A woman in Florida allegedly met a 10-year-old on a gaming platform and gave the child ‘vile’ instructions to torture and kill a two-month-old infant.
Tara Alexis Sykes was arrested on charges of attempted murder after she instructed the child to carry out the gruesome attack, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department.
The unnamed child reportedly dropped the infant on the ground, causing serious injuries, after receiving instructions from Sykes, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The suspect also allegedly told the child to kill both the 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 she instructed a 10-year-old to murder a two-month-old and adults in 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 on the floor in an attempt to kill the infant
She told the child to use various methods to attempt to kill the two-month-old including drowning in the bathtub, burning with scalding water, and fatally dropping the infant on the floor.
Sykes had also instructed the child to kill the adults that the child was temporarily living with by cutting their throats with a knife in their sleep.
She also told the child to then burn their house by ‘dousing bed sheets with aerosol spray and setting them on fire’.
The 10-year-old did douse the sheets but was unable to carry out the entirety of the gruesome instructions, according to the ECSD.
Sykes also tried to instruct the child to slit the throats of the adults that the child was staying with, and then douse their sheets in aerosol spray before lighting them on fire
The two-month-old suffered serious injuries, and Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said: ‘I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this’
Sykes told the 10-year-old child to drown the infant in the bath, burn the child with scalding water, and then drop the baby onto the floor
Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said: ‘I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this.’
‘I am truly disturbed by the circumstances and the thought that anyone could think like this, let alone instruct these acts to be carried out. There is something really wrong with her,’ he added.
Sykes has been charged with attempted murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse and is currently being held without bond.
