Russell G. Lloyd Sr. (March 29, 1932 – March 21, 1980) served as the Republican mayor of Evansville, Indiana from 1972 to 1980 and was an alternate delegate from Indiana to the

1972 Republican National Convention The 1972 Republican National Convention was held from August 21 to August 23, 1972 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. It nominated President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew for reelection. The convent ...

. He was the only Republican to be twice elected mayor of Evansville until the 2015 re-election of Lloyd Winnecke. In 1961 Lloyd was appointed attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Vanderburgh County. Evansville citizen Julia Van Orden had a history as a "constant complainer" according to city police and had claimed harassment from officials inspecting her home. On March 18, 1980, Van Orden had thrown a brick at a city inspector's vehicle windshield when he came to inspect an addition to her house. The following morning, Van Orden, believing Lloyd was still the mayor (his term had actually expired in January of that year), arrived at his home. She shot Lloyd four times with a handgun, in the head, neck, and shoulders, in a fit of anger after a brief argument. Van Orden fled, and Lloyd was taken to the hospital, where a brain scan indicated

brain death Brain death is the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain function which may include cessation of involuntary activity necessary to sustain life. It differs from persistent vegetative state, in which the person is alive and some aut ...

. Doctors announced "there is no hope" shortly before turning off Lloyd's medical ventilator. Though Van Orden's attorney argued she was too mentally ill to have understood her actions, she was nonetheless convicted and sentenced to between 20 and 40 years in prison. Days before what would have been her release in 2000, she was committed to

Logansport State Hospital Logansport State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in Logansport, Indiana, United States. It was founded July 1, 1888, as the Northern Indiana Hospital for the Insane and is Indiana's oldest operating psychiatric hospital. Its first s ...

in Logansport, Indiana, where on August 22, 2006, she allegedly stabbed a hospital employee and was charged with attempted murder. During her trial for the attack, Van Orden was found guilty but mentally ill. Nevertheless, she was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the attack, and she died in the Indiana Women's Prison's medical ward in 2014. Lloyd's son,

Russell G. Lloyd Jr. Russell G. Lloyd Jr. (born c. 1956) is an American Republican politician, the city controller of Evansville, Indiana, a former mayor, who served from 2000 until 2003, and a former city council member. Lloyd is also a certified public accountant. ...

, served as mayor of Evansville from 2000 to 2004.

References

Assassinated American politicians 1932 births 1980 deaths Mayors of Evansville, Indiana Indiana Republicans Deaths by firearm in Indiana People murdered in Indiana 20th-century American politicians {{Indiana-mayor-stub

See also

References