Tyler Joseph Hadley - Killed His Parents with a Hammer

[SimoneFlen']

Note: I started compiling info + photos on this a year + a half ago, but never got round to sorting it all out + finishing it. I can't see myself doing it any time soon, so thought I would just post everything that I found at the time.

I'll put it all in several different posts, so it's not too cluttered


On 16th July 2011 in Lucie County (Florida, USA), 17 year old Tyler Joseph Hadley murdered his parents, 54 year old Blake + 47 year old Mary-Jo.

He was arrested the next day. In February 2014, he pled guilty + was eventually sentenced to life in prison without parole on 21st March.

In April 2015, the Hadley house was demolished.

Tyler:

[SimoneFlen']

The parents:

[SimoneFlen']

The crime scene:

[SimoneFlen']

Everything else:

[SimoneFlen']

PDFs

[SimoneFlen']

From articles:



Shortly before 5:00 p.m., Tyler took his parents' cell phones. He took three pills of ecstasy and then went to stand behind his mother, Mary-Jo while she worked at the family computer for five minutes. He then began to beat her to death with a hammer. Hearing Mary-Jo's screams, Blake emerged from the bedroom and rushed to the scene and saw Tyler. They stared at each other for several moments before he beat his father to death. He spent three hours cleaning up the blood before hosting a party. He hid their bodies in the master bedroom.

Some time after the murders, Tyler made a Facebook post letting people know that he was having a party that night. He then stopped at an ATM and then picked up some friends. About 60 people gathered for the party, playing beer pong, smoking cigars and drinking. That night Tyler told his best friend, Michael Mandell, that he bludgeoned his parents with a hammer. He showed Michael the master bedroom and the blood that was in the room. News of the crime was then spread by word of mouth. Hadley was arrested early the next morning.


*took 3 'e' tablets + used a claw hammer

*He spent three hours cleaning up the blood before hosting a party.

*The judge also accused Hadley ofmanipulating experts and lying about hearing voices.

*On the night of the killing, police said, Hadleystopped at an ATM and then picked up some friends en route to theparty, flashing about $5,000 in cash.

*About 60 people gathered for a party, playing beer pong, smoking cigars and drinking. The victims' bodies were later found lying in their bedroom.Friends described Hadley as being in a good mood and hospitable duringthe party. One friend said Hadley had planned to hold a second bashthe following night.

At the party that night, Hadley asked anunidentified friend to step outside to talk and told him about thekillings. The friend was shown a bloody footprint in the garage and,ultimately, the bodies in the bedroom, police said. Word of thekillings eventually made its way around the party, police said.

The friend tipped off police, leading to Hadley'sarrest early the next morning.

Hadley told a friend interviewed by police that hisfather had punched him in the face several times, according toinvestigative files previously released by prosecutors. But a fellowinmate said Hadley told him he'd never been beaten or molested, thefiles stated, and the man's brother, Ryan Hadley, called his parents"awesome" and said his brother was a "pathological liar."

Evidence seized from the home hinted at some mentalproblems for the defendant, including a receipt for a mental healthcenter and a bottle of an antidepressant medication, according toauthorities. A fellow inmate has told police that Hadley has signedjailhouse autographs, has called himself "hammer boy," and says he hastalked with the devil, according to the files released by prosecutors.




'Don't worry, parents won't be here': Chilling Facebook messages sentby teen before 'he beat mother and father to death with a hammer so hecould throw a party to impress his friends'




•He is reported to have cleaned up the bloody messwith a sponge mop, Clorox wipes and a canister of coffee grounds


•Authorities allege he then put their bodies intheir bedroom, locked the door and threw a huge party


•His eerie Facebook posts from the day of theirmurder reveal that Hadley told friends his parents would not be hometo stop his party


•Other revelations include the fact that 6-ft Hadleysuffered an eating disorder when he was younger and was sectioned byhis mother just months before her death


•Hadley was also reportedly given doses of humangrowth hormones as a youngster because his mother didn't want him'being bullied'



Facebook messages sent by Tyler Hadley the day heallegedly bludgeoned his parents to death, locked their bodies in abedroom and then threw a raucous party reveal the chilling planning prosecutors say the unhinged teen put into their murders.

Just five hours before police claim he popped threeecstacy pills and buried a claw hammer into the back of his screamingmother's head in front of his father before killing him at their homein Port St. Lucie, Florida, Hadley was asked by a friend whether theparty he had been bragging about all week was still on.

His friends knew he was practically grounded by hisparents, Mary Jo and Blake Hadley, but when they asked how he wasgonna throw his massive bash if they were still around or came home,Hadley coldly replied on the social networking site, 'they won't,trust me.'

Indeed, an in-depth report by Nathaniel Rich inRolling Stone magazine outlines for the first time how in 2011,Hadley, now 19, fantasized about murdering his parents and throwing ahuge party while their bodies were still inside the house.

It also reveals that Hadley's mother put her son onhuman growth hormone when he was younger and feared that thedepression she suffered from had infected her own child like adisease.

One friend of Hadely's, Markey Philips, recountedthat two weeks before the horrific murders that shocked a nation, thetall, skinny, 6ft teen had seemed withdrawn when they hung out at hishome.

Hadley, who had been in trouble with the law in thepast for arson and was a known drug taker and underage drinker,suddenly blurted out to Philips that he 'wanted to kill his parentsand have a big party after.' - because nobody had ever done thatbefore.

While Phillips did not take his friend seriously,another series of frightening Facebook message exchanges highlight notonly Hadley's state of mind but also the fury building with hisparents who were having trouble controlling his delinquent behavior.

Two weeks before the now-infamous party, Hadleyspoke to his friend Mercedes Marko on July 2 and complained his momhad taken away his cell phone.

Tyler Hadley: lol yup shes a c*** fa sho imight kill her

Mercedes Maxine Marko: Omg no jail!! Or Imean prison! Lol

Tyler Hadley: oh well <3 (sic)

And at 9.40 am on the morning of the double murderHadley allegedly committed while in a drug fueled, mindless rage, hechatted on-line with his friend Matt Nobile, 17, a junior at Port St.Lucie High School.

Matt Nobile: did u do it

Tyler Hadley: no but im gonna

Matt Nobile: bet?

Matt Nobile: u really should now

Matt Nobile: do it

Tyler Hadley: dont worry i am

Tyler Hadley: then im having a party

Matt Nobile: yeah party time n****!

Hadley who was 17 when he allegedly battered hisparents to death with a hammer before hosting a massive free-for-allparty is currently awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder -but is hopeful he will not be jailed if his plea of insanity isproved.

According to Rolling Stone, tragically, Hadley hadalways seemed a normal boy, who was described as being very close tohis parents - even waiting up late for his dad to return from a nightshift at the local power plant.

However, this all changed when he joined highschool.

Classmates recall a 'bizarre personality' who would'just blurt stuff out' and that once he 'started mooing loudly, like acow.'

One neighbor, DeeDee Maynard stopped her sonplaying with Hadley when she caught the young teen smoking in thenearby River Park Wildlife Preserve.

Just two weeks later, Hadley set the preserve onfire by dousing an abandoned couch with gasoline and setting italight.

Fast forward to the spring before his party and itseems that Hadley's mind was becoming troubled.

On April 10, he got into a fight at a friend'shouse and was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery.

Because the 17-year-old had a juvenile record froma previous burglary conviction he spent a week at St. Lucie CountyJail and then two weeks of house arrest with his parents.

His mother confiscated his cell phone after thisand in another revealing Facebook exchange with a friend during hishome arrest his mind seems to jump from boastful exaggeration tothoughts of taking his own life.

Tyler Hadley: dont text me about drugs

Isadora Gascho: what happen?

Tyler Hadley: my mom has it because I gotarrested on Monday and shes flippin s***..i just got out today.

