Marshun Lloyd is behind bars for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Renee Starr, inside her home in South Bend, Indiana.
On the morning of March 10, 2019, Starr, who worked as a dietician, was scheduled to work, but she never showed up. That’s when her sister decided to check on her.
When she went to Starr’s home in the 4000 block of Huron Circle, she noticed the front door was ajar, according to PEOPLE. Upon entering the house, she found her sister laying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.
Emergency first responders pronounced Starr, 30, dead at the scene.
An autopsy revealed that Starr, a mother of three, had been stabbed 105 times.
The St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit later announced a person of interest in the case. It was the decedent’s then-26-year-old former boyfriend, Marshun Lloyd.
After Lloyd and Starr ended their relationship, Starr took out a no-contact order against him. He reacted by sending her a slew of threatening text messages, WVPE reported.
One of the text messages read: “If I can’t have you, nobody can.”
Starr told him that he should not contact her because of the no-contact order. He responded: “That won’t stop me, I’m done texting.”
A police investigation revealed that between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on March 9, 2019, a neighbor heard Starr arguing with a man outside her home. When she told the man he wasn’t coming inside her house, he drove off in a maroon vehicle.
Law enforcement officers believed that man to be Marshun Lloyd. They tried searching for him, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
His whereabouts weren’t known until March 14, 2019, when he was arrested by the US Marshals Service in Gary, Indiana, on outstanding warrants.
Lloyd was booked into the St. Joseph County Jail, where he was held without bond.
Meanwhile, detectives questioned a woman believed to be the mother of Lloyd’s child. She told detectives that he was at her house around 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. on March 9, 2019, but he left in her maroon Pontiac, according to ABC 57.
At approximately 2:08 a.m., Lloyd called her and said Starr had asked him to come to her house.
Police stated that from 11:20 p.m. until 2:08 a.m., Lloyd’s cell phone was connected to a cell tower near Starr’s residence.
The woman went on to say that when he returned to her home sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., Lloyd was wearing different clothing, and he was bleeding from a cut on his pinky.
Lloyd went to sleep, but when he awoke the following morning, he told her they needed to leave town and head to Gary, Indiana.
She obliged.
While there, Lloyd insisted that she trade in her vehicle, and she, therefore, went to a dealership in Merrillville.
As she was in the midst of trading the car in for another one, police arrived.
Officers searched the vehicle and found a small bloodstain. It was later determined that the blood belonged to Starr.
On March 28, 2019, Lloyd was charged with one count of murder.
Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hurley said Lloyd made “a choice, not just to kill, but to kill in the most violent manner you could possibly do so.”
In January 2020, Starr’s mother told the South Bend Tribune that “her death has taken a toll on Starr’s three children.”
“Everybody asks me how they’re doing, they’re not doing well. I know they have sleepless nights, but they’re not talking to me.”
At his sentencing, Lloyd apologized to the victim’s family. He said, “I want to apologize, I know it don’t mean anything, but at least I said I’m sorry. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
In November 2019, Marshun Lloyd pleaded guilty to the murder of Starr.
St. Joseph County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Fronk said, “Grateful to be able to solve this via plea, spare the family a trial, because obviously, as you heard in the court, the trial would have dwelled in-depth on some very difficult and gruesome issues.”
In January 2020, Lloyd was sentenced to 65 years in prison with 10 years suspended.