Tyler Hadley – he kills his parents to have a party

In short
On July 16, 2011 in Port St. Lucie, Florida, 17-year-old Tyler Hadley beat his parents, Blake and Mary-Jo, to death with a hammer, hid their bodies in the bedroom and a few hours later threw a house party with dozens of teenagers. Arrested at dawn after a friend called police, in 2014 he was sentenced to two life terms. In 2018, after the sentence was overturned on appeal, he was again sentenced to life, with a review after 25 years.

Tyler Hadley, 17, was not a popular boy. Perhaps that’s why he wanted to throw a big party at his house and invite half the school. But his parents wouldn’t allow it. Tyler found a way to throw the party anyway, without any problems: he decided to get rid of his parents by killing them with a hammer.

The murder

On July 16, 2011 Tyler lived with his parents, Blake, 54, and Mary-Jo, 47, in a house in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In the afternoon, shortly before 5, he decided to kill them.

First he hid their cell phones so they couldn’t call for help, then he listened to a rap song to pump himself up. Afraid he couldn’t do it sober, he took three ecstasy pills.

Then he took a hammer from the garage and went to his mother, who was working at the computer. He stood behind her for a few minutes, then began hitting her on the head. His mother screamed and his father came running. Faced with the scene, he asked his son:

Why?

and Tyler replied “Why not?”, before hitting him on the head too.

Having killed his parents, Tyler dragged their bodies into their bedroom, covered them with clothes and towels and began cleaning up the blood. It took him about three hours, much longer than he expected.

The party

Earlier that day Tyler had written on Facebook that there might be a party at his house, but nobody believed him: his friends knew his parents were against it. At 8:15 pm he posted another message:

Party at my house, hit me up.

When a friend, incredulous, asked what would happen if his parents suddenly came home, he replied:

They won’t. Trust me.

In a town like Port St. Lucie there isn’t much for teenagers to do, and Tyler’s house soon filled up, according to police with between 40 and 60 people. Everyone acted as if they were at home, and worse: smoking, putting their feet on the coffee table, throwing cups and leftover food on the floor, playing beer pong, breaking ornaments and stubbing out cigarettes on the carpet.

Tyler didn’t seem to care. He was more worried about the noise and asked everyone not to be too loud, or the neighbors might call the police.

He seemed relaxed, but it was obvious he had taken some drug: his eyes were wide, his pupils dilated and he nervously clenched and unclenched his fists. When people asked where his parents were, he gave vague and confused answers: first he said they were in Kansas, then in Orlando, and finally that they didn’t live with him.

Around midnight he began saying strange things. He told one boy he was scared because he had killed someone, and another that he wanted to throw a party before going to prison.

Nobody believed him. Around 1 am Tyler spoke with Michael Mandell, a childhood friend, and confessed that he had killed his parents. Michael didn’t believe him either, so Tyler took him into the bedroom and showed him the pile of clothes and towels under which he had hidden the bodies. And he told him how it happened.

The arrest

Michael didn’t call the police immediately. He only did so a few hours later, shortly before 5 am, when almost everyone had left.

Officers knocked on the door, Tyler opened it and let himself be handcuffed. He told them to take him to jail, because he knew that’s where he would end up.

But what led this boy to kill his parents? Certainly not being refused a party. Tyler had drug problems and had long been skipping school, and his parents had sent him for inpatient treatment. According to investigators, the motive was precisely his resentment towards them for that treatment.

Little more than a month earlier his mother had taken him to a psychiatric hospital, worried about him. Two weeks later she said she was pleased with his progress, not knowing that shortly afterwards he would kill her.

The trial

In February 2014 Tyler pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree murder and in March of that year the judge sentenced him to two life terms, calling the murders “brutal, heinous and premeditated”.

In April 2016, however, the appeals court overturned the sentence: Tyler was a minor at the time and, under Florida law, his sentence had to include a review after 25 years. The new sentencing hearing was held in 2018, with testimony from his uncle and his older brother, Ryan.

In December 2018 Tyler was again sentenced to life, but with the possibility of a sentence review after 25 years in prison. His uncle said the family was relieved and just wanted to move on.

🦋 Emadion lives through its readers. If this story kept you up at night, buy me a coffee: it helps me bring you the next nightmare.

☕ Support Emadion on Ko-fi