The silence of a Milwaukee apartment complex was shattered in the early hours of February 8, 2020, when a barefoot woman bleeding from the mouth ran through a parking lot screaming for her life. She was dragged back inside by a man and never seen alive again. That woman was 26-year-old Amara Banks, known to everyone as Jericho, a devoted mother of three who had just buried her youngest son hours earlier.
Her two daughters, 5-year-old Zaniah and 4-year-old Kamaria, were also inside the apartment at 5900 North Sherman Boulevard. By the time police finally entered the unit days later, the family had vanished, leaving behind only a blood-soaked carpet and a hole in the wall.
Jericho was a woman whose entire world revolved around her children. She had graduated from art school with honors, played the violin beautifully, and worked exhausting hours in a hospital laundry room to save every penny for a fresh start. Her brother David described her as someone who would work herself into the ground to give her kids everything they could want.
Her daughters Zaniah and Kamaria were inseparable, often dressing alike and sharing everything, almost like twins. Her 21-month-old son Zel, whom everyone called Zel, was always giggling and adored by his sisters. But tragedy struck when Zel died just short of his second birthday due to complications from bronchitis, a death that would unravel everything.
On February 7, 2020, Jericho held a Lion King-themed funeral for her son, pouring every ounce of her strength into giving him a proper send-off. After the service, she had wine at her sister’s house and asked to be driven home with her daughters in the early hours of February 8. The family made plans for brunch the next day.
At 1:30 a. m. , a neighbor heard thumping sounds against the wall, like someone being slammed repeatedly.
Another resident saw Jericho running barefoot and bleeding, screaming for someone not to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 her, before a man dragged her back inside and slammed the door. A 911 call was placed, with the caller pleading for help, saying he was beating the hell out of her.
Police arrived nine minutes later but could not locate the source of the call. Officers drove through the complex with windows down, parked for ten minutes, and reported seeing or hearing nothing indicative of a disturbance. They drove away.
The dispatcher had classified the call as a priority two, which does not require an immediate response, and failed to pass on that the caller lived next door to the noise. This critical error would later be condemned as a catastrophic failure. As hours passed, Jericho’s family grew frantic.
She was a creature of habit, always answering her phone, always following her routine. When she missed brunch and stopped responding to calls and messages, her mother Valeria knew something was deeply wrong.
The family filed a missing person’s report. Police finally determined the 911 call was about Jericho and entered her apartment. There were no signs of forced entry, but her belongings were untouched.
They found a large hole in a bedroom wall, a missing comforter, a napkin with blood drops, and a carpet soaked with bleach. A cadaver dog reacted strongly in the girls’ closet, where human blood was detected. In another room, investigators pulled up carpet to find the floor absolutely covered in blood.
It became clear a cleanup had been attempted, but the evidence of violence was overwhelming. Jericho’s phone and social media had been inactive since she was dropped home, an immediate red flag.
Police contacted 25-year-old Arzel Ivory, Jericho’s ex and the father of Zel and Zaniah. He told detectives he had been at her apartment after the funeral, a fight broke out, and he left to sleep in his truck before going to work. He claimed he had no idea where she or the girls could be and said he was leaving for work out of state, unable to help.
His calm demeanor and sudden travel plans struck investigators as odd, especially since he worked as a local security guard. An Amber Alert was finally issued nearly a week after the family disappeared, a delay that drew sharp criticism. Police Chief Alfonso Morales defended the decision, saying foul play was not initially part of the investigation.
The search intensified when Arzel’s father called police from Memphis, 600 miles away. He said his son had called him and calmly confessed to killing Jericho, Kamaria, and Zaniah before buying a gun and driving to Memphis to start a new life. Memphis authorities arrested Arzel on an aggravated battery charge, but he was the wrong man initially picked up.
He told detectives his father’s account was true and led them to a garage behind an apartment building on West Burley Street, close to where he had lived. There, police found the charred bodies of Jericho, Zaniah, and Kamaria. The Amber Alert ended in heartbreak, with the mayor calling the case horrific and beyond comprehension.
