A Florida woman was arrested Friday, October 18, and accused of instructing her 10-year-old relative, via messages in an online video game, to drop a 2-month-old on a tile floor and k!ll her adult guardians, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office announced.
Tara Alexis Sykes, 36, was charged with attempted murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse in connection to the messages.
The girl, 10, told investigators that she was terrified of Sykes and believed that if she did not follow the instructions, Sykes would k!ll her, authorities said.
The adults were ultimately not harmed, but the 2-month-old boy was injured.
The sheriff's office began investigating on Oct. 17, when they received a report from a nonprofit serving child abuse victims that the infant had suffered a skull fracture on Sept. 26 after the girl dropped him.
Detectives learned that the 10-year-old was speaking with Sykes, who is a relative, through the online game platform Roblox at the time of the incident, according to an arrest report obtained by HuffPost.
The 10-year-old told investigators that she created the Roblox account for Sykes, the arrest report said.
Investigators said Sykes instructed the girl to k!ll the 2-month-old in various ways, including by drowning him, burning him with scalding water and dropping him on the floor, according to the report.
Sykes also instructed the 10-year-old to k!ll her guardians and their adult daughter by cutting their throats while they slept, according to the report. She allegedly gave instructions to burn down the home by dousing bedsheets with aerosol spray and setting them on fire.
The 10-year-old said she did douse the bedsheets as Sykes instructed but did not go through with burning the home down, according to the report. She also allegedly admitted to deliberately dropping the infant on the kitchen floor.
"I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this," Sheriff Chip Simmons wrote in a statement. "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."
Sykes is currently being held without bond.
The troubling case marks Sykes' second arrest this year.
On May 28, she and her husband were taken into custody after they admitted that they knew their 14-year-old daughter had been impregnated by their 20-year-old friend, whom they allowed to live with them, according to the arrest report viewed by The Post.
Sykes and her husband
The couple was charged with child abuse for failing to report the "known s£xual battery," according to the document.
The couple's daughter - who was 31 weeks pregnant and malnourished - also told police that the pair threatened to kill the 20-year-old if his grandmother did not pay them $10,000, the report said.
Both cases are now pending.
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