Grandmother says she wants answers in baby girl’s death

The grandmother of a 6month-old baby who died at a home in Orlando where an accused killer hid while he was on the run earlier this year said Friday she is searching for answers.

Kari Castell said her 21-year-old son, his girlfriend and their daughter were staying at her home on Lescot Lane — the same house where Markeith Loyd was found in January — because they didn’t have power after Hurricane Irma.

She said she’s been living in the home, which was vacant when Loyd was holed up there, for the past several months.

Loyd is charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon in December and Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton on Jan. 9.

Castell said she knew Loyd from growing up together in the Carver Shores neighborhood, but the two were not friends.

When she got done with work Wednesday afternoon, she had a slew of messages from relatives notifying her that her grandchild, Cali Castell, had been declared brain dead at a hospital. The baby died Thursday when she was taken off life support, according to Orlando police.

“I don’t know what happened,” Castell said. “It’s hurtful [not knowing]. I keep trying to understand.”

An autopsy was completed Friday and the cause and manner of death are pending, according to the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The baby had injuries, though police didn’t specify what they were. Police wouldn’t release more information Friday.

Kari Castell said her son, Dekari Castell, is making funeral arrangements. “She was so precious [and] beautiful,” she said. “Everybody loved her.”

Her son is having a difficult time dealing with the death, she said. “He loved her,” Castell said.

She said the baby had a cold in the days leading up to her death, but “a cold doesn’t cause you to become brain dead.”

“I’m just confused — I’m lost,” she said. “I just want to know what happened.”