After nearly five years of waiting, Lora Wakefield finally found relief. The man who murdered her 21-year-old son, Dustin, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in a Miami-Dade courtroom.
Tamarius Blair Davis, 27, admitted he was high on psychedelic mushrooms when he approached a patio at La Cerveceria restaurant on Ocean Drive on August 24, 2021, and randomly opened fire. Dustin Wakefield, a tourist from Castle Rock, Colorado, was dining with his family at the time. According to his uncle, Dustin died shielding his one-year-old son. Witnesses said Davis danced over the victim’s body immediately after the shooting.
Davis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and child abuse. For Lora Wakefield, who watched the proceedings virtually, the plea brought long-overdue closure. “For four or five years we’ve been waiting on movement,” she said. “Taking a life is not OK.”
She described Dustin as a person of deep faith and extraordinary character. “If I were to say Jesus was on this Earth, he represented Jesus very well,” she said. Despite her grief, she has chosen forgiveness. “I pray to God that this man is remorseful for his soul’s sake. I forgive him for his soul’s sake, because he did a horrible thing and there’s no justifying that.” She hopes the world remembers her son as the light he was.
