Riverview murders

On the night of March 18, 2018, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Florida received two 911 calls from a residence in Riverview. The first, at 11:43 p.m., came from a woman believed to be Kenyatta, during which a male voice could be heard saying "She killed me," "Don't come outside, call 911 now," and "Allahu akbar." A second call at 11:51 p.m. came from a male caller who claimed he had been attacked by "white demons," accused Kenyatta of trying to kill him, and stated he "just killed her."

Deputies arriving at 11:49 p.m. found Kenyatta unconscious in the yard. During the attack, Ronnie O'Neal III also struck his 9-year-old daughter, Ron'Niveya, with a hatchet, killing her, and stabbed his 8-year-old son, Ronnie IV, before setting him on fire. Ronnie IV survived despite critical stab and burn injuries and escaped the home. Before being airlifted to a Tampa hospital, he told detectives at the scene that his father had shot his mother. O'Neal resisted arrest and was subdued with a taser; while in the patrol car he referred to Kenyatta as "the devil" and said "the kids are the devil's kids." He was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail the following day. On March 22, 2018, four days after the attack, Ronnie IV was interviewed by police.

O'Neal's trial began on June 16, 2021. He served as co-counsel in his own defense and personally cross-examined his surviving son, who testified for the prosecution. O'Neal maintained that his son had lied to investigators. His attorneys initially sought to argue self-defense under Florida's stand-your-ground law, but the presiding judge found O'Neal ineligible for that defense. On June 21, 2021, a jury found O'Neal guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse, one count of arson, and one count of resisting a law enforcement officer.

On July 23, 2021, O'Neal was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 90 years. Circuit Judge Michelle Sisco called it the "worst case [she'd] ever seen" in her nineteen years on the bench and described O'Neal's actions toward his daughter as "abject cruelty." State Attorney Andrew Warren characterized the murders as "among the most cruel and vicious our community has ever seen." O'Neal is incarcerated at Liberty Correctional Institution in Bristol, Florida.

In the aftermath, Ronnie IV was adopted on November 25, 2019, by Detective Mike Blair, who had cared for and interviewed the boy on the night of the attack. Ronnie IV changed his name to Ronnie Blair and joined a household of seven, including Mike, his wife Danyel, and their five other children. Mike Blair said there had been "no expectation Ronnie would live" and described his recovery as a miracle; Ronnie has said he feels "loved" and "part of the family."