Isadora Gascho: oh s**…

Tyler Hadley: F****N S*** SUCCKKKKEEEDD

Isadora Gascho: u bad kidd

Tyler Hadley: Just kidding…its a pirateslife for me

Hadley's confused friend doesn't seem to understandwhere the conversation is going with the mention of pirates and alsoseems to ignore what seem like cries for help.

Tyler Hadley: ok im done with all thenautical nonsenseIsadora Gascho: :-)

Isadora Gascho: ur so sillyyy

Isadora Gascho: what r u doing?

Tyler Hadley: nothing, considering suicide

Isadora Gascho: why???

Tyler Hadley: ummm…because i wanna die iguess?

In what can be seen in hindsight as the innerturmoil of a mentally ill teenager, Hadley tells Gascho that he drinksto excess now because 'it fills the emptiness inside me' and that 'allmy smiles are fake.'

The party that Hadley had thrown began at 11 pm onJuly 16 and slowly swelled into pandemonium - kids running amokplaying beer pong in the kitchen, stubbing out cigarettes on thecarpet, smashing bottles on the floor and laying waste to theotherwise clean family home.

Over 60 people were inside the house, some wereselling white pills from a bag and another was selling marijuana.

In a gruesome twist friends remembered how theychose YouTube songs from the family computer during the party - whichwas covered in a suspicious brown liquid stain they assumed was cokeor beer.

This was later to discovered to be Mary Jo's bloodthat her son had tried to remove from the keyboard with coffeegranules.

One witness told Rolling Stone that Tyler's 'eyeswere large and white, his pupils expanded, and he kept rubbing hishands together, nervously clenching his fists.'

At 1 am, Hadley asked his best friend MichaelMandell to walk with outside so that he could tell him somethingprivate.

'I killed my parents,' said Hadley.

Hadley allegedly told Mandell that just before 5 pmhe stood behind his mother while she was on the computer for fiveminutes in contemplation before finally plunging a hammer into herhead.

Horrifically, he is said to have told Mandell thatas he struck his mother she screamed one final question to her son:'Why?'

The troubled teen revealed to Mandell that hepopped three ecstacy pills before hand because he worried that hecouldn't kill his parents while 'sober.'

When his father burst into the room in a panic onhearing his wife's cries, Mandell says that Hadley told him that theylocked eyes before he started beating his father with the hammer, too.

'Why?' asked Blake Hadley.

'Why the f*** not?' shouted Tyler, according toRolling Stone.

The boy allegedly took his parents' cell phonesaway ahead of the attack so they couldn't call for help.

When it was over, and the parents were dead, Hadleyspent three hours cleaning up the blood and was surprised how long theclean-up took according to prosecutors.

According to Rolling Stone, after telling him thestory, Hadley then took Mandell to see his parents dead bodies intheir bedroom which he had kept locked the entire night - along with ablack Labrador dog.

Hadley told his best friend that he did it becauseof a combination of rap music, constant fights with his parents andthe fact they had financial problems.

When he was interviewed in the aftermath of thekillings in 2011, Mandell said: 'He asked me to stay there until aftereveryone left to see them and I didn't want to.

'I opened the door. I saw bloody sheets piledeverywhere. I saw broken pictures with blood on them and I looked downand I saw his dad's leg there.'

Mandell said that Hadley also told him that the'devil had possessed him' and said if he was caught he would commitsuicide.

'I feel like this kid that I've known all my life,I don't know him. His family was my family,' Michael said. 'They werevery good people. I really don't see any motive besides drugs.

'He took three ecstasy pills before he did this. Hesaid he couldn't do it sober.

Mandell stayed at the party for another hour andeven took a selfie with Hadley - most likely aware this was the lasttime he would see his friend like this again.

Further revelations from the Rolling Stone piecelist the history of mental illness and depression that Hadley sufferedin the lead up to the murders.

As late as June 2011, Hadley returned home drunkfrom a night out where he had urinated on a friends bed.

His desperate mother, Mary Jo, had him sectioned atNew Horizons, a mental health clinic - an act she was only able to dobecause she believed there to be a 'substantial likelihood' he wouldhurt himself.

When a co-worker asked Mary Jo if she was worriedher son might hurt her she said no - she was more worried about hisdepression and suicide - because she suffered from mental illnessherself.

According to Rolling Stone, Hadley 'had receivedcounseling for depression in the past, as well as for an eatingdisorder and poor self-esteem.

'In fact Mary Jo had Tyler take injections of humangrowth hormone during his early adolescence because she thought itmight boost his confidence'

Sadly, just two weeks before the party, Mary-Jo wastelling friends that Tyler 'was over the hurdle' and 'she really felthe was back to himself'.

She did not know that her son by now was makingapparent threats to kill her to his friends on Facebook.

The party on July 16 petered out to a close around4.00 am - one of the last guests to leave said they saw Hadley makinga sandwich for himself in the dark in what was now a bomb-site of ahouse.

Then at 4.40 am the police arrived - 'MichaelMandell had called the Crimestoppers hotline. He'd told themeverything' according to Rolling Stone.

Tyler was arrested and taken to St. Lucie CountyJail and the police discovered his parents' blood splattered bedroomand their bodies.

Hadley has pleaded not guilty in the bludgeoningsof his parents and a fellow inmate who shared a cell with him toldinvestigators that the teen is now known as 'Hambo' and 'Bamm-Bamm' byother prisoners and that he has given autographs, including some onnews articles about his case.

Justin Toney has said every time a new inmate isadmitted Hadley makes an introduction.

'What's up man?' Toney quoted Hadley as saying.'You know who I am? I'm the hammer boy.'

Toney has said that Hadley has given differingaccounts of why he allegedly committed the crimes. First, he said,Hadley blamed it on medication he was on.

When police searched the house after the murder,they discovered prescription bottles in Tyler's name for Hydroxyzine,a mild anti-anxiety medication, in addition to Citalopram, ananti-depressant that can increase the risk of suicide in adolescentsand young adults.

He has also claimed his father had punched him inthe face before and told friends he wasn't his real dad - this was nottrue.

Later though, he said Hadley explained it wasbecause he wanted to have a party and knew his parents would not lethim.

Toney said Hadley told him he had beencontemplating the killings for about three weeks and had consideredusing a garden tool instead.

'He said he seen the devil,' Toney said. 'He saidhe talked to the devil and the devil talked to him.'

Still, there are glimpses of a different Hadley inthe files.

Toney said Hadley would sometimes bring him a ramennoodle cup, and often expressed remorse for his alleged crimes.

In a log of a jailhouse visit with his olderbrother, Ryan, Hadley told his brother he loved him and told him totell others he says hello and loves them too.

And in a letter to his brother, Hadley makes thesad admission that 'I know everyone thinks I'm a psychopath' but 'Ireally am sorry for everything'.

'I feel like Ryan doesn't love me anymore but Iknow he does and he's just going through a rough time…It's so hardgoing through this. I'm scared and I feel so alone…'






Tyler Hadley's Killer Party

The shocking story of a troubled Florida teen, hiswild house party and two grisly murders

By Nathaniel Rich - Rollingstone.com

December 18, 2013

You could tell it was going to be a huge partybecause almost nobody had heard of the kid who was throwing it. Wordwas that his name was Tyler Hadley, he attended Port St. Lucie High,and, most crucially, his parents were out of town. Where exactlyTyler's parents had traveled, or how far, no one seemed to know.

Tyler had been telling his friends all week that hewas going to have a party, but nobody believed him. He'd never throwna party before, and it was impossible to believe that his parents, whohad been increasingly strict with him lately, would give theirconsent. When his friends asked whether the party was still on, Tylerreplied, "I'm working on it." They assumed that meant it was off. At11:25 a.m. on Saturday, July 16, 2011, Hadley received a Facebookmessage from his friend Antonio Ramirez.


Tyler Hadley: sup bra

Antonio Ramirez: Chillen what you doin tonight?

