The daughter and son-in-law of a Missouri lawmaker were murdered and set on fire by a gang while serving as missionaries in Haiti, according to reports.
The young couple, as well as a third victim, were killed in a brutal attack that reportedly took place on Thursday night in the community of Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.
The three victims were identified as 23-year-old Davy Lloyd, 21-year-old Natalie Lloyd, and 45-year-old Jude Montis. All three victims were members of the Missions in Haiti, Inc. The organization was founded by David and Alicia Lloyd – Davy’s parents. The compound – which educated roughly 450 children – included an orphanage that housed about 50 kids, a school, and a church.
Davy grew up on the Missions in Haiti compound.
Hannah Cornett, Davy’s sister, told the Associated Press, “Davy spoke Creole before he spoke English. It was home. Haiti was all we knew.”
Natalie joined the organization in August 2022 after the couple got married that June. The pair were “full-time missionaries” in Haiti, according to her father – Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker.
Montis was the group’s Haitian director for two decades and a pastor with a wife and two young children.
Gang members allegedly ambushed the trio at the compound on Thursday.
David Lloyd, 48, told the Wall Street Journal, “They tied up my son and beat him. They got three vehicles. They got a bunch of equipment, money, I had my payroll in there for the week.”
The distraught father said that Davy was able to untie himself, and the trio managed to flee to a small house on the compound.
Davy called his father during the chaotic scene.
“As they were going down there [to the house], he was telling me what was stolen and what had been done to him,” Lloyd explained. “And as he’s talking to me, he says, ‘Dad, something is going on. There a bunch more guys and I think they may be back.’ He thought it was the same gang that was coming back and he didn’t know what was going on.”
The couple and Montis barricaded themselves in the house. However, the gang members allegedly “ended up shooting all the windows out and shooting the house up.”
The gang members allegedly infiltrated the house and murdered all three missionaries by shooting them.
The news outlet reported that there is a video of the grisly crime scene showing “three bodies sprawled on the floor, with those of Davy Lloyd and Montis having been burned.”
The Oklahoma-based Mission in Haiti said Davy, Natalie, and Jude were “shot and killed by the gang about 9 o’clock” on Thursday.
My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain.
Representative Baker shared a photo of the slain couple on Facebook with the heartbreaking caption:
My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full-time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed. They went to Heaven together. Please pray for my family we desperately need strength. And please pray for the Lloyd family as well. I have no other words for now.
Baker said “things are looking very positive” for the transport home of the bodies of Davy and Natalie.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the two U.S. citizens killed by gangs in Haiti,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Miller added, “Unfortunately, this serves as a reminder that the security situation in Haiti cannot wait – too many innocent lives are being lost.”
As of Saturday evening, a GoFundMe campaign for the Baker and Lloyd families had raised more than $53,000. Another GoFundMe campaign for the funeral expenses of the young couple had reached over $45,000.
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