This story was posted on: 7:23 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017.

Markeith Loyd was taken from Orlando Regional Medical Center to the Orange County Jail on Tuesday evening, about 24 hours after a massive nine-day manhunt culminated in his arrest.

Loyd was taken by an unmarked white van from ORMC, where he had been under supervision, to the jail. There were two unmarked vans and an undercover law enforcement vehicle that arrived at the jail at about 6:30 p.m.

He was found at an abandoned home in the Carver Shores neighborhood, right around the corner from Clayton's mother's home. He was armed with two handguns — one with a 100-round magazine — and was wearing body armor, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said during a news conference Monday night.

Loyd was injured during the arrest, suffering a severely bruised face and cuts and bruise over his body. Mina said Loyd resisted arrest.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which investigates law enforcement agencies, said Wednesday that it won't investigate any use of force following Loyd's arrest because their agreement is for deadly force.

FDLE spokeswoman Angela Starke wouldn't comment on how police officers found Loyd, but she did say, just as Mina did Monday night, that it wasn't because of one of the 1,400 tips that came into Crimeline but “good, old-fashioned police work.”  

The FDLE had about 20 agents working on the manhunt, including three agents who were there during Loyd's arrest.

Law enforcement's presence was heavy at ORMC on Wednesday morning. Heavily armed Special Response Team members left without Loyd in the early morning hours.

Loyd is accused in the slayings of his pregnant ex-girlfriend on Dec. 13 and Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton on Jan. 9. So far, Loyd has only been formally charged by the Orange County Sheriff's Office in the shooting death of Sade Dixon. He faces several charges, including first degree murder with a firearm, killing of an unborn child by injury to mother and aggravated assault with a firearm.

Loyd was officially booked by Orange County Corrections at 1:50 a.m. Wednesday despite still being in the hospital. Loyd is currently scheduled for a first appearance during the Thursday morning session, which begins at 9 a.m.

 

Collective sigh of relief

On Wednesday, Loyd’s capture weighed heavy on many minds, including Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.

Before a crowd of about 500 at the Orange County Convention Center, Jacobs opened her annual Economic Summit by talking about the exhaustive search for the accused shooter coming to an end Tuesday night.

“You want to talk about extraordinary and collaboration. Those are things that constantly come to mind,” she said, continuing, “all of them working so hard to bring to justice a killer in our midst. How thankful we are for some good old-fashioned police work.”

Reverend Justin Felton with the Central Florida Urban League couldn’t agree more.

Slowly walking past flowers and tributes to the slain lieutenant at Orlando Police headquarters, Felton said he was happy that Loyd was off the streets — but still mourning his friend.

“Debra was my girl. This is how you should commemorate someone who is a real local hero,” he said. “I feel relieved. I definitely feel relieved.”

Now, the FDLE, OPD and others are actively looking into who may have helped Loyd stay under the radar for so long.

“We definitely what to know who else was helping him,” Felton said.

Judge sets bond for man accused of helping Loyd at $400,000

In an appearance at the Orange County Courthouse on Wednesday, bond for the first of three people accused of helping Loyd was set at $400,000.

Zarghee Mayan was arrested and charged with giving "inconsistent statements" about seeing Loyd and giving him money in the time between Dixon's December slaying and Clayton's slaying.

Mayan's sister-in-law, who owns the Texas Fried Chicken where he also worked as a manager, testified that he only makes about $3,000 a month.

Lyle Mazin, Mayan's attorney, said that because of Mayan's work, family and the small amount of cash on hand, Mayan is not a flight risk and should be granted bond.

Prosecutors questioned the sister-in-law and learned that Mayan does have access to large sums of money, from the restaurant receipts and from several homes he co-owns in a real estate business with his brother and that he could pose a flight risk.

The judge granted a bond of $400,000 with full collateral. That means he is not eligible to put down 10 percent with a bonds company but must have $400,000 in collateral to offer to the court. Mayan was also ordered not to have any contact with his co-dependents, not allowed to have weapons and must surrender his passport.

When all of those conditions can be met, Mayan's attorney can request a hearing, and a judge could then release him on bond before his pending trial.

The two others facing charges related to helping Loyd — Lakensha Smith-Loyd, 27, Loyd's niece; and Jameis Slaughter, a former girlfriend — were granted bond last week. Smith-Loyd was granted $750,000 bond. Slaughter was granted a $500,000 bond for charges that she helped Loyd evade police and a $5,000 bond for charges that she gave a false name to law enforcement.