'You left a hole in our soul': Man who killed 3 in Homewood gets life

Each person who stepped to the front of the courtroom Thursday wondered the same thing about Ronald Steave.

How could he have murdered Nandi Fitzgerald — the mother of his own son — on New Year’s Eve 2021?

How could he have seen Fitzgerald’s 12-year-old son, Buddy, who he knew looked up to him, hiding upstairs, and pulled the trigger anyway?

How could he have seen Fitzgerald’s friend, Tatiana Hill, and killed her too?

“Listen here, you are sitting in front of the earthly judge right now, but you got the Almighty upstairs waiting for you,” shouted Fitzgerald’s godmother Linda Lennon like a preacher, her voice sounding tinny as it came through the courtroom’s speakers. “That’s when the real punishment comes, so may God have mercy on your soul.”

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski found Steave guilty in a nonjury trial in November of three counts of first-degree murder.

On Thursday, Borkowski imposed the mandatory punishment: three consecutive sentences of life in prison without parole.

“The conduct of the defendant in this case in shooting two young women and a 12-year-old boy pushes the limits of human understanding,” Borkowski said.

According to Pittsburgh police, Steave was at Fitzgerald’s Hamilton Avenue house in Homewood early that morning.

Videos taken showed the three adults laughing and having fun together.

But by 4 a.m. he had killed both women, who had been friends since sixth grade, and Denzel “Buddy” Nowlin Jr.

Steave, 32, shot Fitzgerald in the foyer, then went upstairs and killed Hill and Buddy.

He was arrested three months later.

Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty in the case, but on the eve of trial withdrew their request to have Steave executed.

Following a day-and-a-half bench trial, Steave was convicted of premeditated murder.

Evidence showed casings at the crime scene matched ammunition in Steave’s home and car, and video showed him arriving at Fitzgerald’s house earlier that night, and then leaving.

At Thursday’s sentencing, the victims’ family members brought photos and portraits to show the judge. They were instructed by the district attorney and sheriff’s deputies not to look at Steave, to not point the pictures in his direction.

Instead, they stood with Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray and described for Borkowski their unending pain. More than one person called Steave evil.

Cindy Young, Hill’s great aunt, told the judge she would not say the defendant’s name.

“You left a hole in our soul — an empty place that will always be there,” she said.

Kenique Barbour, Buddy’s cousin, described him as a loving, energetic kid who brought joy to those around him.

He loved football and wrestling.

He had a charming smile.

“This monster looked a 12-year-old in the his face … and he was still able to pull the trigger,” she said.

Wanda Fitzgerald, whose daughter and grandson were killed, is now raising her other two grandchildren.

As she spoke, she displayed for Borkowski five canvas prints.

“These pictures I brought here, your honor, they hang in my house,” she began. “This is my baby daughter — loving, caring, smiling. She had three brothers and one sister.”

Nandi wanted to be a cook, her mom said.

As she concluded, Wanda Fitzgerald spoke directly to Steave, noting that she had met his family and accepted him into theirs because her daughter loved him.

“One day, I will ask God, can he forgive the person who took these three people’s lives?” she said. “But why? Why?”

Losing a best friend and hero

Deatra Morton-Searcy, Hill’s mother, said in a written statement to the court that her daughter was a great caregiver and provider to her family.

Hill was her best friend and hero, she wrote.

“Losing my daughter is not what hurts me the most, it is the torture she went through to try to save her life and the life of someone else’s child,” Morton-Searcy said.

She described other tragedies in her own life, including the death of her son from a rare cancer at age 7.

Her remaining son, who is 32, she continued, is lost without his sister.

“From birth to death they looked out for each other, but she always handled her brother more like a mom would because he has mental challenges,” Morton-Searcy wrote. “I can’t explain the pain I witness in his eyes daily but, that is not the worst of it all.”

The worst part, she continued, is the pain she sees in Hill’s sons, who are now 8 and 10 years old.

Having to fill in for her daughter, Morton-Searcy said, while trying to grieve on her own, has been difficult. She ought to be living her best life as a grandmother now, and not as the boys’ mom, she wrote.

Morton-Searcy said she also feels isolated.

“I felt alone most of the time because after the initial loss everyone is supportive, but after a while everyone go on with their daily living, and I was stuck with getting accustomed to my new world,” she said. “I’ve barricaded myself from friends and family because I am afraid of being hurt.”

Her health has suffered, as well.

“I will never be the person I was before that day.”