Tyler Hadley: tryin to have a party at my crib

Antonio Ramirez: Your parents ain't home?

Tyler Hadley: nope

Tyler Hadley: well their leasvin soon

At 1:15 p.m. Tyler posted a message on his Facebookwall:


party at my crib tonight…maybe

No one was convinced by this, but at 8:15 p.m.,Tyler posted another message:


party at my house hmu

Still his friends remained incredulous.


Ashley Haze messaged: "WHAO what what if yourparents come home"

"they won't," replied Tyler. "trust me."

The party was just getting started when Mike Youngarrived with 10 or so of his friends around 11:30 p.m. Mike, apopular, athletic junior, knew the host only by sight. Tyler wasdistinctive looking, tall and skinny, nearly cadaverous at six footone and 160 pounds. At school he was quiet, approaching nonverbal,though occasionally prone to sudden, nonsensical outbursts in class.His friends — potheads, juvenile delinquents, pill poppers — were notthe type of kids Mike liked to associate with. But it was a warmsummer evening in July and there was absolutely nothing else going onin Port St. Lucie. There never was anything going on in Port St.Lucie. The city, 40 miles north of West Palm Beach, was a tomb,designed for the soon-to-be-entombed. It had half a dozen golfcourses, twice as many assisted-living homes, seven funeral homes, twobingo halls and a shuffleboard club. There was no access to the beach,no downtown, and no place for teenagers to hang out at night otherthan a giant arcade called Superplay USA, which advertises itself as aState-of-the-Art Family Playground. Even the parks were closed atnight. Mike and his friends had already spent three hours killing timeat the mall in Stuart, 20 minutes down the coast, and another hour atMcDonald's. So they figured they might as well check out the Hadleyparty.

Tyler answered the door wearing a long blackT-shirt, black Dickies and black Nike Air Force high-top sneakers. Heseemed anxious, or at least as anxious as you can be while on Ecstasy.It was clear that Tyler was rolling. His eyes were large and white,his pupils expanded, and he kept rubbing his hands together, nervouslyclenching his fists.

"I don't want no one smoking inside," said Tyler."It's my parents' house."

Before long there were 60 kids in the house. Mostof them had no idea who Tyler was. They draped themselves over thecouches, played beer pong on the dining table, scrounged for food inthe kitchen cupboards and gathered in packs out front, tossing emptycans onto the lawn. In the living room, when bottles fell to the floorand shattered, kids laughed. Cigarettes were extinguished on the rug,the kitchen counter, the wall. Tyler seemed less concerned with thedestruction of his home than with the noise. If the neighbors gotalarmed, they might call the police.

"Actually, just stay in the house," said Tyler tonobody in particular. "You can smoke inside. I don't care."

Mike was talking with some girls on the couch whena very drunk skater kid — he looked like one of Tyler's friends — ambled over.

"I smell dead people," said the skater, giggling.

Mike looked up.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I don't know. Some people are smoking, that'sall."

"All right, dude. Whatever."

The skater, laughing, wandered off.

A large crowd had gathered around the beer pongtable. The table was directly next to the family computer, where kidstook turns playing songs on YouTube. Mike cued up Wiz Khalifa's "NoSleep" and a couple of tracks from a Lil Wayne mixtape, "Tunechi'sBack" and "Racks." The computer area was even filthier than the restof the house. The white keyboard was tacky with brownish dried liquid — beer, maybe, or Coke. Nobody looked too closely.

Jose Erazo, a slight, soft-spoken 17-year-old withstraight black hair combed at an angle over his forehead, was playingbeer pong when he heard someone say, "Oh, he killed his parents."Everyone laughed. Jose won 15 straight games of beer pong.

People kept asking Tyler where his parents were.

"They went to Georgia," he told Mark Andrews.

"They're in Orlando," he told Ryan Stonesifer.

"They don't live here," Tyler told Richard Wouters."This is my house."

Mark Andrews, 21, met Tyler 11 years ago, whenMark's family moved to Port St. Lucie. Tyler and Mark's youngerbrothers were friends, and the families lived down the street fromeach other. When Tyler was 10 years old, he showed up at the Andrews'house after a fight with his mother. He vowed that he would kill hisparents. Mark told Tyler that all parents pissed off their kids andTyler, calming down, agreed. The two boys laughed about it.

Tyler's friend Markey Phillips missed the partybecause he was visiting his grandparents in Chicago that weekend, buthe had hung out with Tyler two nights earlier, playing video games andwatching television at Markey's house. Tyler had "seemed pretty fine"that night. But two weeks before that they had been hanging out atMarkey's house when Tyler blurted out, in the middle of aconversation, that he "wanted to kill his parents and have a big partyafter." Nobody had ever done that before, Tyler said — throw a hugeparty with the bodies still in the house.

"That's crazy," said Markey. He figured Tyler wastrying to make a joke. Nobody ever took Tyler seriously when he talkedabout killing his parents. In a Facebook chat with his friend MercedesMarko on July 2, 2011 — two weeks before the party — Tyler complainedthat his mother had confiscated his cell phone.


Tyler Hadley: lol yup shes a cunt fa sho i mightkill her

Mercedes Maxine Marko: Omg no jail!! Or I meanprison! Lol

Tyler Hadley: oh well <3

Then there was his friend Matthew Nobile, 17, ajunior at Port St. Lucie High School, who had this exchange with Tylerat 9:40 a.m. on the morning of the party:


Matt Nobile: did u do it

Tyler Hadley: no but im gonna

Matt Nobile: bet?

Matt Nobile: u really should now

Matt Nobile: do it

Tyler Hadley: dont worry i am

Tyler Hadley: then im having a party

Matt Nobile: yeah party time *****!

Port St. Lucie was not built for teenagers. Namedafter the patron saint of people with eye problems, the town was thebrainchild of three Jacksonville brothers — Frank, Elliot and RobertMackle — who were determined to profit from the massive migration ofretirees to south Florida. In 1961 the Mackles bought approximately40,000 acres of swamp and pine flatwood forest a hundred miles northof Miami, subdivided the land into plots measuring 80 by 125 feet, andplaced full-page ads in Life and Newsweek that promised fulfillment of"the Florida dream." A young girl with a blond ponytail held agigantic beach ball in her arms beneath a palm tree; a man withgraying temples helmed a motorboat, accompanied by two young beauties;blueprints touted the modern designs of "fun filled, sun filled. . .Space Age Homes." The images were fantasies, of course — the land wasstill swamp — but the price was right. You could buy a house in PortSt. Lucie for just $10 down, and $10 a month, much cheaper than themore expensive retirement communities farther down the coast. But youwould keep paying for the rest of your life

By 1980, Port St. Lucie's population had grown to15,000, and the city had begun to sprawl inland, overtaking I-95, ninemiles from the coast. In 2006, at the height of the real estate boom,Port St. Lucie's population surpassed 150,000. It was thefastest-growing city in the United States. The winding suburban laneswere graded so quickly that no one bothered to make sure the streetnames were spelled correctly. Driving through the city today you willpass Galaxie Street, Voltair Terrace, Hershy Circle, Twylite Terrace.The names were designed to give the former swampland a patina ofsophisticated grandeur. The street on which the Hadley family hadlived since 1987 is named "Granduer."

Blake and Mary Jo Hadley moved to Port St. Luciefrom Fort Lauderdale 24 years earlier to be closer to Blake's parents,who had retired in neighboring Stuart. Though Port St. Lucie waseviscerated by the real estate crash, Tyler's parents heldrecession-proof jobs. Blake was a watch engineer at the St. LucieNuclear Power Plant for thirty years. Mary Jo was a beloved elementaryschool teacher. "No matter who you were, even if she didn't like you,she would never give up on you," says Cameron Adams, a friend ofTyler's who had been Mary Jo's student.

