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Man gets life sentence for killing family with machete in Lehigh Acres

Posted at 9:19 AM, Jun 12, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-12 09:19:53-04

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison for using a machete to kill his aunt, her pregnant daughter and the daughter's boyfriend.
    
Court records show that 22-year-old Brian Hyde was sentenced Monday. He was convicted in April of four counts of second-degree murder.
    
Prosecutors say Hyde used a machete to kill 37-year-old Dorla Pitts, 17-year-old Starlette Pitts and 19-year-old Michael Deon Kelly Jr. at their Lehigh Acres home in 2015. Prosecutors added the additional murder charge for Starlette Pitts' unborn child.
    
The victims were found dead after a family friend went to check on them. Hyde was arrested after he was pulled over by law enforcement for driving erratically in his aunt's car.
    
Hyde, a native of Belize, has testified he didn't remember circumstances surrounding the killings.

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