story balcony, but when he pulled the curtains aside, he didn’t see anything. Although he believed that he locked the sliding door, investigators learned that the lock had been broken & it’s likely Trenton gained access into the apartment this way.
According to his Google searches, he looked up layouts of the unit which likely helped him find Katlyn’s room. Investigators believe that while Katlyn had been sleeping, he straddled her body, strangling her to death with charging cords while her daughter slept nearby.
After he slipped back out of the apartment, Milani ran to Jacob, telling him that something was wrong with her mom. Based on his cell phone searches, he looked up breaking news, specifically searching for any arrest warrants that might be out for himself.
Thirteen days after Katlyn was attacked, investigators went to the mental health facility in North Carolina. As soon as they walked in, Trenton said he knew why they were there, but denied any involvement in Katlyn’s murder. He claimed that he checked himself into the facility because the only person he ever considered harming had been himself, saying that he cared far too much for Katlyn to ever hurt her.
With the damning cell phone data as well as the photo snapped by Katlyn’s neighbor, which proved he’d been near her apartment on the afternoon of her murder, he had no choice but to admit that it was true. He claimed he’d only been there to search for a job & an apartment, hoping he could eventually convince Katlyn to take him back, saying he was giving her space while he got his life together.
When faced with the evidence that he had lied to investigators, he said his memory had been faulty in the past month so he had no recollection of going there, claiming to black out for hours at a time, including in the hours around Katlyn’s murder. He denied using any drugs or alcohol to account for his memory loss.
When Trenton was arrested & charged with first-degree murder on October 20, 2022, he pleaded not guilty.
Nearly 2 ½ years later, the trial began on March 31, 2025. Prosecutors painted a picture of a man who would not accept Katlyn’s rejection. If he couldn’t have her, no one could. He stalked, obsessed over & ultimately strangled her to death. From the beginning he lied to investigators, claiming he’d been working & hadn’t been in Virginia & denied even knowing where Katlyn was currently living.
He maintained his claim of amnesia, saying that he didn’t remember anything because his whole head was messed up.
Regardless of his memory, digital data from his cell phone placed him in the area & his device made one very important connection after Katlyn & Milani went to bed. At 4:15 am, Trenton’s phone automatically connected to Milani’s iPad via bluetooth, the only proof that placed him inside that apartment as no DNA or fingerprint evidence had been found.
The noise that Jacob had heard hours earlier was likely when Trenton positioned a metal bench that belonged to their downstairs neighbor along the brick wall that was under their balcony. This gave him the leverage to reach the 2nd floor balcony into Katlyn & Jacob’s apartment.
When Trenton took the stand in his own defense, his memory from that night was suddenly intact. His story changed again & this time he admitted to spying on Katlyn, claiming he had only watched & walked around the complex, denying ever going inside her apartment. He said he would have to be a ninja in order to scale up to the 2nd story balcony without making a sound or alerting the dogs.
Although defense attorney Joseph Sanzone admits that Trenton was in the area, he argued that there was no proof that he’d been inside the apartment, pointing out the lack of forensic evidence at the scene. Meanwhile the prosecution pointed out the footage taken from a nearby gas station that proved Trenton had changed into an entirely black outfit in anticipation of breaking into Katlyn’s apartment.
Salzone also disputed the iPad bluetooth connection theory, saying they couldn’t prove Milani’s iPad had been in the apartment since investigators recovered it from Aunt Sherry’s house. According to Sherry, she grabbed it from her niece’s apartment when she picked Milani up after the attack.
Salzone argued that Jacob Piercy was much more likely the killer & suggested that Katlyn’s death had been accidental, saying that Jacob strangled her in a consensual sex act that went too far. However, according to testimony from the medical examiner, there was no evidence of any recent sexual activity, ruling this theory out.
As the jury broke for deliberations, there were three options: Guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree muder or not guilty. After one hour of deliberations, they were back with a verdict, finding Trenton Frye guilty of first-degree murder.
Four months later, when Katlyn’s family was back in court for sentencing, her brother Jake was given the opportunity to read his victim impact statement. He spoke about how Trenton didn’t just take a life, he destroyed an entire family & left a little girl to wake up next to her mother’s lifeless body. Milani now lives in fear of the dark where monsters can come into the safety of your home while you’re asleep.
Crystal hoped Trenton would receive a sentence of life in prison since they’re living a lifetime without Katlyn & the fact that Milani will grow up without a mother.
During his sentencing, Trenton stood & said he was sorry for their loss, never taking responsibility for Katlyn’s murder. The judge then sentenced him to life in prison.
Crystal is now using her TikTok account to share her daughter’s story in hopes that she might save someone else’s life. Her daughter’s last journal entry read, I am loved. Her family has since made bracelets with these words as a message to fight against domestic violence. It’s their goal for others to recognize the signs & realize that help is available, urging them to reach out. Crystal is also working to create a support group for other parents who have lost their children to violence.
The family continues to adapt after Katlyn’s death; Crystal has maintained her role as Milani’s grandmother while Aunt Sherry, who always shared a special bond with the little girl, is now her guardian. Meanwhile, Milani will be able to get to know her mom through the journals Katlyn left behind.
According to Crystal, her daughter was like glitter; she left a piece of herself everywhere she went & she wasn’t easy to forget. Katlyn was a mother, a daughter, a sister & a friend. To those who loved her the most, she was the brightest light in their lives.
If you are in an abusive relationship, please know that help is available 24/7 at the National Domestic Hotline by calling 800-799-7233 or by texting BEGIN to 88788.`
References:
- Heritage Funeral Services & Crematory: Katlyn Lyon Montgomery
- Law & Crime: Man texted ex-girlfriend about ‘karma’ before he strangled her to death with charging cables when she dumped him
- WDBJ7: “She wasn’t easy to forget.” Mother driven by loss of daughter to domestic violence speaks to raise awareness
- CBS News: Virginia woman was strangled with her child sleeping nearby, authorities say. Who was behind the deadly attack?
- CBS News: Virginia woman strangled days after dumping her deceptive boyfriend
