A Florida woman has been accused of instructing a 10-year-old child through the online gaming platform Roblox to kill a two-month-old baby by dropping it on a solid tile floor.
Tara Sykes, 36, from Perdido Key, allegedly connected with the 10-year-old via Roblox’s social media function and then persuaded them to carry out the violence, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Monday.
The suspect also allegedly made a slew of other demands to the child including to drown the baby in the bath and scold the infant with boiling water, deputies said.
She also told the 10-year-old to use a knife to slit the throats of the adults they were temporarily living with while they slept, authorities allege. Then, she allegedly told the child to douse the guardians’ bedding with flammable aerosol spray and set their corpses on fire.
The 10-year-old was “unable to carry out instructions” on the adults, the sheriff’s office said – but did allegedly harm the infant.
The sheriff’s office said it was contacted by children’s advocacy center Gulf Coast Kids House on Thursday, reporting that a two-month-old infant had “suffered serious injuries” after being dropped on the kitchen floor by another child.
Sykes was arrested and charged with one count of attempted murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse.
She was booked into Escambia County Jail on Friday, where she is being held without bond.
“I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this,” Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said in a statement on Monday.
“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.”
Further charges could be filed, authorities said.
According to court records, Sykes and her husband were previously arrested on May 28 after a Department of Children and Families investigator went to their home and found her 14-year-old daughter to be 31 weeks pregnant and suffering from malnutrition.
Both Sykes and her husband admitted they were aware their teen daughter had been impregnated by a 20-year-old, as per a probable cause affidavit seen by Law & Crime.
The couple failed to report the “known sexual battery,” but allegedly threatened to kill the alleged rapist if his grandmother didn’t pay $10,000 – which she did, the affidavit alleges.
Sykes has been charged with one count of neglecting a child without causing great bodily harm in that case.
The Independent has contacted Escambia County Clerk for more information.
