The murders of a young missionary couple and a mission director in Haiti on Thursday, May 23, have made national headlines. Davy (23) and Natalie (21) Lloyd and Jude Montis (45) were killed by gangs who shot them and then reportedly set fire to the men’s bodies.
“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain,” said Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker, Natalie’s father, in a Facebook post Thursday night. “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,” said Baker. “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.”
Missionary Couple Davy and Natalie Lloyd Murdered
Davy and Natalie Lloyd were serving as missionaries in Haiti with Missions in Haiti, Inc., which was founded in 2000 by Davy’s parents, David and Alicia Lloyd. The ministry’s purpose is to set “Haiti on a different course.”
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“We aim to accomplish this by targeting the country’s biggest need—its children,” says the group’s website. “Although the entire nation is steeped in poverty, the children suffer the worst. Thousands are malnourished, uneducated, and headed for hopeless lives apart from Christ.”
The ministries of Missions in Haiti include children’s homes, a school, a church, and a bakery. The group’s Facebook page features updates from the past several months on the volatile state of the country as a result of gangs taking control.
“Yesterday marked 5 full weeks of chaos in Haiti,” said a post on April 5. “Hard to believe that [it] has only gotten worse over these 5 weeks. Some days are better then [sic] others, this week Monday and Tuesday were very bad days, with many more people being displaced and killed.”
“They are not reporting the amount of people being killed everyday,” the post continued. “Witnesses who go out on the streets will tell you horrific accounts of many dead along the side of the roads in certain areas.”
“Haiti was thrown into crisis at the start of March, as gangs called for the resignation of Prime Minister Henry and his government,” says a report from CNN. “For the first time, according to security sources, rival gangs and coalitions began to wreak coordinated havoc, sharing territory for tactical advances.”
Davy, Natalie and some children were leaving a church youth group event Thursday night when a gang attacked them, tying Davy up at a house and beating him. The gang members stole a number of possessions and left, after which Davy called and spoke to his father on the phone.