Teen Accused of Bludgeoning Parents To Death Indicted
FORT PIERCE (CBS4) - A Port St. Lucie Teen was indicted Wednesday for allegedly bludgeoning his parents to death.
Tyler Hadley, 17, is facing life in prison after being charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
If the charges are increased to first-degree murder, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Police said Hadley was high on ecstasy when he beat his parents, Mary Jo Hadley, 47, and Blake Hadley, 54, to death with a hammer on July 16, then threw a house party via Facebook invites while their bodies remained in a locked bedroom, according to police reports.
Police said Hadley described the attacks to his best friend, Mike Mandell, who was seen going into the courtroom where the grand jury met.
According to police documents released, Hadley told his friend that he stood behind his mother for about five minutes in contemplation before finally plunging a hammer into her head. By the friend's account, when Hadley struck his mother with the hammer, she screamed one final question to her son: "Why?"
When his father walked into the room, Hadley told the friend that they locked eyes before he started beating his father with the hammer, too.
The boy took his parents' cell phones away ahead of the attack so they couldn't call for help, according to his friend's account.
When it was over, the parents were dead.
Hadley spent three hours cleaning up the blood, before hosting dozens of friends. Hadley told the friend he was surprised how long the cleanup took.
The latest details of the killings are contained within a juvenile arrest affidavit released by the Port St. Lucie Police. The friend of Hadley's told police he received a call from the suspect Saturday afternoon claiming he planned to kill his parents, a threat he didn't take seriously because it had been made in the past.
Later that day, the friend told police, Hadley made the same threat again.
At the party that night, Hadley asked the friend to step outside to talk, confessing to the killings, according to the report. When the friend didn't believe him, Hadley pointed to his parents' cars parked in the driveway. He still wasn't convinced.
Hadley then showed his friend a bloody footprint in the garage and, ultimately, the bodies in the bedroom, police said.
Police responded to Hadley's home early Sunday morning after receiving the tip from his friend. When they arrived, they found a "nervous, frantic and very talkative" Hadley, dressed all in black, with enlarged pupils and "a blank stare."
Inside, the home was in disarray, according to police, littered with beer bottles and the butts of cigars. Dried blood appeared to be on the frame of the locked master bedroom door. When they got inside, a large amount of blood was seen on the floor and bed sheets.
Dining room chairs, a coffee table, clothing, picture frames, mirrors, bedding, towels and miscellaneous papers were strewn about the room, according to the report. An officer removed two chairs, saw a man's blood-covered leg, and called for an ambulance.
Picking up a calendar off the floor, the arm of a second victim was found, according to the affidavit.
Hadley told his friend he planned to commit suicide by taking painkillers before police arrived, according to the report.
Hadley has pleaded not guilty in his parents' killings. His defense attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
The documents say Hadley was habitually truant from school but had no conduct problems and earned mostly Bs and Cs. Evidence seized from the home hints at some mental problems for the teen, including a bottle of antidepressants.
Based on the new charges, Circuit Judge Dwight Geiger ordered Hadley to be re-arrested and remain in custody without bond.