The space-age design of the Hadley home, and thoseof its neighbors, are unable to disguise how recently the land wasconfiscated from nature. A half-century after the Mackles' ads firstappeared in Life, there remain throughout the city properties that tothis day have not yet been sold, and therefore have never beendeveloped. Driving through the city, after passing an orderly seriesof 10 or 15 neatly landscaped suburban homes, you might arrive at asquare plot of what resembles wild jungle: a dense, overgrown plexusof pine flatwoods, wiregrass, wax myrtle, fetterbush, Dahoon holly,wild blueberries and saw palmettos, their leaves shaped like limphands with dozens of fingers. Granduer has more than a half-dozenundeveloped plots. The Hadley house is sandwiched between two of them.Across the street from the Hadleys are four additional consecutiveplots of subtropical wilderness. At the end of the block lies the St.Lucie River, hemmed on either side by a narrow track of riparianforest. Bewildered bobcats, raccoons, wild boars and alligators oftenclimb out of the river and onto their neighbors' lawns.

During Tyler's adolescence, Port St. Lucie wasknown nationally, if it was known at all, for two things: the New YorkMets, who held their spring training camp there; and marijuana. Duringthe real estate boom, dealers from Miami began buying up empty houses — often for as little as $50,000 — outfitting them with LED lights andhydroponic systems, and using them as grow operations. The practicebecame so common that it earned the city a new nickname: "Pot St.Lucie." An investigation in 2006 by local and federal law enforcementagencies busted 69 pot farms in town, but the phenomenon persists."They're still out there," says Joseph Waddle, who recently graduatedfrom St. Lucie West Centennial High School. "Marijuana is out ofcontrol. It's everywhere. You can't go to a party without smelling itin the air."

As the population of Port St. Lucie has grown, itsmedian age has plunged. More than a third of the city's inhabitantsare now younger than 24. Teenagers complain incessantly about havingnothing to do.

"The whole mindset of Port St. Lucie is that it'sboring, so I'm not going to do anything but throw a party," saysWaddle.

There are a lot of shops but nothing to do,explains Terry Nguyen, a senior at Centennial who was friends withTyler. "In other towns there are places where teens can hang out, butnot in Port St. Lucie."

"The town is so boring," says Anthony Snook, alanky 20 year old with an ironic mustache and a surfer's drawl, whileshopping for a new glass pipe at 420 Peace Avenue, a local head shop."It drives kids nuts. There's no role models. And the parents arealways on everyone's ass because everyone's stressed about money."

For a city without any rough neighborhoods — without any neighborhoods, in fact, or, for that matter, sidewalks — there is a surprising amount of crime in Port St. Lucie. Much of it iscommitted by young people. Within months of Tyler Hadley's party, a 19year old was found to be having sexual relationships with at leastone, and perhaps two, 14 year olds; an 18 year old and a 16 year oldwere arrested after breaking into a house and shooting a middle-agedcouple during a robbery; a group of 14 year olds vandalized a house,causing more than $10,000 of damage; another 14 year old was foundwandering the streets at night in a daze, with a massive head wound,wearing nothing but underwear; and teenage marauders, carryingskateboards, videotaped themselves ransacking local chain stores. AtWalmart they leapt into a six-foot stack of Pringles cans; at K-Martthey skateboarded into giant stacks of paper towels; at Target theyran through the aisles with their arms outstretched, like marathonersracing across the finish line, clearing the shelves of pillows, dogfood, bread. On the surveillance film they can be seen cacklinghysterically the entire time. "They're really doing this withoutregard for society, rules or regulations," said Fran Sherman, a localpsychotherapist, who was shown the videos by local reporters. "They'regetting joy out of torturing people and things."

By midnight at the Hadley residence there were ahundred people and two dogs, a black Labrador named Sophie and an old,partially deaf and blind beagle. Sophie was nowhere to be found butthe beagle was hiding in the bedroom that had belonged to Tyler'solder brother, Ryan, who had moved to North Carolina six weeks earlierto attend college. The party was only several hours old, but the roomlooked as if it had been ransacked by thieves. Clothes and beddingwere scattered across the floor and the bed frame was cracked. Thebeagle cowered under the bed.

Stephanie Castaneda arrived with her friend JoshuaKorte around midnight. She had a crush on Tyler, but didn't know himwell. He was standing awkwardly by the wall next to his mother'scomputer and wasn't talking to his friends. When Stephanie went to thebathroom she found a beagle hiding in the shower.

William Goodall had known Tyler since the sixthgrade, but had seen less of Tyler since freshman year of high school,when Tyler started smoking weed. He couldn't tell whether Tyler wasacting especially strange, because Tyler always acted kind of strange.

At 12:30 a.m. the party was running out of beer soTyler asked Mark Andrews and his girlfriend, Ashley Gershman, to drivehim to the Sunoco gas station a block away. Tyler gave a wad of $20bills to Mark, who was 21, and asked him to buy four cases of BuschLight. While they waited in Mark's car, Tyler mentioned to Ashley thathis father had died. Ashley, who didn't know Tyler very well, assumedhe meant that his father had passed away a long time ago.

When they got back to the house the kids at theparty were playing water pong, because they wasn't enough beer. Oneboy walked around with a baggie of round white pills, selling them fora dollar apiece. Another sold marijuana. Anthony Snook showed uparound 12:45 a.m. Someone had texted him that Hadley's party was the"biggest thing ever."

"Thanks for throwing this party, man," he said toTyler. "How've you been?"

"All right," Tyler replied, his voice flat. Snookknew Tyler from school as a sullen, introverted kid who avoided eyecontact and laughed at his own jokes. But tonight, despite the party'sincreasing chaos, Tyler seemed perfectly calm. At least until one boy,who had taken off his shirt and run out of the house screaming,returned holding a mailbox over his head.

"Whooo!"

"Where the fuck did you get that?" asked Tyler.

"I took it off the neighbor's lawn!"

The boy wheeled around the living room with themailbox, knocking beer bottles to the floor.

Tyler started yelling. Stealing a mailbox was afelony, he said, and the police were going to come. Someone removedthe mailbox from the house and returned it to the street.

Snook noticed that the door to the master bedroomwas closed. Assuming that there were people inside getting high, hetried to enter, but it was locked. It was dark in the house, but henoticed a black smear, about a foot long, beneath the door. It lookedlike an oil-based paint that someone had tried unsuccessfully to wipeaway.

Justin Wright, a collegiate soccer player who askedthat his real name be withheld, arrived at 1:15 a.m. The first thinghe noticed was the stench. It smelled like sweaty clothes that hadbeen sitting around too long. The place was a mess. The white ceramicfloor tiles were grimy. Several picture frames were missing from thewall. Others hung askew. Dishes smeared with the remnants of instantmacaroni and cheese accumulated in the kitchen. Justin asked Tyler ifthere were any house rules.

"Just do whatever you want," said Tyler.

During Justin's game of beer pong, the ball bouncedto the floor and rolled beneath the table, where it came to rest in asticky, thick brown substance. Justin was mildly grossed out, butdidn't think much of it. He carried the ball to the kitchen sink andrinsed it under the faucet. Then he resumed the game.

As Mark Andrews was leaving the party, Tyler askedif they could speak privately. Tyler went outside and ordered all thekids standing there to get back into the house, so that his neighborswouldn't call the cops. Once everyone was inside, Tyler turned toMark.

"Dude, I did some things. I might go to prison. Imight go away for life. I don't know, dude, I'm freaking out rightnow."

"What are you talking about?" said Mark.

"Dude, I know you are not going to believe me, noone will believe me. I freakin' killed somebody."

"Dude, you killing somebody is your own business,"said Mark. "Don't be telling me that sort of thing. I don't need toknow."

Tyler returned to the house and ran into RicardoAcevedo, an 18 year old who had met Tyler that night.

"Thanks for having us over," said Ricardo. "Andthanks for the beer."

"I just wanted to do something fun before I left,"said Tyler.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to kill myself," said Tyler.

