The fiancée of a slain Florida journalist who plans to have her baby through IVF has revealed that it was her mother’s idea to collect his sperm the night he died.
Case Fite had been planning to have a family with 24-year-old Dylan Lyons before he was killed while broadcasting a report for Spectrum News 13 on February 22.
Last week he launched a GoFundMe to raise $50,000 so he could have IVF to implant his sperm after begging doctors to extract it from his corpse in a bid to keep ‘Dylan’s legacy’ alive.
He has now revealed that the idea was invented by Lyons’ mother, Beth, who claims it was a “message” from her dead son.
“We had come home from the hospital after finding out that our lives had been turned upside down forever and her mom and I were sitting in the kitchen and she thinks it was Dylan who texted her because she had never thought about this before.” Fite said. Good morning america.
Dylan Lyons and Casey Fite were planning to have a family before he was shot dead on February 22.
Beth, the mother of Lyons, pictured here, told Good Morning America that she came up with the idea to collect her dead son’s sperm the night he died.
‘She never knew this was something you could do. Me neither.
Mom Beth added: ‘All Dylan talked about is having kids with Casey.
‘Their love was inseparable. They even had chosen names. That’s how dedicated they were to having children.
Lyons made headlines when she was one of three people, including a nine-year-old girl and her mother, who were shot and killed while reporting on a homicide that had occurred in the area five hours earlier.
Suspect Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was arrested the same day in connection with the murders.
Fite, 26, said the process of retrieving Dylan’s sperm had been “very complicated”.
She also revealed that a grief counselor had advised her to wait a year before proceeding with IVF.
‘We called the hospital and the hospital said we would have to contact the medical examiner.
Lyons poses with his fiancée and her mother at the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists Awards on May 7, 2022.
As of Wednesday, a GoFundMe set up by Fite to raise money for her IVF had raised $4,718.
Lyons (right) and his fiancee Casey Lynn. The couple met in 2020 and began dating in November 2021.
And they said they can’t do it. But if we were to find a doctor who could perform it, I would agree. We ended up finding one.
As of Wednesday, the GoFundMe page had raised $4,718.
Fite added: “A grief counselor advised me to wait maybe a year. At this point, it’s just not the best idea to go ahead with this now.
‘This is something I’m going to do, but I won’t do it today. Right now I’m just trying to grieve.
‘I guess this is what’s keeping me going right now. Knowing that I can carry on Dylan’s legacy. To continue with what we wanted. I have high hopes.
She speculated that she would “end up having a miscarriage” if she tried for a baby now due to “stress”.
Lyons, who was described as an ambitious young reporter and a “voice for the voiceless,” met Fite in 2020.
They both worked at the television news station in Gainesville, Florida, where Fite was a producer and Lyons was an on-air reporter.
Lyons was an ambitious young reporter described as ‘a voice for the voiceless’
Lyons had dreamed of starting a family with Fite, her family says, and had even chosen the name for her children.
A monument to Lyons is shown on February 23, the day after he was killed while reporting.
They began dating in November 2021 and later moved to Orlando for Lyons’ job and planned to start a family.
Last year, Lyons wrote about her partner on Twitter: ‘November 7, 2021 changed my life forever! It’s the day you became my girlfriend! That was one of the easiest decisions of my life!
‘You are a remarkable, beautiful, kind, loving and caring girl, Case! I love you a lot!’
Fite said they had even chosen the names Alexa and Elliott for their children, inspired by the initials of Lyons’ grandparents.
Lyons’ father, Gary, told a news conference last week that his son “wanted so badly to be a husband and a father,” adding: “I wish I could have taken the bullet.”
The first case of posthumous sperm retrieval was recorded in 1980, according to the Journal of Fertility and sterility.
Sperm should be retrieved within 24 to 36 hours of death for the best chance of success.
But there are numerous ethical and legal implications involved.
Once the sperm is extracted, it can be frozen and then implanted when the woman is ready.
It comes as Lyons’ suspected killer, Keith Moses, remains in jail in connection with his murder.
Moses, who was previously described as a career criminal, is believed to have shot dead 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin in her car on February 22.
Five hours later, Lyons was on the scene to report on the slaying when Moses reportedly returned and attacked the journalist and his accompanying photographer, Jesse Walden. Walden survived the attack.
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, is accused of shooting the reporter and cameraman after they went to report on the death of Moses’ first victim, 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin.
Police were then called to a third nearby shooting, where a mother and her nine-year-old daughter had been attacked in a residential home.
It is understood that Moses was known to the first victim, but his motives for the other shootings are unclear, authorities said.
He was photographed taunting and smiling while handcuffed in connection with the shooting.
