Inset: Theodore Lloyd (Connecticut Department of Corrections). Background: West Haven, Connecticut, home where Llyod”s mother was found chopped up (Google Maps).
A Connecticut man is now facing murder charges after authorities earlier this year found his mother’s chopped-up remains in more than a dozen trash bags inside a locked closet in her home.
Prosecutors on Thursday added charges of murder and tampering with evidence against 27-year-old Theodore Lloyd in the death of 70-year-old Tina Lloyd. He was previously charged in April with attempted arson and trespassing after officers found he tried to torch the West Haven home.
The victim’s sister, Debbie Hart, told local CBS affiliate WFSB that she was pleased with the new charges. She plans on showing up to every court hearing.
“I’m going to be here. If he’s going to be here, I’m going to be here. I just want closure so we can heal. We just need to heal,” Hart told the station.
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After being arraigned on the new charges, a judge upped Lloyd’s bond from $1 million to $3 million.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the investigation began on March 24 when Tina Lloyd’s older son asked West Haven police to conduct a welfare check on her at her home on Nashawen Avenue, according to a press release. When officers arrived, they were met with a smell of a decomposing body. They entered the home and found 14 to 16 trash bags in a closet with dismembered body parts. There was also evidence of an attempted arson, cops said.
“The victim’s body was in such a state of decomposition that positive identification took some time,” West Haven police Chief Joe Perno told reporters at a press conference after the arrest.
Tina Lloyd was positively identified through DNA examination and comparison, Perno said. Detectives pored through “thousands” of pieces of evidence. Key to identifying Theodore Lloyd as a suspect was surveillance video of him leaving Home Depot and Walmart with items used in the dismemberment, cops said.
“There were several cutting utensils, there was an electric chainsaw and things of that nature,” Det. Jeff Gavinelli said. “A lot of the items were concealed in plastic bags, either in an attempt to be hidden or destroyed, but that was all retrieved by our ID unit.”
There was also paper and lighter fluid in the home which police believe was intended to start a fire, according to cops.
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Police said the suspect lived with his mother until 2018 when he moved out after a domestic incident. He was homeless at the time of his mom’s death, per cops.
Perno did not give a motive for the slaying. Hartford police arrested Theodore Lloyd on April 14 and turned him over to West Haven cops.
Neighbors said they hadn’t seen Tina Lloyd in two or three months.
“We missed her, we hadn’t seen her,” Denny Steeves told local Fox affiliate WTIC. “We didn’t know where she was.”
Despite being older, she was still active, Steeves said.
“She would go up and down the street with her walker, and if she came home with a lot of groceries, I’d ask her, ‘Tina do you want me to help you with your groceries?’ and she’d go, ‘No this is how I get my exercise’. Very, very nice lady. Tragic, tragic,” Steeves said in an interview with WSFB.
