Inset: Theodore Lloyd (Connecticut Department of Corrections). Background: West Haven, Connecticut, residence where Lloyd’s mother was discovered dismembered (Google Maps).
A Connecticut man is facing murder charges after authorities discovered his mother’s dismembered remains in multiple trash bags inside a locked closet at her house earlier this year.
On Thursday, prosecutors charged 27-year-old Theodore Lloyd with murder and evidence tampering in the case involving 70-year-old Tina Lloyd. He had already been charged with attempted arson and trespassing in April when officers discovered his attempt to set the West Haven home on fire.
The victim’s sister, Debbie Hart, expressed her satisfaction with the new charges to local CBS affiliate WFSB. She plans to attend every court proceeding.
“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 said in an interview with the station.
After being arraigned on the new charges, a judge upped Lloyd’s bond from $1 million to $3 million.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the investigation commenced on March 24 when Tina Lloyd’s older son requested a welfare check at her Nashawen Avenue home in West Haven, according to a press release. Officers immediately noticed the odor of a decomposing body upon arrival. Inside, they found 14 to 16 trash bags containing dismembered body parts, along with signs of an attempted arson.
“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.
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.
