You’re the judge: Dad in the dock
A longed-for baby was murdered before it was even born
For Sade Dixon and Markeith Loyd, it should have been the happiest time of their lives.
Sade, 24, was expecting the couple’s baby.
Already a mother of two, she was looking forward to welcoming an addition to her growing family.
All with Markeith by her side.
Photographs showed the couple sitting together, a huge smile plastered on Markeith’s face.
Sade, so glamorous, with perfect make-up and long nails.
Brutal side
They’d only been dating for three months, and they looked like a match made in heaven.
But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
On 10 December 2016, when Sade was two months pregnant, she moved back in with her parents Stephanie and Ron, in Pine Hills, Florida.
She was reluctant to tell her family much about why she’d decided to move home.
But what she did tell
them was shocking.
Sade confessed that Loyd had bitten her on the back during an argument.
Horrified, Sade’s family told her to get a tetanus shot.
They’d met Loyd a number of times, invited him over for dinner at the family home.
But now, the father of their unborn grandchild had shown a brutal side.
Three nights later, Sade and her family were having dinner together when she received a phone call, left the table and went outside.
Soon after, the family heard arguing.
So Sade’s brother Ronald went outside to check on his sister.
Moments later, her mum Stephanie and brother Dominique heard gunshots. Frantic, they ran outside. It was there they found Sade and Ronald lying on the ground.
They’d both been shot. Looking up, they saw Loyd, who then fired his gun towards them.
Luckily, neither of them were hit.
Loyd ran towards his 1992 red Buick Regal and sped off.
Dominique pushed Stephanie into the house before performing first aid on his siblings.
But it was too late for Sade. She was pronounced dead by paramedics at 9.16pm.
Tragically, her unborn baby died as well.
The young woman with her whole life ahead of her was gone, her children left without a mother.
Ronald was transported to hospital in a critical condition.
He had gunshot wounds to his chest and his right and left thighs.
So much devastation caused in a matter of minutes.
Luckily, he survived.
Manhunt
While Sade’s family grieved, police launched an investigation.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office planned to charge Loyd with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of attempted murder.
But Loyd was nowhere to be found.
A massive manhunt was launched.
And finally, on 17 January 2017, Loyd was found hiding in an abandoned home in Carver Shores.
He was armed with guns and wearing body armour.
A violent struggle ensued between Loyd and police officers, and Loyd’s injuries resulted in him losing an eye.
In October 2019, Markeith Loyd, 44, pleaded not guilty to Sade’s murder.
Loyd told the jury that he’d shot Sade in self-defence.
He said the couple were arguing about whether or not she should keep their baby.
Loyd claimed Sade had reached for a gun and he’d shot her to save his own life.
‘She pulled a gun on me. They [the police] done took the gun off the crime scene. They’ve got to be hiding a gun,’ he claimed in court.
The jury heard Sade taunted Loyd about their unborn baby, saying she would not allow him to see it when it was born.
Loyd’s lawyers claimed he was upset with her for smoking marijuana and eating meat.
He testified, saying he didn’t approve of Sade eating meat because he doesn’t believe in death.
‘We are all God’s creatures,’ he said.
‘I wanted my child,’ Loyd said. ‘I never meant to kill my queen.’
Loyd told the court how he’d first met Sade on Facebook in 2014.
He admitted he’d just got out of prison, wanted to raise a family of his own.
Who’s the victim?
Loyd’s lawyers presented their client as a loving would-be parent.
Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway asked him if he was really the victim. ‘Of course,’ he replied. But text messages between Sade and Loyd revealed he had also been unfaithful, and that he’d visited strip clubs.
So was Markeith Loyd a loving father-to-be, torn apart at the prospect of having his baby taken away from him?
Or was he a murderer, guilty of stealing the life of his ex-girlfriend and her innocent unborn child?
After deliberating for more than five hours, a jury found Markeith Loyd guilty of all charges.
Two counts of first-degree murder for the slaying of his ex-girlfriend and her unborn child, two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of attempted murder.
Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman said, ‘Sade was a daughter, she was a sister, a mother of two and soon to be a mother of a third... Before that man decided to drive to her house, get out of his car and start shooting.’
As the verdicts were read out in court, Loyd showed no emotion.
Wearing a palepink shirt, he sat in the dock and appeared calm as he heard his fate.
Afterwards, Sade’s mother was happy with the outcome.
Justice had been served.
‘They did an awesome job,’ Stephanie said of the jury. ‘They came back quickly with the right verdict. They saw through the defence’s smokescreen and saw the truth. They saw the physical evidence and everything was taken care of, so I’m ecstatic.’
Loyd was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.