The fiancée of a murdered Florida journalist who is planning to have his baby via IVF has revealed it was his mother’s idea to harvest his sperm on the night he died.
Case Fite had been planning to have a family with Dylan Lyons, 24, before he was killed while broadcasting a report for Spectrum News 13 on February 22.
Last week she launched a GoFundMe to raise $50,000 so she can have IVF to implant his sperm after begging doctors to harvest it from his dead body in a bid to keep ‘Dylan’s legacy alive.’
Now she has revealed the idea was cooked up by Lyons’ mother Beth who claims it was a ‘message’ from her dead son.
‘We had gotten home from the hospital after learning that our lives were turned upside down forever and his mom and I were sitting in the kitchen and she believes it was Dylan sending her a message because she never thought about this before,’ Fite told Good Morning America.
Dylan Lyons and Casey Fite were planning to have a family together before he was gunned down on February 22
Lyons’ mother Beth, pictured, told Good Morning America she came up with the idea to have her dead son’s sperm harvested on the night he died
‘She never even knew this was a thing that you could do. And neither did I.’
Mom Beth added: ‘All Dylan talked about is having children with Casey.
‘Their love was inseparable. They even had names picked out. That’s how devoted they were to having children.’
Lyons made headlines when he was one of three people – including a nine-year-old girl and her mother – to be gunned down while reporting on a homicide which had happened in the area five hours earlier.
Suspect Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was arrested on the same day in connection with the killings.
Fite, 26, said the process of retrieving Dylan’s sperm had been ‘very complicated.’
She also revealed she had been advised by a grief counselor to wait a year before she proceeded with IVF.
‘We called the hospital and the hospital said that we would have to contact the medical examiner.
Lyons poses with his fiancée and mom at the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists awards on May 7, 2022
As of Wednesday a GoFundMe created by Fite to fundraise her IVF had raised $4,718
Lyons (right) and his fiancée Casey Lynn. The pair met in 2020 and began dating in November 2021
‘And they said that they can’t do it. But if we were to find a doctor who could perform it then they would be ok with it. We ended up finding one.’
As of Wednesday the GoFundMe page had raised $4,718.
Fite added: ‘I’ve been recommended by a grief counselor to wait maybe a year. Right now it’s just not the best idea to go forward with this right now.
‘This is something that I’m going to be doing but I’m not doing it today. Right now I’m just trying to grieve.
‘I guess this is the thing that’s keeping me going at the moment. To know that I can continue Dylan’s legacy. To continue what we wanted. I have high hopes.’
She speculated she would ‘end up miscarrying’ if she tried to have a baby now due to the ‘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 an on-air reporter.
They began dating in November 2021 and later moved to Orlando for Lyons’ job and were planning to start a family.
Last year, Lyons wrote of his partner on Twitter: ‘November 7th, 2021 changed my life forever! It is the day you became my girlfriend! That was one of the easiest decisions of my life!
Lyons was an ambitious young reporter described as ‘a voice for the voiceless’
Lyons had dreamed of starting a family with Fite, his family say, and had even picked out the name for his children
A memorial for Lyons is pictured on February 23, the day after he was killed while reporting
‘You’re a remarkable, beautiful, kind, loving, and caring girl Case! I love you so much!’
Fite said they had even picked out the named 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 ‘so much wanted to be a husband and a father,’ adding ‘I wish I could’ve taken the bullet.’
The first case of posthumous sperm retrieval was recorded in 1980, according to the Journal of Fertility and sterility.
Sperm must be retrieved within 24 to 36 hours after death for the best chances of success.
But there are numerous ethical and legal implications involved.
Once sperm is extracted it can be frozen and then implanted when the woman is ready.
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, is accused of shooting the reporter and cameraman after they came to report on the death of Moses’ first victim – Nathacha Augustin, 38
It comes as Lyons’ suspected killer Keith Moses remains in jail in connection with his killing.
Moses – who was previously described as a career criminal – is believed to have shot dead Nathacha Augustin, 38, in her car on February 22.
Five hours later Lyons was on the scene to report the homicide when Moses is said to have returned and targeted the journalist and his accompanying photographer Jesse Walden. Walden survived the attack.
Police were then called to a third shooting nearby – where a mother and her nine-year-old daughter had been targeted in a residential house.
Moses is understood to have been known to the first victim but his motives for the other shootings are unclear, authorities said.
He was pictured sneering and smiling as he was handcuffed in relation to the shootings.