"Why would you do that?"

"'Cause I did something really bad."

"What'd you do? It can't be that bad."

"Don't worry," said Tyler. "If I get caught, I'llbe in jail a long time."

In his bedroom Tyler found Kimberly Thieben, achubby, black-haired 20 year old who was then known to friends as"K-Nasty." She and Tyler were close friends; she lived two houses downthe street.

"I'm going away for 60 years," he told Kimberly.His voice seemed to come from a faraway place.

"Why?" she asked.

He said she'd find out tomorrow.

Around 1 a.m., Tyler asked his friend MichaelMandell to walk outside so that they could speak privately. Tyler andMichael had been best friends since they were eight years old, and formuch of the party they had sat together, Michael chatting with otherfriends, Tyler staring into the middle distance.

They walked to the stop sign at the end of theblock, and when they got there, Tyler turned to Michael. "I killed myparents," he said.

"Yeah, right."

"Michael, I'm being real. I'm not lying to you. Ifyou look closely enough, you can see signs." He told Michael to lookin the driveway.

Michael saw that the two cars closest to the garagewere a black Toyota Tacoma truck that belonged to Tyler's father, andhis mother's red Ford Expedition. If Tyler's parents weren't home, whywere their cars there?

Michael still couldn't believe it, so Tyler toldhim to look inside the garage. After making sure that nobody waswatching, Michael slipped into the garage and turned on the light. Hesaw a bloody shoe print and immediately retreated, shutting the doorbehind him.

Tyler led Michael to the master bedroom, wherethere were traces of blood on the door. Tyler unlocked the door andopened it. Michael saw dining-room chairs and blood-soaked towelsstacked in a huge pile. At the bottom of the pile, emerging from thedebris, lay a thick white leg.

Tyler told Michael what had happened. Thatafternoon, shortly before five, Tyler had hid his parents' cell phonesso that they couldn't call for help. He listened to "Feel Lucky," asong by the rapper Lil Boosie, to psych himself up. He took threepills of Ecstasy, because he worried that he couldn't kill his parentswhile "sober." In the garage he found a claw hammer. Then he returnedto the house. He stood behind his mother while she worked at thefamily computer. For a full five minutes he stood there, thinkingabout what he was about to do. Then he raised the claw end of thehammer and brought it down on Mary Jo's head.

"Why?" she screamed. "Why?"

Hearing his wife's screams, Blake Hadley ran out ofthe master bedroom. He was a big man — six foot one, 300 pounds — butnothing could have prepared him for what he saw. Father and son lockedeyes for several moments.

"Why?" asked Blake Hadley.

"Why the fuck not?" shouted Tyler. He keptrepeating this question while he beat his father to death with theclaw end of the hammer. Tyler pantomimed swinging the hammer forMichael.

When it was over, Tyler said, he wrapped towelsaround his parents' heads and dragged them into the master bedroom.The bodies lay side-by-side, face down, the hammer on the groundbetween them. It took three hours to clean up all the blood and gore — much longer than Tyler had anticipated. He threw every piece ofincriminating evidence he could find into the bedroom, burying thecorpses beneath a pile of broken dishes, shattered glass, bloodytowels and pillowcases, books, a coffee table, a sponge mop, Cloroxwipes and a canister of coffee grounds. He took a shower and then, hetold Michael, he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror andlaughed.

Max Mazer, a friend of Tyler's, was standing in thehall outside the master bedroom when he saw Michael rush from theroom, slamming the door behind him. Michael looked deranged, said Max,like "he was looking over both shoulders."

But Michael didn't leave the party. He stayed foranother 45 minutes, posing for selfies with Tyler. In one photo, takenwith Michael's cell phone, the two best friends stand in what appearsto be the garage. Both boys wear their brown hair in close crew cuts.Michael's expression is stern, defiant. Tyler raises an orange plasticcup. His mouth is slightly twisted, his eyes tense. His face is amixture of pain, despair, fear, horror.

Close to 2 a.m., somebody stood up and announcedthat there was another house party being thrown by a neighbor of MikeYoung's. Kids began running outside, tossing their drinks onto thegrass, opening car doors. Tyler ran out after them. Joshua Korte hadjust settled into his car when someone slammed on the driver's sidewindow. It was Tyler.

"Where is everybody going?" he yelled.

Josh rolled down the window and explained they weregoing to another party.

"Oh," said Tyler, relieved. "All right." When askedlater to describe Tyler's expression, Joshua said, "He was just like,blank face. Like he had a blank face on."

Fourteen cars peeled out of Tyler's neighborhood.The caravan went up Prima Vista to Bayshore, windows open, Wiz Khalifablasting, cars weaving down the wide boulevard. Finally they reachedtheir destination. The house was dark and quiet. A girl came outsidein her pajamas. She wasn't having a party. It was just a rumor.

The commotion of the departing cars was finally toomuch for Tyler's neighbors. Raeann Wallace, who lived next door, hadknown Tyler since he was born. She was fond of the Hadleys, and ofTyler. "He seemed like a happy kid," she says. "Very respectful,polite." He liked to skateboard, ride his bike, toss a football in thestreet. When she asked him not to throw the ball too close to her car,he said, "Yes, ma'am." When she and her husband went away for theweekend, she gave Tyler a few bucks to keep watch over her house.

Tyler had always seemed close to his parents. As aboy he would wait up late into the evenings for his father to returnhome from working the night shift at the power plant, and father andson would play basketball for hours in the driveway, often untilmidnight. On weekends Wallace would hear the Hadleys splashing andlaughing in the family's backyard pool.

But once Tyler entered high school, a silencedescended over the Hadley property. Tyler had always been quiet, anddifficult to read, but now he seemed eccentric, unpredictable,troubled. "He had a bizarre personality," says Cameron Adams. "Reallyhyper. He'd always try to pull a crowd. In the middle of a lesson, hewould start laughing. He would just blurt out stuff." Once, in themiddle of biology class, he started mooing loudly, like a cow.

Another neighbor, DeeDee Maynard, refused to allowher son to play with Tyler after she caught Tyler, as a young teen,smoking in the nearby River Park Wildlife Preserve with otherneighborhood boys. Worried that they might accidentally start a forestfire, she confronted Tyler's mother. Mary Jo seemed unconcerned.

"My son doesn't smoke," she said.

"I saw him smoking," Maynard reported.

"Well," said Mary Jo. "You know Tyler."

Two weeks later Tyler lit the River Park WildlifePreserve on fire. He and several other boys dragged an abandoned couchinto the clearing, doused it with gasoline they had siphoned at thelocal Sunoco, and dropped a match. The fire department had to becalled, but the kids got off with a warning. The Hadleys seemed tohave lost control of their youngest son.

"It was a significant-sized fire," says DonnaMontero, whose swimming pool abuts the Hadleys' pool. "They just didit for kicks. I guess there's nothing else to do here. I would'vethought he'd have been the type that probably would have hurt animalsjust for the heck of it. But I certainly would have never got thefeeling that he would have been capable of murdering anybody. Letalone his parents."

In late April, 10 weeks before his party, Tyler gotinto a fight at a friend's house and was arrested on a charge ofaggravated battery. Because he had a juvenile record, havingpreviously been convicted of burglary, he was sentenced to a week atSt. Lucie County Jail, followed by two weeks of house arrest. Mary Joconfiscated his cell phone, forcing Tyler to rely on Facebook tocommunicate with his friends:


TYLER HADLEY: dont text me about drugs

ISADORA GASCHO: what happen?

TYLER HADLEY: my mom has it because I got arrestedon Monday and shes flippin shit..i just got out today.

ISADORA GASCHO: oh shit…

TYLER HADLEY: FUCKIN SHIT SUCCKKKKEEEDD

ISADORA GASCHO: u bad kidd

TYLER HADLEY: Just kidding…its a pirates life forme

ISADORA GASCHO: lmao

ISADORA GASCHO: wtf r u talking about??

