1 month ago
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[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A Florida woman is under arrest and facing an attempted murder charge and other allegations after cops say she instructed a 10-year-old child to drop an infant on the floor — as well as several other disturbing claims. And according to the police, the whole thing began on Roblox.
Tara Alexis Sykes (pictured above, in her mugshot) was arrested on Friday in Escambia County, Florida. She has since been charged with attempted murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse. Per cops, the 36-year-old woman allegedly began messaging a 10-year-old child on the gaming system with instructions ordering the youngster to harm several people.
It all came to a head last Thursday, when cops received a call from the Gulf Coast Kids House, an advocacy center for victims of child abuse in Pensacola, Florida. In that call, officials from the home told police that a 2-month-old baby in their care had been severely injured after a 10-year-old allegedly dropped the child on the hard tile of a kitchen floor. WTF?!?!
Related: Gypsy Rose Blanchard On How She’ll Address Her Mom Dee Dee’s Murder With Her Own Child!
Per the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office via People, it wasn’t at first clear whether the infant’s injuries were sustained at the facility, or whether they happened elsewhere. But when police began digging into the situation, they found SO much more that was disturbing.
After questioning the 10-year-old, cops learned that the child had allegedly been ordered by Sykes to harm several other people, as well. That included the infant, but also several adults with whom the 10-year-old was living. Cops say Sykes used the Roblox messaging system to instruct the child on various ways of harming them. That allegedly included ideas to drown the infant in the bathtub, burn the baby with scalding water, and drop them on the floor. The sheriff’s office says Sykes also instructed the 10-year-old to slit the adults’ throats, douse their bed sheets with aerosol spray, and set the adults on fire as they slept.
Disturbingly, the 10-year-old reportedly carried out several of those instructions. They not only dropped the infant on a solid tile floor, as noted, but the child also doused bed sheets in the house with aerosol spray. Thankfully, the kid did not succeed in setting fire to the adults or doing any other damage.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip W. Simmons was absolutely flabbergasted when he came to learn the circumstances of Sykes’ alleged goading via the Roblox platform. The sheriff released this statement to the media:
“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.”
No kidding…
Sheriff Simmons’ agency also confirmed that more charges may be on deck as the investigation proceeds. As of now, the Gulf Coast Kids House also released a very brief statement, which went like this, per People:
“We are appalled and saddened by this case.”
We are, too. Sigh…
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you’re experiencing emotional distress related to incidents of mass violence, you can call or text the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or visit their website at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline for more resources.
[Image via Roblox/YouTube/Escambia County Sheriff’s Office]
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