A woman in Florida allegedly met a 10-year-old boy on a gaming platform and gave him “vile” instructions to torture and kill a two-month-old baby.
Tara Alexis Sykes was arrested on attempted murder charges after she ordered the boy to carry out the gruesome attack, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department.
The unnamed boy reportedly dropped him to the ground, causing serious injuries, after receiving instructions from Sykes, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The suspect also allegedly told the boy to kill the two adults they lived with while they were sleeping. The adults were not injured.
The 36-year-old man used the social media platform Roblox to communicate with the 10-year-old boy.
Tara Alexis Sykes, 36, was arrested after she ordered a 10-year-old boy to murder a two-month-old child and adults in the child’s foster home.
Sykes was found to have communicated with the boy on the social media platform Roblox.
Sykes ordered the boy to drop the two-month-old baby to the ground in an attempt to kill him.
She told the boy to use various methods to try to kill the two-month-old baby, including drowning him in the bathtub, burning him with boiling water, and fatally dropping the baby to the floor.
Sykes had also ordered the boy to kill the adults he was temporarily living with by slitting their throats with a knife while they slept.
He also told the boy to then burn down his house by “spraying the sheets with aerosol spray and setting them on fire.”
The 10-year-old boy turned off the sheets but couldn’t follow all the gruesome instructions, according to ECSD.
Sykes also tried to instruct the boy to cut the throats of the adults he was staying with and then spray their sheets with aerosol before setting them on fire.
The two-month-old baby suffered serious injuries and Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said, “I’ve been in law enforcement for over 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Sykes told the 10-year-old to drown him in the bathroom, burn him with boiling water and then drop him on the floor.
Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said, “I’ve been in law enforcement for over 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
‘I am truly disturbed by the circumstances and the idea that anyone could think like this, let alone order these acts to be carried out. Something is really wrong with her,’ he added.
Sykes has been charged with attempted murder while engaging in aggravated child abuse and is currently being held without bail.