TYLER HADLEY: I DONT FUCKING ASSOCIATE WITH NONPIRATES

ISADORA GASCHO: whattt??

TYLER HADLEY: ok im done with all the nauticalnonsense

ISADORA GASCHO: :-)

ISADORA GASCHO: ur so sillyyy

ISADORA GASCHO: what r u doing?

TYLER HADLEY: nothing, considering suicide

ISADORA GASCHO: why???

TYLER HADLEY: ummm…because i wanna die i guess?

TYLER HADLEY: what other reasons are there?

ISADORA GASCHO: are you being serious?

TYLER HADLEY: yes

TYLER HADLEY: ...I do wanna die sometimes

ISADORA GASCHO: dont dieee

ISADORA GASCHO: smoke a bowl whenever ur down :P

TYLER HADLEY: I used to, now I drink alot when imdepressed

TYLER HADLEY: IT FILLS THE EMPTINESS INSIDE ME

ISADORA GASCHO: ur quite a character ;P

TYLER HADLEY: yes but all my smiles are fake

There were still moments, however, when the oldTyler would emerge. One of Tyler's best friends, Ryan Stonesifer,described Tyler's relationship with his mother as "really close."Tyler told Ryan about a recent fight with Mary Jo, in which Tyler hadtold her to shut up. He felt so badly about it that he apologizedimmediately. He told his mother he was sorry for yelling at her.

On Mother's Day, Tyler chatted on Facebook with hisfriend Mercedes Marko. Tyler told her about his house arrest.


MERCEDES MAXINE MARKO: im sad…. That sucks dude…isyour mom pissed..?? lol

TYLER HADLEY: no shes disappointed…I feel bad, shewas crying

MERCEDES MAXINE MARKO: aww…did you do anything forher today…its mothers day.

TYLER HADLEY: yeaa me and my brother took her outto eat and what not haha

MERCEDES MAXINE MARKO: awwwwwww..thats so nice lol

TYLER HADLEY: lol I know. IT WAS A NICE DAY

On a Friday night in June, one month before theparty, Tyler came home, in his words, "smashed as fuck" after a nightduring which he had urinated on his friend Desiree Gerhard's bed. MaryJo admitted him to New Horizons, a mental health clinic. Tyler wasforced to attend counseling daily. In order to commit Tyler, Mary Joinvoked the Baker Act, which under Florida law allows for parents tocommit their children, if under the age of 18, to involuntarypsychiatric treatment. The act is only used if it is deemed a"substantial likelihood" that, without intervention, the child willcause "serious bodily harm" to himself or others in the near future.When a co-worker asked if Mary Jo worried whether Tyler might everhurt her, Mary Jo said she was only worried that Tyler might hurthimself. Mary Jo suffered from depression, and worried that her sonmight suffer from it as well. He had received counseling fordepression in the past, as well as for an eating disorder and poorself-esteem. In fact Mary Jo had Tyler take injections of human growthhormone during his early adolescence because she thought it mightboost his confidence. She didn't want him teased in school for beingshort and chubby.

Just two weeks before the party, however, Mary Johad told friends that Tyler "was over the hurdle." She was "so happy"about Tyler's improvement, said one friend. "She really felt he wasback to himself."

The weekend before the party, Tyler had traveledwith his father and grandfather to a family reunion in Georgia. "Itwas a time for us to enjoy family from Indiana, Minnesota andFlorida," recalls his grandfather, Maurice Hadley. "I didn't see anyindication there were any problems between Tyler and his parents."

The night before the party, the Hadleys had goneout to dinner as a family. On the way they stopped at the Circle K,where Tyler ran into his friend Cameron Adams. Tyler appeared to be ina good mood.

"How are your mom and dad doing?" asked Cameron.

"Oh," said Tyler quietly. "They're all right."

Cameron mentioned that it was his birthday. He andhis girlfriend were going to Benihana's.

"Happy birthday!" said Tyler. "Come to my housetomorrow, I'm having a party. We'll celebrate."

At 2:00 a.m., as the caravan of cars tore out ofthe driveway of the Hadley house, revving their engines and blastingtheir music, Raeann Wallace got fed up. She couldn't understand whyTyler was throwing such a noisy party, or why his parents would allowit. When a group of boys from the party drifted on to her front lawnand began peering into her window, she called the police.

Two officers from the Port St. Lucie PoliceDepartment arrived at the Hadley residence within minutes. By thatpoint there were fewer than 20 people left at the party. When theofficers rang the bell, Tyler told everyone to be quiet and hide inhis room. Then he opened the door.

The cops explained that there had been noisecomplaints. Tyler talked to them for a few moments.

The cops left, and the party started again.

By 2:30 a.m. Tyler's friends began to filter backto the party. It was clear now that something was wrong with Tyler.Michael Mandell, before leaving, had grabbed 10 Percocet pills thatTyler was going to use to commit suicide, and hid them in a hallcloset.

When a 16-year-old cheerleader showed up with twogirlfriends, Tyler slammed the door behind them as soon as theyentered the house and began checking the windows, closing the blindsas if someone were out to get him. He kept touching his hair andpacing across the living room. "The party was fun," he told his friendDavid Garcia. "I might have another one tomorrow night." Then he saidthat he "might be going away for a while."

"Are you moving? Or vacation?"

"Just going away," said Tyler.

"Are you coming back?"

"I don't know because I'm thinking about killingmyself."

Tyler turned the lights off in the front rooms toavoid attracting any further attention from the cops. Ryan Stonesifer,before he left at 3 a.m., saw Tyler making himself a sandwich in thedark.

At 4:40 a.m., Tyler posted another message to hisFacebook wall:


party at my house again hmu

The party might have gone on forever if the policehadn't, at that very moment, been standing outside his front door.Michael Mandell had called the Crimestoppers hotline. He'd told themeverything.

Officers Adrian Zamoyski and Charles Greene weredispatched to 371 NE Granduer Avenue at 4:32 a.m. They parked acrossthe street. There were three cars in front of the house: acream-colored Lincoln, a black Toyota Tacoma truck, and a red FordExpedition. They ran the plates. The first car was registered to TylerHadley, the others to his parents.

As the officers walked up the driveway they heardsomeone talking inside the house. Officer Greene saw, through thefront bay window, the shadow of a person walking back and forth.Greene knelt by the window and peered through the blinds. Tyler waspacing across the living room, talking to himself, with "a verydisturbing look on his face," Greene would write in his police report."His eyes were very wide and he was not blinking." Tyler grabbed astack of books from a bookshelf near the front door and marched theminto the back bedroom. After saying something unintelligible, hedumped the books on the floor "in a frantic manner." Tyler repeatedthis exercise twice more, returning for a second and third stack ofbooks. Finally Greene knocked on the front door and rang the bell.There was no answer, but Greene could see Hadley through the window,walking away from the door. The rest of the lights in the house wentoff. Then Hadley opened the door.

He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts, andhis left hand was hidden behind his back. Officer Zamoyski drew hisgun. He ordered Hadley to put up his hands and step out of the house.The officers checked him for weapons, then ordered him to the groundand handcuffed him.

They asked whether any adults were home. Tyler saidno. He seemed frantic, incoherent, annoyed. His pupils were verylarge.

"I know I'm going to Rock Road," he told OfficerGreene, referring to the address of the St. Lucie County Jail. "Sojust take me."

Leaving Tyler shackled in the driveway, theofficers entered the house.

"You can't go in there," Tyler shouted after them."Don't go in there!"

Empty beer bottles and red plastic Solo cups wereeverywhere, on the counters and floors. There were pots and pans onthe kitchen counter. Tyler's bedroom floor was littered with unraveledcigars. On his bed were about 15 empty beer bottles and a woman'spurse. The furniture in his brother's old bedroom was turned over, andthe floor was covered with clothing and bedding. Locked inside acloset they found a black Labrador.

