A woman in Florida allegedly met a ten-year-old child on a gaming platform and gave the child “vicious” instructions to torture and kill a two-month-old baby.
Tara Alexis Sykes was arrested on attempted murder charges after she ordered the child to carry out the horrific attack, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department.
The unnamed child allegedly dropped the child to the ground, causing serious injuries, after receiving instructions from Sykes, police said. Pensacola News Magazine.
The suspect also allegedly instructed the child to kill both adults they lived with while they slept. The adults were not injured.
The 36-year-old used the social media platform Roblox to communicate with the 10-year-old.
Tara Alexis Sykes, 36, was arrested after ordering a 10-year-old to kill a two-month-old child and adults at the child’s temporary home
Sykes was found to have communicated with the child on the social media platform Roblox
Sykes instructed the child to drop the two-month-old baby to the ground in an attempt to kill the child
She told the child to use several methods to kill the two-month-old child, including drowning in the bathtub, scalding him with boiling water and fatally dropping the child to the ground.
Sykes also instructed the child to kill the adults with whom the child temporarily lived by slitting their throats with a knife in their sleep.
She also told the child to set their house on fire by “spraying the sheets and setting them on fire.”
The 10-year-old did turn off the sheets, but was unable to fully complete the gruesome instructions, the ECSD said.
Sykes also tried to instruct the child to slit the throats of the adults the child was staying with, then douse their sheets in aerosol spray before setting them on fire.
The two-month-old child suffered serious injuries and Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said, “I have been in law enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything like this.”
Sykes told the 10-year-old child to drown the child in the bath, scald the child with boiling water and then drop the baby on the floor.
Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said, “I have been in law enforcement for over forty years and have never seen anything like this.”
‘I am truly disturbed by the circumstances and the thought that anyone could think this way, let alone order these acts to be carried out. There is something really wrong with her,” he added.
Sykes has been charged with attempted murder while engaging in aggravated child molestation and is currently being held without bond.