PENN. WOMAN SLAIN BY BOYFRIEND SHE MET ONLINE

By David M. Brown -- TRIBUNE-REVIEW
ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Lori Hann's grief-stricken family and friends gathered Saturday to start trying to say goodbye.

It won't be easy, said brother Larry Swatchick, 40, of North Fayette.

"My sister was a very trusting, loving person. She took care of all of us. Birthday cards. Spoiled her nephews. They were her life," he said, after a funeral service yesterday morning for Hann.

Hann, 41, of Forest Hills, was killed by a single gunshot to the face fired by her boyfriend, police say.

Hardy C. Lloyd, 26, confessed early Friday to fatally shooting her outside a Squirrel Hill home late Tuesday, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed to support his arrest. The Squirrel Hill man has been linked to a hate group that preached white supremacy and violence. Police say the shooting was not a hate crime, but erupted out of a fight over another woman.

"Why did she die in a cruel and inhuman act?" Swatchick said. "She never smoked. Never took drugs. Just a good person. It doesn't make sense to us."

Another brother, Lon Swatchick, 34, of Monroeville, said Hann "had absolutely nothing to do with any" of the hate mongering activities being associated with Lloyd. She was a deeply religious person who was "nonjudgemental to others," he said.

"We don't understand how somebody so evil could point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. This man obviously has no remorse for anything," he said.

Lloyd is jailed without bond on a homicide charge and faces a hearing Friday in the Allegheny County Coroner's office.

Lloyd's parents, Dr. Jon Lloyd and his wife, Jacqueline, didn't return phone calls seeking comment. Nobody answered when a reporter knocked on the door of their Shadyside home yesterday afternoon. His lawyer, Wayne DeLuca, couldn't be reached for comment.

Hardy Lloyd recently lost his job of six months at the Giant Eagle supermarket on Murray Avenue, near his apartment. Employees there said he was fired for stealing fruit.

Friends of Hann, a clerical worker for a Monroeville health care company who divorced her husband of 17 years last year, said she met Lloyd through an Internet dating service.

Police said they knew from Internet sites and from leaflets Lloyd distributed in the East End that he preached violence against nonwhites, Jews and law enforcement. Investigators said Hann knew of his activities, too.

More than 70 mourners attended Hann's funeral at St. John Fisher Church in Churchill. She will be buried next to her mother, Shirley Swatchick, who died of cancer in April 2003, Larry Swatchick said.

"I can't say enough about the outpouring of love and support from the friends and colleagues of my sister," he said.

He saw his sister a few weeks ago and at that time "she never appeared distraught or in trouble." Since her mother's death, Hann had taken a central role in looking after her father, Lawrence Swatchick, of Penn Hills, a retired mine safety worker. She called him and brought him meals frequently, the brothers said.

Hann also is survived by a third brother, Leonard Swatchick, of Penn Hills, and four nephews. An animal lover, she had a dog named Miranda and a cat called Crystal. The animals are being cared for, her family said.

"My sister was too much of an angel to have her life ended this way," Lon Swatchick said. "Words can't express the pain we feel."

David M. Brown can be reached at dbrown@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5614.