The cops passed through the kitchen and approachedthe master bedroom. It was locked. The officers noticed streaks ofdried blood on the frame and baseboards. They forced the knob. Thedoor opened.

The funeral service for the Hadleys was attended bynearly a thousand people. Two coffins lay in front of the altar. MaryJo Hadley was a committed Catholic; she served as a lector at the St.Lucie Catholic Church and taught the Rite of Christian Initiation toconverts. On the Sunday morning that her body was found, she wassupposed to have read at morning mass from the 13th chapter of FirstCorinthians, an ode to the empowering qualities of love: "Love ispatient, love is kind. It always protects, always trusts, alwayshopes, always perseveres."

At the reception following the service, RaeannWallace approached Ryan Hadley, Tyler's older brother. Ryan, who wasthen 23 , had planned to return to Port St. Lucie after graduatingfrom college to work alongside his father at the power plant. Hementioned that he was going to St. Lucie County prison in Fort Piercethat night to visit his brother. It would be the first time thebrothers had seen each other since the murders.

"It's what my parents would want me to do," Ryansaid. "They wouldn't want me to abandon him. I don't know what I'mgoing to say. I'll probably just sit there and cry."

Tyler's friends struggled to understand hismotivation. But there was a general sense that what happened to Tylermight have happened to any of them. One 18-year-old girl who attendedthe party but knew him only slightly, blamed his parents.

"He was under a lot of pressure and like hisparents would never let him be himself and honestly, I think that theycaused everything that just happened. . . His parents always expectedhim to be someone else that he wasn't and that's not right. AnythingTyler would do, he'd be wrong for it. . . he just broke. Honestly hegot crazy 'cause of it. If you have that much hate for somebody thenyou actually would do something like that."

Tyler had told some of his friends, includingMichael, that his father had, in the past, punched him in the face.But even if this were true, Michael couldn't believe that this "couldlead to him murdering them." Tyler also told his friend Markey thatBlake "wasn't his real dad." Markey was amazed to find out, during apolice interview, that Tyler had been lying.

The most common rationale advanced by his friendswas "drugs." "We all make mistakes when we on them jiggers," saidMarkey. Tyler, Markey wrote in a statement, "drank heavily and smokedpot and popped pills like a mad man." There were a lot of pills. "Allkinds," said his friend David Garcia. "Monkeys, beans, xanys, bars,French-fries-yellow xanys." Tyler also took Percocet and oxycontin,known among teens in Port St. Lucie as "blues." And he did Ecstasy — once or twice, according to a friend. But none of these drugs induceviolent behavior, and they are used by hundreds of other kids in town,including most of those who attended Tyler's party.

There might have been other kinds of pills in hisbody, however. When cops searched the house, they found prescriptionbottles in Tyler's name for Hydroxyzine, a relatively mildanti-anxiety medication, as well as Citalopram, an anti-depressantthat can increase the risk of suicide in adolescents and young adults.In a letter from jail to his grandparents, Tyler referred to onepsychiatric pill in particular, without mentioning its name. "I wish Inever started taking that damn pill," he wrote. "None of this wouldever of happened." In a letter to a friend, he said, "I regreteverything I did. I swear it's those drugs man." But Tyler had alsotold Michael that he had purposefully waited for his brother to moveout before he killed his parents. That was more than six weeksearlier. And a fellow inmate later testified that Tyler claimed he'dbegun to plan the murder — and the party — three weeks before ithappened. "You should have come to the party," Tyler told the inmate,according to testimony. "It was awesome."

At the St. Lucie County Jail Tyler is a celebrity."When this shit went down it went world wide," he wrote in a letter toa friend. "I was the 2nd most popular story after the economy." Heresponds to fan letters and signs "Hambo," and signs autographs forother inmates "Hammer Time." But he's also been jumped, and beat up.

He has been continuing his education: he passed hisGED, and scored 2100 on the SAT. He reads all day, recommending to hisfriends "the Harry Potter books and anything by James Patterson." Hehas been meeting with a priest, a Father Michael, and has expressed adesire to become ordained when he gets out of jail. But it seemsunlikely that will happen. Because Tyler committed the murders sixmonths short of his 18th birthday, he cannot be sentenced to death,but prosecutors can pursue two life terms. When asked about hisjudicial philosophy, chief assistant state attorney Tom Bakkedahl, whois trying Hadley's case, says, "Our focus is on punishment, notrehabilitation."

In his letters from prison, sent to friends andfamily members — particularly his grandparents — Tyler is, by turns,depressed, wretched with guilt, angry, confused, bored, anddelusional:


I was just living my life as a normal seventeenyear old kid and next thing I know I'm in the middle of St. LucieCounty jail…I ruined a lot of people's lives and I can't seem toforgive myself. I find myself crying a lot because of all the guilt.Everyday I beg for forgiveness and I ask God not to send me to Hell. Idon't want to go there. Father Michael told me that if I just confessmy sins and repent then God will forgive me for everything. I justcan't get rid of all this guilt. It's swallowing me whole…I'mextremely nervous that I'm going to get a life sentence. It's makingme pretty depressed I want to say I'm really sorry for all the griefI've stirred up. I know everyone thinks I'm a psychopath and all. ButI really am sorry for everything. I've been praying everyday forforgiveness and for a decent plea offer. I should get one since it'smy first offense…I feel extremely bad for Ryan and especially you andmy other grandparents for the grief I've caused. I feel like Ryandoesn't love me anymore but I know he does and he's just going througha rough time…It's so hard going through this. I'm scared and I feel soalone…

He forgave Michael Mandell for turning him in, andpreventing him from committing suicide, though not before pointing outthat "I'm in jail because of you."


I wish I could throw back some Miller Lights andsmoke a fat ass strawberry White Owl. But I gotta say it feels good tobe sober. My head is nice and clear. Make sure you drink some Millerfor me. Drink yourself stupid like I used to do…I swear to you,Michael, the devil had a hold on me. I talked to him and he talked tome. That's why I seemed so crazy toward the end. I'm not a coldblooded monster like everyone thinks I am. I'm a caring person thatmade a horrible mistake. You gotta let people know that…

On the morning after the party, the news of Tyler'sarrest spread rapidly among the teenagers who had attended the party.Mike Young and several of his friends had just returned from the beachwhen their phones started buzzing.

"I was like damn, brother," says Mike. "That'screepy as hell. I can't believe we partied last night where there wasdead people." After Mike gave an interview to a local news reporter,he got 30 Facebook friend requests. "They were like, "I seen you onthe news, bro!' I was like, 'Yeah, it was awesome!'"

"I wasn't upset when I heard," says the 16-year-oldcheerleader. "I wasn't scared, or disgusted. It's not like I knew himpersonally. I was just in awe."

When Anthony Snook found out about the Hadleymurders, he thought, "Wow. I just went to the party of a lifetime.It's messed up what he did, but 20 years from now, I'll be able to sayI was there. I hate Port St. Lucie, but that's kind of cool."

[SimoneFlen']

More from articles:

When Tyler Hadley enters the courtroom Monday, he’ll face a new judge looking like a seasoned state prisoner — not the young man who in 2014 was ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars for brutally killing his parents at age 17.

On that unforgettable day, Hadley, now 24, was a depressed and anxious teen who had obsessed for weeks about killing his parents, mother Mary Jo, 47, and father Blake Hadley, 54. On July 16, 2011, he did it.

He purposely selected a 17-inch framing hammer and silently stood behind his mother before delivering 36 blows, mostly to her head and back. He attacked his father head on, striking him at least 39 times in the head and chest, according to autopsy reports.

Evidence from the case against Tyler Hadley for the 2011 murder while he was a juvenile of his parents, Blake and Mary Jo, all of Port St. Lucie, is shown by St. Lucie County Clerk of the Circuit Court Joseph Smith on July 20, 2017, at his offices near the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce.


