Lucious Boyd (born March 22, 1959)[1] is an American convicted murderer, rapist, and suspected serial killer. While convicted and sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of 21-year-old Dawnia Dacosta, he is a suspect in at least ten other homicides or disappearances. He was acquitted for the 1993 murder of a man whom he claimed he stabbed in self-defense. He was profiled on Forensic Files.[2][3]
Lucious Boyd | |
|---|---|
 Florida Department of Corrections mug shot of Lucious Boyd | |
| Born | March 22, 1959 Broward County, Florida, U.S. |
| Conviction(s) | Murder, sexual battery, kidnapping |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 1 conviction, 5-10 suspected |
Span of crimes | 1993–1999 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Florida |
Date apprehended | March 26, 1999 |
He is currently incarcerated in Union Correctional Institution.[1] Police officers reportedly referred to Boyd as "Lucifer".
Background
Boyd was born on March 22, 1959, in Broward County, Florida. His family owns a funeral home in Fort Lauderdale. Prior to 1998, Boyd had been married twice and was the father of at least eight children. He had been sued by four separate women for failing to pay child support. Boyd's own mother had fired him once because he missed work.
Prior to 1998, Boyd was struggling financially and could no longer afford his own apartment. He had to stay at his family's home in Plantation for periods of time due to his financial problems. In 1996, his father, James C. Boyd, who was the owner of the family funeral home, died. In 1998, Boyd worked as a handyman for Hope Outreach Ministries. According to Boyd's family he had an ongoing cocaine problem.[4]
Crimes
In 1990, Boyd choked his second wife, Julie McCormick, to the point of unconsciousness. McCormick had threatened to leave him for cheating on her. A felony charge of aggravated battery was brought against Boyd but was later reduced to a misdemeanor charge meaning Boyd was only given probation. In 1992, Boyd was accused of raping a girl during a date on her 18th birthday. No charges were filed however because the victim declined to prosecute.[4]
On October 18, 1993, Boyd stabbed Roderick Bullard to death on a Fort Lauderdale street with a kitchen knife during an argument over an automobile. Bullard was the brother of one of Boyd's girlfriends. Boyd told police that Bullard had hit him and that he "just lost it." He admitted that Bullard had no weapon and never threatened him. During the trial Boyd's defense attorneys turned the tables on Bullard, playing up the fact that he had cocaine in his bloodstream. The jury called Boyd's action self-defense and acquitted him of the killing.[3]
Possible murders
Police believe Boyd is responsible for a number of unsolved murders and the rapes of several women.
On August 13, 1997, the naked body of 24-year-old Melissa Floyd was found in some high grass near a guardrail on I95 in Palm Beach County. She had been stabbed multiple times. Floyd was not positively identified until four months later. Floyd was known to smoke crack near the Boyd family funeral home. Her ID card was discovered by Boyd's family members on the funeral home grounds a few weeks after Floyd's body was found. However, there was no physical evidence linking Boyd to the crime.
On June 28, 1998, 19-year-old Patrece Alston was seen getting into a green Mazda with Boyd. The two were supposedly going on a trip to Winter Haven nearly 200 miles away. Boyd returned the next day without Alston, who has not been seen since. Boyd told the cops that witnesses could verify that Alston had also returned from the trip, but those witnesses later denied having seen her. Investigators are convinced that Boyd knows where Alston's body is located.[4]
Murder of Dawnia Dacosta
Dawnia Hope Dacosta was a 21-year-old choir singer and student studying to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. She worked at American Express as a customer service representative. On the evening of December 4, 1998, Dacosta left work at 10 p.m. and went to church where she prayed until 1 a.m. the following morning. On her way home from church in the early hours of the morning on December 5, her car ran out of gas on Interstate 95. Dacosta walked to a nearby Texaco station, where a witness spotted her, noting that she looked scared. Behind Dacosta was a church van with the word "Hope" printed on the side. Dacosta was seen getting inside the van and a black male was seen behind the wheel, later identified as Boyd. Boyd later was accused of eating part of Dacosta's leg while smoking crack - to which he later admitted.
Sometime after getting into the van, Boyd struck her across the head. He took her back to his apartment and struck her dozens of times with a blunt instrument and cracked her skull open. She was stabbed a total of thirty-six times with a screwdriver.[5] She was raped, beaten, murdered and stripped naked. Dacosta was wrapped in sheets, bags, and a plastic shower curtain. Her body was dumped in an alley behind a warehouse in Oakland Park and was not discovered until December 7.
Detectives from the Broward County Sheriff's Office began their investigation into Dacosta's murder by looking for the van. It was not spotted until January 30, 1999, where it was seen in front of a Christian day care center in Lauderhill. The van's owner, Reverend Frank Lloyd, was interviewed on March 22, 1999. Lloyd ran Hope Outreach Ministries and employed Boyd as his handyman. He told police Boyd had used the van from December 4 to December 7.
On March 25, 1999, a sample of Boyd's DNA came back from the crime lab as a match to the semen found on Dacosta's body. The next day, Boyd was arrested.[4]
Trial
Boyd claimed he was suffering with memory lapses during his interviews about the murder of Dacosta. He was called a "cold-blooded killer without a conscience," by an interviewing detective and was told he would be going to jail for raping and killing Dacosta. Boyd then reportedly asked, "What took you so long to catch me?". He then demanded an attorney.
After Boyd was arrested, detectives searched his apartment and recovered blood that was later found to be Dacosta's. Two sheets that had been wrapped around the victim's body were identified as having disappeared from his apartment. Before he was sent to jail, Boyd accused the Broward County Sheriff's Office of working for the Ku Klux Klan and claimed he was being set up in an attempt to discredit his family.[4]
Boyd was eventually found guilty of Dacosta's murder and was sentenced to death on June 21, 2002.[6] He is currently on death row awaiting execution and is incarcerated in the Union Correctional Institution.
See also
Further reading
References
- ^ a b "Inmate Population Information Detail - Lucious Boyd". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ O'Boye, Shannon (January 15, 2004). "Father of murder victim wants Bush to commute killer's death sentence". Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ a b "Jury Finds Man Innocent In Stabbing". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. May 7, 1994. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Lady-Killer". New Times Broward-Palm Beach. September 23, 1999. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ "Convicted killer seeks new trial in rape-murder case". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. August 29, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ "Man sentenced to death for murder of student". Herald Tribune. June 23, 2002. Retrieved December 26, 2017.