Milwaukee homicide; man charged in death outside of high school

A Milwaukee man is charged with first-degree reckless homicide for a woman's Dec. 9 outside a high school.

According to prosecutors, surveillance video showed Corvell Pittman apparently strangling a 25-year-old woman in a window well at James Groppi High School and stomping on her head.

A criminal complaint states Pittman told investigators he met the woman at a nearby gas station, and he was trading her drugs for sexual intercourse. He told police he choked the victim because she had "swung at him" – and said he did so until she stopped moving, but "did not mean to kill her."

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A surveillance image from that gas station showed distinct writing on Pittman's Cash App card, which police also used to link him to the crime. A search of Pittman's home, the complaint states, revealed the same clothing the suspect was seen wearing on surveillance. Multiple people also identified Pittman as the man seen in video stills from the gas station.

Pittman, 51, has an extensive criminal history in three other states, including drugs, weapons and sex crimes.

Corvell Pittman

"This is a serious case, egregious thing that Mr. Pittman is charged with," Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Kylan Reilly said. "Given his out-of-state record, and the seriousness of this crime, the state is asking for a substantial amount. The state is asking for $1 million cash bail."

He's being held in jail on a $750,000 bail, but prosecutors want that to increase.