Man faces life in prison for killing a pregnant teen in 1993 and her son who died in 2016

Ronnie Keith Williams, the man sent to death row for murdering a pregnant teenager 30 years ago only to be sent back to Broward’s court system, agreed Monday to spend the rest of his life in prison.

He’ll serve two life sentences back to back for the murder of Lisashante “Lisa” Dyke, a pregnant 18-year-old, and the homicide of her child, Julius Dyke.

The victim’s son survived the attack: Julius lived paralyzed for two decades, and his death in 2016 also was ruled a killing, the result of the attack on his mother.

In exchange for Williams’ plea of no contest to two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors ended their efforts to send him to his death, with now no risk of him ever being released. Under the laws in 1993 when the crime happened, the 62-year-old man could have been eligible for parole in 25 years. On Jan. 4, Williams is expected to be sentenced to the two life consecutive sentences instead.

On Monday morning, Williams made his plea of no contest before Judge Martin Fein, confirming his age and high school education to the judge. His right eye was bandaged, the recovery from his second cataract surgery.

The case has lingered for decades. “After 30 years, we were able to reach an agreement that brings finality to both sides,” said Joe Kimok, Williams’ lawyer. “Since there will not be any appeals, this plea means the case is finally over.”

Lisa Dyke’s mother, Margaret Dyke, said she is relieved her nightmare of court hearings is over.

“I don’t want to keep being reminded,” Dyke said. “Every time they bring it up it hurts so bad.”

A killing in 1993

On Jan. 26, 1993, Lisa Dyke was babysitting for a friend in Wilton Manors.

She was in the kitchen, making toast and watching the woman’s 9-month-old son when Williams came to the apartment. Police said he was presumably looking for his girlfriend, the woman’s sister, who had broken up with him the night before. And Dyke was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Prosecutors and police say Williams stabbed Dyke repeatedly in her chest and back with a 15-inch knife and bit her across her body. They say Dyke identified Williams to a 911 operator and again on her hospital deathbed by pointing him out in a photo lineup.

In the hospital, when her mother asked her daughter what happened, Dyke, unable to speak because of the tubes in her throat, wrote, “I played dead until he left, called police.”

Her baby Julius Dyke was born by Caesarean section two days after the stabbing. He suffered brain damage because of his mother’s wounds and weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces.

Julius — who spent his entire life in bed, paralyzed, unable to walk or talk — died in 2016 at age 23.

Margaret Dyke cared for her grandson Julius around the clock when he was alive, at her own financial peril, and mourned the life he never had.

“I couldn’t run with him, and buy him clothes he could try on,” she said. All she could do was “shower him with all the love I could find.”

An attack in 1984

It wasn’t Williams’ first killing.

When Williams murdered Lisa Dyke, he was recently released from prison for the 1984 murder of 21-year-old Gaynell Jeffrey of Fort Lauderdale. He stabbed her to death at her home, then dumped her in an abandoned field.

Williams was dating Jeffrey’s sister, who dumped him after finding out about a pending criminal charge involving a child. Although Williams pursued his girlfriend, it was big sister Gaynell Jeffrey who hung up the phone on him.

In the early morning of Sept. 12, 1984, while the family slept, Williams walked up to their house and Jeffrey opened the door. Williams stabbed her in the back, then eight more times in the chest, according to the police report. She never had time to scream.

As prosecutors readied their murder case for Jeffrey’s death, they added a charge from another, unrelated crime — the indecent assault on a child.

For the two cases, he was sentenced to 17 years but served only seven because of prison crowding.

Facing court cases

Eight months after walking out of prison for the murder of Gaynell Jeffrey, Dyke was now also dead.

A jury convicted Williams in 1996 of Dyke’s murder and voted 11-1 to recommend death.

But that conviction was overturned because a juror had an emotional collapse.

Williams had a second trial in 2003 that ended in a mistrial.

In 2004, a new Broward jury found Williams guilty of first-degree murder, rejecting his defense that he was too drunk on vodka and high on cocaine to have planned the attack. The same jury recommended he receive the death penalty.

But in 2016, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty cannot be imposed without the unanimous support of a jury.

And that sent Williams back to Broward for a new sentencing hearing. And prosecutors tacked on the additional charge for Julius’ death.

After consulting with the family of the victims, “the decision was made to waive the death penalty because of the certainty of imposing two consecutive life terms in prison and because the defendant was giving up his right to appeal,” said Paula McMahon, spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office. “The family told prosecutors they just wanted to be sure that he would never get out of prison.”

Gaynell Jeffrey’s sister, Robin Jeffrey, said Monday that her family will have to find peace with the latest legal development. “I wanted him to have the death penalty though. He deserved to die,” Jeffrey said.

Prosecutors “had no choice, I get it, I get it,” she said. Of Williams now remaining in prison, she said, “It’s better than having him walk the streets absolutely.” She said, “There is that blessing.”

She said her mother has spent almost 40 years waiting for justice. “Of course, my mother will be at peace,” she said.

Margaret Dyke, who wasn’t in the courtroom Monday, broke into sobs when she heard Williams entered a plea in the case.

“I’m tired, I’m tired,” she said. “I’ve been trying to be strong but I have to be honest, it’s been hard. Every time I see someone with their daughter, or talk about their daughter, my heart is destroyed.”

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash