Jamaica News, February 16
Florida/Jamaica (Mckoy’s News) – Jamaican singer Anthony Cruz posted a thank-you video to his fans and well-wishers, after the murder of his 15-year-old daughter and her mother by her new stepfather.
Reggae singer Anthony Cruz says thank for the blessings and prayers.
Cruz, who said he has been doing a lot of prayers, recorded the thank-you video and said he wants everyone to know that he is alright. In the video the singer took moments to compose himself, reminding fans that he is strong and they won’t see him cry on Facebook. The singer, visible putting his better expression out for his fans, said he has cried already and there are more tears to come, but not on Facebook.
“It is a good feeling when people can come together and show love… so I give thanks to everybody,” Cruz said in the almost 4 min. video, on the aftermath of the murder of his daughter.
Cruz’s daughter Shanice Smith, 15-year-old lived with her mother, Jamaican born Karen Lyle, who migrated to the US at age 4; and her mother’s new husband of 10 months Kevin Nelson, also Jamaican, who reportedly fatally shot the mother and daughter in their condo.
According to Smith’s uncle, the mother and daughter duo had a very close relationship.
Karen Lyle’s brother who said he did not attend the wedding of her and Nelson, told Florida reporters that the marriage was not a good match, and the couple was fighting before they got married. He said they were both having jealousy issues with each other.
According to Florida police and court reports, Lyle was beaten in October of 2016, by Nelson, but the marks on her face were not enough as evidence (minor) for the case to go forth without her coöperation. He was arrested for the assault but, she refused to coöperate in his prosecution, so the prosecutor’s office dropped the charges as they could not move forward without the witness support.
Nelson who is said to have worked for the mega appliance/department store chain Sears, reportedly shot the teen in her cheek and his wife, her mother in the forehead with a 9mm revolver after removing his son from the scene; then returning to the apartment and calling the 911 days later, saying, shots fired and he had the gun, then hanging up.
The Florida police pinged his phone through the cell phone towers and located him at the apartment, where he lived with Lyle and Smith.
The police found 15-year-old Shanice Smith on the landing of the stairs next to her mother’s bedroom, and her mother Karen Lyle was found on the bedroom floor; both covered with a blanket. Police say it appeared they had been dead for a few days.
Nelson reportedly sent a few text out to his wife’s best-friend ranting that she was cheating on him and still sleeping with her ex-husband, a little over an hour after sending the text out, he allegedly murdered Anthony Cruz’s daughter and her mother.
While he held the bodies hostage, reports are, Nelson told Florida police negotiators who communicated with him through a cell phone device they threw into the condo for him to speak with them, that “he was afraid of getting hurt,” saying he is a bad man, he hurt people and did not want to hurt anyone else. This after the murders.
Father of the deceased teen, Anthony Cruz said in his Facebook video, that for the rest of his life his music will be dedicated against violence on women. He ended with, “stop the violence against women and children, stop all violence, put down the gun.”
Shanice Smith was the entertainer’s only daughter.