Autopsies confirmed all three had been strangled. There had been an attempt to dismember them, and their bodies were set on fire. Arzel’s charges were upgraded to three counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
He provided a chilling timeline during interrogation. He said the couple’s relationship had broken down after Zel’s death, which Jericho blamed on his negligence. Zel had been born with severe respiratory issues and was scheduled for surgery.
Arzel tried to drop him at daycare, but they refused because he was too sick. Instead of calling 911 or Jericho, he waited over an hour before putting the nearly unconscious boy in the car, picked up the girls, drove around, bought snacks, and only then went to the hospital. Zel was pronounced dead two and a half hours after Arzel noticed he had stopped breathing.
At Zel’s funeral, Jericho was livid when Arzel rushed to the front to speak without permission. That night, she confronted him at her apartment, shouting that he did not care about Zel and had caused his death. Arzel told police she was making a scene and giving him attitude.
He claimed she got a knife and cut his wrist, so he grabbed her and slammed her head into the wall twice, creating the hole investigators found. She tried to escape, but he dragged her back inside and strangled her. He coldly said she was not fighting back, so he figured she wanted to die and he was just helping her.
He then decided the children could not live without their mother, kissed them, told them Daddy loved them and mommy wanted them in heaven, and strangled them as well.
He planned to dismember all three but changed his mind after seeing a bone. He wrapped their bodies, drove around, and remembered his old apartment building had a broken garage lock. He hid the bodies there, tried to light them on fire, but the flames were not hot enough.
He bought gasoline, returned, poured it everywhere, and set them ablaze. He then bought a gun and fled to Memphis. The sheer calmness of his confession stunned officers.
He said it was his family, and as he brought his children into the world, he could take them out if he wanted. In court, he kept his head down as charges were read. The judge set bail at $750,000, calling the offense extremely horrific.
Arzel initially pleaded not guilty, then changed his plea to not guilty by reason of mental illness. After assessments, a doctor ruled there was not enough evidence to support this defense, and it was thrown out. In April 2021, he reached a plea deal, changing his plea to guilty on three counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
Under state law, he faced mandatory life imprisonment. The only question was whether he would ever be eligible for release. His attorney cited a schizophrenia diagnosis and past suicide attempts, requesting the possibility of parole after 40 years.
Before sentencing, Arzel expressed remorse, saying he was truly sorry and regretted everything.
Jericho’s family delivered devastating victim impact statements. Her brother David said Arzel alone made the decision to end the lives of baby Zel, Kamaria, Zaniah, and Jericho, and he would have to watch his back every day for the rest of his life. A teacher read a note to Zaniah, thanking her for being a light and recalling their last conversation about her baby brother being an angel.
The judge denied the request for early release, sentencing Arzel to life imprisonment without the possibility of extended supervision on each count, to be served concurrently. He was also ordered to undergo mental health and 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮 therapy. Jericho’s mother Valeria said there was no closure, only an ending, and expressed empathy for Arzel because his family never showed up for any hearing.
The case sparked outrage over how the 911 call was handled. An internal investigation found the dispatcher missed vital information, leading to a lack of urgency. The operator resigned before the investigation was complete and later took a job as a prosecutor before resigning from that as well.
The acting police chief fired the two officers who responded that morning for failing to conduct a thorough investigation. They appealed, got their jobs back, and received suspensions instead, 30 days for the more experienced officer and 15 days for the other. During the hearing, an attorney noted the officers would never know what they might have accomplished with accurate information.
One officer said he played the what-if game in his head every day and would live with it forever.
Domestic violence related deaths in Milwaukee had increased by 400 percent between 2018 and 2020, and this case highlighted the urgent need for more support and resources. Jericho’s family started working with the Sojourner Family Peace Center, a nonprofit that helps nearly 8,000 people annually affected by domestic violence. They commissioned a stained glass window to be installed there, depicting Jericho, Zaniah, and Kamaria walking into the sunlight together.
On her last day, Jericho endured the pain of losing her baby boy, who had such a painful and poorly short life. Just hours later, she was fighting for her own life and for her daughters, who may have witnessed their mother’s murder before suffering the same terrifying fate. The Banks family must live with a pain that is hard to comprehend, but they are determined to ensure that Jericho, Zaniah, and Kamaria are never forgotten.
