A North Carolina man serving a life sentence for the murder of his ex-girlfriend speaks out in a new prison interview

Grant Haze had a thriving music career in nightclubs and bars on the Caribbean island of St. John, but one fateful night would change that forever.

Haze, who is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina prison for the July 2011 murder of Laura Ackerson, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his sons, maintained his innocence during a new “20/20” interview.

“I’m not in jail because I’m a bad person,” Haze told ABC News’ Juju Chang. “I’m in jail because I killed a woman, and that didn’t happen.”

During the phone interview, Haze eventually admitted some details about what happened to Ackerson that night.

A native of Michigan, Ackerson moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she started as a waitress and hoped to start a life after high school. Haze met Ackerson while performing as a musician in local clubs. The two became a couple and eventually welcomed two baby boys.

Haze, who legally changed his surname Hayes to his stage name Haze, decided to grow his career outside of Raleigh, so he moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands to work in the booming nightlife scene.

ABC News spoke with a former music booker for Haze on the island of St. John. “He knew how to work his audience and play the right music for the people in the audience,” Jose, who asked that we use only his first name, recalled “20/20” about Haze.

Ackerson eventually followed Haze to the island to raise their family together. But her friends and family say they warned her about Haze and claimed there were problems in the relationship.

“He was very possessive, it was like he owned her,” claimed Robert Ackerson, Ackerson’s father.

Ackerson eventually returned to North Carolina with both of the couple’s sons because their youngest son was dealing with a medical problem that the family thought would be better treated in the US. Haze stayed behind and eventually met Amanda Hayes. Hayes, a background actor who appeared in “The Stepford Wives” and “The Sopranos,” quickly grew romantically close to Haze.

RELATED: Woman convicted in Laura Ackerson murder case released from NC prison, moved to Texas

As Haze and Hayes’ relationship developed, they made the decision to leave the island and move to New York City. There he continued the continuation of his music career.

In a quick turn of events, the two got married in Las Vegas. At the same time, Haze decided to take custody of the two boys he had with Ackerson, leading to a custody battle.

“The worst time in her life was when she couldn’t see her children. She was devastated,” said Ackerson’s close friend Heidi Schumacher.

Haze and Hayes moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and welcomed a baby girl together shortly after.

On the evening of July 13, 2011, Ackerson went to the couple’s apartment to visit her sons. She left a voicemail and told a friend she would visit her after the visit. That would be the last time anyone heard from Ackerson.

Chevon Mathes, Ackerson’s close friend and business partner, said her fear began to grow when Ackerson suddenly stopped responding to her calls. “It was very strange that it went straight to her voicemail because she always had that phone on,” Mathes said.

Mathes filed a missing person’s report and Raleigh police searched Ackerson’s home and contacted those closest to her. They spoke with Sha, Hayes’ eldest daughter from a previous relationship. Police discovered that the couple had rented a U-Haul trailer and driven more than 1,200 miles to visit Hayes’ sister, Karen Berry, in Texas.

Maj. Robert LaTour of the Raleigh Police Department made the same trip days later, and when he arrived at Berry’s home, Latour said she started crying and told him, “I was expecting you.” Before we speak, do you mind if I pray?”

Berry told investigators that the couple, who had left to return home to Raleigh, seemed nervous during the visit. She said they asked strange questions about alligators in the creek across the street and if they could use her boat for fishing. Berry also told detectives that Hayes talked to her about Ackerson and allegedly said, “I hurt her. I hurt her bad.” Berry’s story led to a thorough search of the house and surrounding grounds, as well as the creek across the street.

Researchers scoured the murky and alligator-infested Oyster Creek and when they found parts of a human torso among the vegetation, they wondered: Is it Ackerson?

Houston Police Department dive team members then searched beneath the surface of the muddy creek. Dive team member Mark Thorsen explained that “a body part, especially a hand, can get lost in something like that.” Eventually, they discovered more body parts, including a skull identified as that of Laura Ackerson.

Police continued to investigate and found a video of Haze purchasing muriatic acid and chemical resistant gloves in Texas.

Back in North Carolina, investigators found video of Haze purchasing a reciprocating saw and heavy-duty cleaning supplies in the early morning of July 14, just hours after Ackerson disappeared.

Haze and Hayes were both arrested and charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. They were tried separately, and Haze’s trial began in the fall of 2013. Prosecutors established Haze and Ackerson’s antagonistic relationship prior to her disappearance and uncovered a mountain of evidence they claimed linked him to the cover-up the murder.

Haze’s defense team argued that just because he participated in the cover-up of her murder does not mean he killed Ackerson. Instead, the defense claimed that Hayes was responsible for Ackerson’s death. They based their case on Amanda’s statement to her sister that she had hurt Laura.

But it didn’t take long for the jury to return a verdict of guilty in the first degree. Haze was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A few months after Haze’s conviction, Hayes’ trial began in North Carolina. Her defense team portrayed her as another victim of Haze. Hayes testified that she only learned that Ackerson was dead when they arrived in Texas at her sister’s home, where Haze threatened to harm both her and her daughter unless she helped him dispose of Ackerson’s remains. But prosecutors revealed footage of Hayes throwing away evidence, acting alone, that appeared to stymie the defense.

Hayes was found guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison.

Following the conviction in North Carolina, prosecutors in Texas filed additional charges against Hayes for tampering with the evidence of a crime. She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty years in prison in Texas, to be served after her prison sentence in North Carolina.

In the summer of 2024, Hayes was transferred from a North Carolina prison to serve her sentence in Texas.

During his interview with “20/20,” Haze admitted to dismembering Ackerson’s corpse but insisted he did not kill her. “Disrespecting Laura’s corpse is indefensible, but I did not kill Laura; I had nothing to do with her death,” Haze claimed.