Keith Watts Sr. and Steven Hitchings grew up a block apart in Knoxville. They fought mock Army battles side-by-side in the woods behind the Watts' house. Both of their fathers were firefighters. They played catcher and first base on the same ball team and hung out for the better part of a decade.

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The boys lost touch in their teens, but their paths would cross again years later, after a deadly feud had taken root in their old neighborhood. Most of its victims were young and black.

After high school, Mr. Hitchings, who is white, joined the real Army and went on to become a city homicide detective. Mr. Watts, who was black, attended Carrick High School and became a low-level drug dealer and a user, known around the neighborhood as "Spud."

Both men settled down and had children. On the rare occasion the cop and the dealer ran into each other at the county jail or on the street, they greeted each other warmly. Watts Sr. was "a fun, happy, jovial guy," said Det. Hitchings, 39.

"We'd shake hands or give a hug. He respected me for what I did. He didn't hesitate to say I was his friend," the detective said.

Following a series of interconnected homicides, Keith Watts Sr. was shot dead in the driver's seat of a parked car in Beltzhoover in 1999. The would-be suspect died but was never prosecuted.

Two years later, Det. Hitchings was assigned to help investigate the murder of his childhood friend's former wife, Paula Poellnitz. The 38-year-old, too, was found slumped behind the wheel of a parked car. She died of a gunshot to the head. Police believe she was killed in retaliation for taking drugs from her new boyfriend, however the case remains unsolved.

Det. Hitchings knew that Keith Watts Sr. and Paula Poellnitz had a son named Keith Watts Jr., who was being raised by his grandmother in the same Knoxville home where the detective played as a boy with his friend.

In February 2005, assailants from a rival neighborhood tried to kill Watts' teenage son, gunning him down as he exited a school van outside his home.

A month later, Det. Hitchings became the lead investigator in the death of Keith "Spud" Watts Jr. -- the Carrick High School sophomore at the center of a neighborhood feud, shot in March 2005 while seated at the wheel of his grandmother's car.

After charges against an initial suspect proved unfounded, Deputy District Attorney Bruce Beemer and Special Agent Maurice Ferentino of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked with Det. Hitchings for months to piece together a solid foundation of the events that led to the death of Keith Watts Jr.

The boy's grandmother, Wendy Watts, told the detective she was grateful he was on the case. She remarked at the irony of Det. Hitchings taking such a different path than her son.

With the detective seated at his side throughout the prosecution, Mr. Beemer tried the homicide case against Howard "Duck" Kelley, Shawn "Trig" Wilmer and Jheri "Pound" Matthews in the death of Keith Watts Jr. And ultimately, this month, an Allegheny County jury convicted Mr. Kelley and Mr. Wilmer of first-degree murder and conspiracy and found Mr. Matthews guilty of conspiracy the 2005 homicide.

Mr. Beemer said the case took more research than many he'd prosecuted, but he was astonished at how much Det. Hitchings invested "to get it right."

"I've been doing this a long time, but I've never seen a detective or any law enforcement person work so hard on a case," he said.