Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker (R-Newton County) revealed that his daughter and son-in-law, both Christian missionaries, were abducted by gang members as they left church in Haiti. Tragically, they were later shot and killed.
At the time of the deaths, Davy and Natalie Lloyd worked for Missions in Haiti Inc., a ministry owned by David's parents. In a May 2023 newsletter, the organization remarked that their operating area was under the management of one of the “nicer gangs.”
“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,” Baker wrote in a Facebook post. “They went to Heaven together.”
The Guardian reported on Friday that a spokesperson from the White House National Security Council confirmed that the Biden administration was aware of their deaths, stating: “Our hearts go out to the families of those killed as they experience unimaginable grief.”
The killings came just hours after Joe Biden voiced optimism that Haiti's security crisis – which began spiraling out of control in late February after a coordinated gang insurrection – could soon be solved with the arrival of a 2,500-strong Kenya-led multinational policing force.
“We're not talking about a thousand-person army that is made up of trained [personnel],” Biden said of the Haitian gangs who have plunged the country into mayhem and forced the country's previous prime minister, Ariel Henry, from power. “This is a crisis that is able to be dealt with.”
The first Kenyan members of that force were supposed to land in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, this week to spearhead the operation, with their arrival timed to coincide with a state visit the Kenyan president, William Ruto, is making to the US.
Speaking alongside Biden on Thursday, Ruto also voiced confidence that the US-backed policing mission could “break the back of the gangs and the criminals that have visited untold suffering” on Haiti since the start of a coordinated criminal insurrection in late February. Armed criminals would be dealt with “firmly, decisively [and] within the parameters of the law”, Ruto vowed.
The slayings occurred in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. An alarming 80% of the city's 1.2 million residents remain under the control of gangs, as the arrival of the first contingent of Kenyan soldiers has been delayed amidst logistical problems.
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