Keys gets chance to clear his name

Although Skylar Keys wasn’t the man on trial this week in the murders of Danielle Baker and her children, Keys’ mother said she felt like her son had finally gotten his day in court and a chance to clear his name.
Shortly after the killings, law enforcement authorities learned that Keys and a companion had been at Cottondale Village Apartments in the early morning hours of March 17, 2005, the day Baker was killed in the complex.
His picture and a photograph of the other man were widely circulated as authorities tried to find and question him.
He turned himself in after learning that they were looking for him.
Keys, currently doing a stretch in Colorado on a drug offense, testified Wednesday about what he was doing at the apartments that morning.
He said he’d been there to visit a resident of the complex, Ashley Mihlfield.
Mihlfield partially backed him up on that testimony, saying he appeared at her door around 3:30 a.m that morning. He came in and used the restroom while his friend waited outside. The two then left.
Their stories diverged slightly on certain points, such as whether Keys had been invited to show up there at that time of morning.
Keys said he was hoping for more than friendship, while Mihlfield said that’s all she ever had in mind. She said he told her he needed a place to chill and hang out.
Keys said he knew from Mihlfield’s behavior that he wasn’t welcome at that hour, and left the complex. He said he’d been at the bowling alley in Marianna playing pool earlier, had one to Malone to drop a friend off, and come back to Marianna because he was still restless.
Mihlfield said he appeared nervous and “sweaty” when he turned up at her door.
He maintains he was calm and just looking to spend some time with her.
Keys mother, Anita Crawford, said after her son’s appearance in court Tuesday that she felt her son’s name had been “slandered” from coast to coast in the early days of the investigation. His picture appeared on national news , including CNN.
She said she hoped his calm demeanor in court Tuesday would put suspicion to rest about her son, and that she believes he presented himself as a believable and truthful witness.
“I knew from the get-go that my baby wasn’t involved in this horrible thing, and I think he proved his innocence today in court. My son was mistreated, and he nearly had a nervous breakdown over it all,” she said. “ He didn’t even know Danielle Baker. He had nothing to do with any of it, no matter what anybody was telling. His own baby was 16 days old when this happened, and there’s no way he could take the life of a child.” 
She doubts he could ever come back here and live comfortably, despite his being cleared of the murder, and she resents the shadow that has been cast over his life in this matter.
Instead, she said, he’s been getting an education in prison and has plans to start a new life far from here when he gets out. Hopefully, she said, that will be in January of next year.