American family in desperate bid to recover the bodies of missionary couple killed in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE — The Baker family released a statement Friday, detailing their painstaking efforts to recover from Haiti the bodies of Natalie Lloyd and her husband David “Davy” Lloyd III, the American missionary couple killed Thursday night in a gang assault in Lison 49, a locality in the Croix-des-Bouquets municipality, few miles north of Port-au-Prince.

Currently, the victims’ family is striving to secure a waiver permitting the bodies to be transported without full embalming due to the absence of such facilities in Haiti. The statement expressed concerns about finding an airline willing to carry out the transport. The American embassy in Port-au-Prince has since retrieved the bodies.

Missouri State Representative, Republican Ben Baker, shared the heartbreaking news of his daughter and son-in-law’s assassination on his Facebook page on Friday morning. Natalie, 21, and Davy, 23, were full-time American missionaries in Haiti, where they moved shortly after their marriage in 2022. The couple primarily worked with Haitian children through the Missions in Haiti Inc., an Oklahoma-based missionary group founded by Davy’s parents, David and Alicia Lloyd, in 2000. According to Haitian media, the gang ambush also claimed the life of a third person, Jude Montis, 45, who was the national director of Missions in Haiti Inc.

A grief-stricken Baker said, “My heart is broken into a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain. They went to Heaven together. Please pray for my family. We desperately need strength.”

The couple was ambushed while returning from a church youth meeting with their children. They were targeted by three trucks filled with gang members. Davy was brutally assaulted and taken home by the gang, who subsequently looted their belongings, according to Missions In Haiti Inc.

Another gang arrived, purporting to aid the victims, but ended up killing one of them. The initial gang retaliated by opening fire indiscriminately. Meanwhile, Davy, Natalie and Montis sought refuge in a house at the property’s end, frantically trying to alert their relatives of their predicament. Negotiations and rescue attempts by the missionary organization officials to save the three humanitarian workers were unsuccessful.

The tragic murder of the American missionary couple occurred around 9 p.m. on Thursday, according to the non-profit organization, deeply grieving the victims’ families and that of Mission in Haiti Inc in general. “We all are devastated,” the humanitarian organization posted on its Facebook page on Friday.

The Haitian National Police have yet to comment on or open an investigation into the tragedy. The reasons behind the attack on the missionaries remain unclear.

Several notorious gangs, including the Canaan, Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo, control the Cul-de-Sac area, known as La plaine. These gangs, responsible for killings, kidnappings, looting and burnings of homes, impose their laws on residents, wielding the power of life and death. The escalating violence since February has rendered the situation in the Haitian capital and surrounding areas, including La plaine, concerning.

This incident involving American missionaries parallels the collective kidnapping of 17 missionaries by the 400 Mawozo gang in the Croix-des-Bouquets municipality in 2021. David and Natalie’s murder adds to the growing list of humanitarian workers victimized in Haiti.

As reported by CNN, the tragic event has elicited widespread sympathy, including from the White House. While offering condolences to the victims’ families, the White House called for a 2,500 multinational force, led by Kenya and expected to be deployed by the end of this month, to bolster the national police’s capabilities against the gangs. Missouri’s Governor Mike Parson expressed his heartbreak and extended his deepest condolences to Representative Ben Baker and his family.

Former President Donald Trump also expressed his outrage, demanding that the killers of the two American missionaries be found. He posted  on Truth Social  on Friday, saying, “God bless Davy and Natalie. Such a tragedy. Haiti is totally out of control. Find the killers NOW!!!”

This latest tragedy comes as the Kenya-led multinational security support mission  (MSS) in Haiti against the gangs is preparing to be deployed imminently. As procedures progress, including the construction of the mission base, gangs have intensified their attacks and devised new strategies. They are now demolishing police infrastructure that they had previously burned down.

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