Summary of Offense:
In the early morning hours of December 5, 1998, Dawnia Dacosta’s car ran out of gas while she was returning from a midnight church service. She walked to a nearby Texaco gas station and filled a gas can with a gallon of gas. People at the gas station saw Dacosta speaking with a black male in the parking lot. Dacosta was last seen getting into a teal church van with the man to whom she had been speaking, later identified as Lucious Boyd. On December 7, 1998, Dacosta’s body was discovered in an alley behind a warehouse.
The body was wrapped in a shower curtain liner, a brown bed sheet, and a yellow bed sheet. A purple laundry bag and two large black trash bags covered her head. Forensic evidence showed that Dacosta died due to a penetrating head wound. Bruising on Dacosta’s head was consistent with the face plate of a reciprocating saw, and wounds to the chest, arms, and head were consistent with a torque screwdriver. Dacosta’s body also had vaginal bruising.
Lucious Boyd did routine maintenance for the Hope Outreach Ministry Church, which owned a teal van. Boyd was driving the van on the weekend of the Dacosta murder. Witnesses at the gas station where Dacosta was last seen alive recalled seeing the word “Hope” on the teal van that Dacosta was seen leaving the gas station in. The van contained various tools owned by the church, including a set of torque screwdrivers and a reciprocating saw. DNA and hair evidence from Dacosta’s body matched Boyd’s DNA profile. Bite marks on Dacosta’s arm were consistent with Boyd’s teeth. Tire tracks on one of the sheets used to cover Dacosta were consistent with the tires on the church van.
Boyd was sentenced to death in Broward County on June 21, 2002.
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