Republican senator’s missionary daughter and son-in-law killed
Missouri State Representative Ben Baker’s daughter and son-in-law were tragically killed in Haiti this week while serving as missionaries. Natalie Lloyd, 21, and her husband, Davy Lloyd, 23, had been working with the group Missions in Haiti Inc. since 2022. The couple was attacked and killed by Haitian gangs around 9 p.m. local time on Thursday in Port-au-Prince.
On Thursday, the group posted on Facebook that the couple and local mission director Jude Montis, 20, were ambushed in the Lizon area of Port-au-Prince after a youth church meeting. Gunmen in three trucks attacked their vehicle, capturing and brutally beating Davy. The attackers stole their belongings and left them tied up.
While the locals tried to help, another group of armed gang members arrived. The chaos led to one person being shot, which triggered a full-scale attack. The couple and Jude took cover in a house connected to the mission, barricading the doors. However, the gang shot at the house, broke in, and tragically killed all three.
The U.S. lawmaker posted on X on Friday, “My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. Words seem empty right now. Our hearts are broken. This is the hardest thing we have ever done.”
Words seem empty right now…Our hearts are broken. This is the hardest thing we have ever done. We’re grieving, but we want Davy and Natalie’s story to be told because it deserves to be told. They were the perfect example of a life of putting others before self. A life of loving… pic.twitter.com/pgZ5ipXSH9
— Ben Baker (@BenBakerMO) May 24, 2024
“I’ve never felt this kind of pain,” Baker shared, requesting prayers for both families. He added, “No other words for now.”
Hannah Cornett, Davy’s sister, told the Associated Press that they grew up in Haiti. After attending Bible college in the U.S., Davy married Natalie in June 2022. The couple had returned to Haiti for humanitarian work soon after. Cornett also mentioned that Jude Montis, a father of two and the local mission director, had been working with Missions in Haiti for the past 20 years.
Thank you President Trump. This means a lot to our families. Thank you for recognizing Davy & Natalie God Bless @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/BF7jkMuHwK
— Ben Baker (@BenBakerMO) May 26, 2024
Several Republican senators, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and former President Donald Trump, have conveyed their deepest condolences for the couple’s deaths while calling for the Biden administration to intervene in the lawless situation in Haiti.
The country has been ravaged by extreme gang violence since February, when armed Haitian gangs launched a unified attack on the democratic government of the country.
Biden administration will indirectly intervene in Haiti
The attacks on the two U.S. citizens came within hours of President Joe Biden’s speech, where he had said that Haiti’s gang violence could be resolved by the arrival of a Kenyan-led multinational police force.
Biden had said, “We’re not talking about a thousand-person army that is made up of trained individuals. This is a crisis that is able to be dealt with.”
The President of Kenya, William Ruto, shared the stage with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday during a key state visit between the nations. The two leaders had agreed to extend support to Haiti by deploying the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, spearheaded by Kenya.
Ruto had expressed his optimism about the Kenyan-led forces restoring peace and order in the nation while “breaking the back of the gangs and the criminals that have visited untold suffering in Haiti since last February.”
He had vowed that every gang member and associate would be dealt with “firmly, decisively, and within the parameters of the law.”
The Kenya-led forces were scheduled to arrive in the country later this week, but sources in the Interior Ministry of Kenya have stated that “conditions were not in place in Port-au-Prince to receive the officers.”
The delay in force deployment by Kenya will enable Haitian gangs to prepare in advance for the assault by the incoming security forces in the country.
The recovered bodies of the U.S. lawmaker’s family arrived in the States
The U.S. congressman for Missouri and Natalie Llyod’s father, Ben Baker, said in a Facebook post on Friday that the recovered bodies of the couple were safely transported to the states by the U.S. embassy in Haiti.
Cassidy Anderson, a family spokesperson for Baker’s, had previously shared in a Facebook post on Baker’s page that efforts were underway to retrieve the bodies.
Statement from the Baker family:
” Prayers appreciated for this current situation: We are working to obtain waivers to transport their bodies home. Unfortunately, embalming services are not available, so they have to get a waiver to send them only paritally embalmed. Then, we…
— Cass Bowen Anderson (@cass_b_anderson) May 25, 2024
“We have to obtain a waiver that will allow their bodies to be transported without being fully embalmed due to the lack of facilities that provide that service in Haiti; after that, we have to find an airline that will be willing to do the transport. Prayers that this will all go smoothly.”
Following the tragic deaths of the two young missionaries, many international mission organizations have expressed deep sorrow and called for a global initiative to end the senseless gang violence in Haiti. Their collective mourning and appeals highlight the urgent need for coordinated efforts to address and mitigate the rampant violence plaguing the country.
