After a sad two-day bench trial, Ronald Steave, a Pittsburgh local, has been found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. As reported by TribLIVE, these charges stemmed from a violent encounter on the morning of December 31, 2021, which left Nandi Fitzgerald, her son Denzel "Buddy" Nowlin Jr., and close friend Tatiana Hill fatally shot in Fitzgerald's Homewood residence. The detailed evidence, including video footage and ballistics data, presented in the Common Pleas Court pointed irrefutably to Steave's presence at the crime scene and his subsequent flight.

While the Allegheny County District Attorney's office initially pursued the death penalty for Steave, they later retracted their notice. Instead, a life sentence without parole is on the table for Steave, with the sentencing set for February, as Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski pointed out. Furthermore, defense attempts to suggest an alternate murder-suicide theory fell flat. The judge found no credible evidence to support the claim that Fitzgerald had taken her own life along with those of her son and friend.

According to a WTAE report, evidence collection included tracing Steave's vehicle via city cameras, linking him to the arrival and departure around the time of the murders. Testimonies and nearly 400 exhibits further solidified the timeline and Steave's involvement in the tragic event.

On a more personal note, the loss has deeply affected the victims' families. Her family remembered Nandi Fitzgerald as the life of every party, and her son was a sports enthusiast and budding rapper. Tatiana Hill, described by her mother, Deatra Morton-Searcy, as loving and caring, was set to begin nursing school shortly after the night that ended her life. Hill's mother, now burdened with the dual role of mother and grandmother to Hill's children, has suffered an irreplaceable loss. "I'm supposed to be grandma, not mom," she said in a statement, as reported by TribLIVE.