Bodies of slain Haiti missionaries heading home to Missouri

The bodies of a young married couple killed by gangs in Haiti last week will be transported to their home state, family spokeswoman Cassidy Anderson said Tuesday. Gang members shot Davy and Natalie Lloyd and another mission worker named Judes Montis on Thursday night after a church event in Port-au-Prince, their ministry and family members have said. The couple’s families are withholding information about the time of transport and the airports involved out of concerns for security and privacy, Anderson said on Tuesday. Over the weekend, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley asked President Joe Biden for help protecting the missionaries’ bodies during transport through Port-au-Prince.

How has the public reacted to the deaths? Jean Marc Brissau, a Haitian-born staff attorney for the University of Notre Dame Law School’s Global Human Rights Clinic, told WORLD on Friday that he is heartbroken over the killings of the Lloyds and Montis, especially since the Lloyds were in Haiti to help his people.

Members of the public expressed their condolences on the Lloyds’ online obituary page.

U.S. leaders also weighed in. In a written statement, the Biden administration’s State Department offered its condolences. The Kenyan-led multinational force planned to restore order in the Haitian capital cannot wait any longer, the State Department said. While speaking at the Libertarian Party’s national convention over the weekend, former President Donald Trump said the killings were horrible and extremely sad. Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker, the father of Natalie Lloyd, said Trump personally called him and expressed his condolences. Former Vice President Mike Pence posted an image of the Lloyds on social media while quoting Psalm 116:15, which states, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

Is there a way to donate to the families? Anderson identified two authentic GoFundMe accounts. As of Tuesday afternoon, one of the accounts had raised nearly $70,000 for the Baker and Lloyd families.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s initial report in The Sift on the killings.