His case may be most widely remembered because of what he did next: Hadley used Facebook to summon about 30 pals to party at his Port St. Lucie home on Northeast Granduer Avenue — with his slain parents’ bodies hidden in a bedroom, buried under stuff he haphazardly stacked around them.

He’d wrapped towels around their heads, and reports show a 22-ounce hammer was later found on the floor in between the bodies.

At least two of his friends who attended the raucous party contacted 911 and reported the murders before dawn the next day.

The Hadley house never was lived in again; in 2015, it was torn down and hauled away.




In 2014, Hadley abandoned plans to seek an insanity defense and agreed to plead no contest to two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon.

His case was the first sentencing of a juvenile killer on the Treasure Coast since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which barred automatic mandatory life prison terms for minors.

Hadley had spent two years in state prison when he won an appeal that overturned his life terms and sent his case back for a new sentencing hearing. That hearing begins Oct. 1 and could last into the following week.

Public Defender Diamond LItty, who’s represented Hadley for years, will call as witnesses child behavior experts and psychologist who specialize in adolescent drug use and brain development.

Behavior psychologist Robert Kinscherff, an associate professor in a clinical psychology doctoral program at William James College in Newton, Massachusetts, is expected to testify; he’s met with Hadley twice in the past year.

Kinscherff is expected to say Hadley shows the ability over time to be rehabilitated, potentially to the point that release from prison would be warranted.

During a recorded deposition in June, Kinscherff called Hadley’s capacity for rehabilitation “a very good betting proposition ... if what we mean by rehabilitation is being able to live a life without committing further crimes, especially not serious crimes against persons.

"It will be interesting to see what he looks like when he’s 35 or 40 or older," Kinscherff said. "I won’t pretend to say that I know exactly what he’s going to look like when he’s 40.”




In mid-adolescence, Hadley began showing a range of difficulties, including increased isolation, anxiety, depression and parental conflicts, Kinscherff said. He used the psychological term "catathymia" to describe Hadley’s intrusive and obsessive homicidal thinking before, during and after the murders.

“Catathymia is a process by which a person who is in emotional distress begins to develop increasingly fixed and intrusive ideas about harming or even killing somebody,” he said, “which is matched by an increased sense of emotional … desperation until the committing of a homicide seems to be the only way that they can think of at that point of relieving this tension.”

The attack that follows, he said, is accompanied by a sense of detachment and “typically overwhelming anger and rage during the violence.”

Afterward, there’s a sense of relief, he said, much like Hadley described feeling once he bludgeoned his parents and began cleaning up the bloody scene.

That sense of detachment lasted for months while housed at the St. Lucie County jail, according to Hadley’s remarks to Kinscherff.

Inmates there called him "Hadley Hambo," and records show he gave an inmate his autograph, signing, “I don't know if you're a fan, but you should be. It's hammer time.”

"Hammer Time" was the catchphrase in rapper MC Hammer's 1990 hit song "U Can't Touch This."

Is Hadley redeemable?

It’ll be up to Circuit Judge Gary Sweet to decide whether Hadley is what experts call “irreparably corrupt” or “irretrievably depraved,” basically, a person incapable of rehabilitation who must remain locked up for life.

Sweet also may decide to sentence Hadley to any number of years over 40. Any terms imposed will be reviewed after he serves 25 years. At that point, a judge could set him free.

During Hadley’s resentencing hearing, state prosecutors will go first and present crime scene evidence and testimony that describes the killings in great detail.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl has said he’ll argue Hadley still deserves two life terms. The defense is expected ask Sweet for two concurrent 40-year terms.

In recounting the murders, the state will focus not only on “how painful and excruciating it was, but the awareness that the person who is taking your life is your son,” Bakkedahl has said. “And then, the father knowing that he has killed his mother already and now is killing me.

“Who would let this guy out of prison?" Bakkedahl said. "You know, I don’t want to be there when he gets out.”

It’s unclear when Sweet will announce his decision after the hearing concludes, but it could be weeks or months later.





Evidence from the case against Tyler Hadley for the 2011 murder while he was a juvenile of his parents, Blake and Mary Jo, all of Port St. Lucie, is shown by St. Lucie County Clerk of the Circuit Court Joseph Smith on July 20, 2017, at his offices near the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce.

feb 20th 2018

Tuesday afternoon, both sides in the Tyler Hadley case agreed that a new resentencing hearing would take anywhere from seven to 10 days. Prosecutors are still seeking a double life sentence.

“Our position hasn’t changed. The facts haven’t changed. Everything is the same as it was years ago when we did this. We’re just going to have to do it again," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl.

Back in 2011, Hadley, then 17, killed his parents, Blake and Mary-Jo, with a hammer. He hid their bodies in the bedroom, then threw a party in the home. He pled no contest, avoiding a trial.

“We’ve had some contact with the family and they want to know where we’re at and what’s going on. And letting us know what their summer schedules are so we’re trying to work around that as well," said Bakkedahl.

Hadley was not in court Tuesday. Public Defender Diamond Litty was asked whether Hadley will make a statement this fall.

“Oh, I don’t know at this time. Thank you for asking but I have no idea," said Litty.


Hadley’s conviction was reversed in 2016. Defense experts will testify on juvenile brain development.

“The effects of drugs, alcohol, prescription drugs on the juvenile brain," said Litty.

One issue that still needs to be decided by the court is whether the state can gain access to the notes and raw data of a defense expert witness, a neuropsychologist who interviewed Tyler Hadley.

Judge Gary Sweet told both sides they had until August 15 to share evidence that will be used.
While September was decided upon as the month for the resentencing, the exact date still remains unclear.

State law requires Hadley to serve a minimum of 40 years, with a review after 25 years.

[SimoneFlen']

Tyler's friend:

Mandell grew up one block away from Tyler Hadley and they became instant friends.


'I was just walking around, looking for friends, and I met Tyler … He slowly became my best friend, Mandell said.


Tyler Hadley's aunt Cindy hadley also spoke with ABC and said that by the time Tyler had turned 15, they started seeing a change in him.


'He started skipping school, hanging out with the wrong crowd, getting on drugs,' Tyler Hadley’s aunt, Cindy Hadley, told “20/20.” 'We knew marijuana.'


When Tyler Hadley turned 17, his parents did everything they could try try to help him including getting him a psychiatrist, antidepressants, and a substance abuse program.


One week before the party, Mandell says Tyler came home drunk so his parents took away his cell phone as a punishment.

'He felt that, I guess, that was too much, and that she was over disciplining him. And he said he wanted to kill her,' Mandell said.


Mandell said even though his friend said he'd kill his parents he didn't actually believe he would do it.


'It sounded like he was mad he was getting punished,' he said.


During the party Mandell said his friend made a confession that at first he didn't believe was true.


'He says, "Mike, I killed my parents." And I said, "No you didn't, Tyler. Shut up. What are you talking about?"' Mandell said.


'And, he said, "Mike ... look at the driveway, all the cars are there. My parents aren’t in Orlando. I killed my parents."'


Mandell saw blood by the door of the parents' master bedroom and on the computer desk but he thought his friend was playing a prank on him.


'I took Tyler into the garage, and I said, "What's going on here? I want to see them dead, if you really did it. I don't believe you,"' Mandell said.

Hadley wanted to wait until the party died down to show his friend the proof but Mandell refused to wait.


'I come up to the [master bedroom] door. The party's going on over here, and I turn the door knob,' Mandell said.


'I looked down, and I [saw] his father's leg against the door … My eyes popped up, and I said, "Oh my, he's telling the truth. He did it. This is real."'


Mandell told reporters that he stayed at the party for a few more hours after his friend told him that he killed his parents in order to support his troubled friend.


'If you were in my shoes, and that guy was your best friend, you wouldn't want [to] leave right away,' Mandell said. 'I know how heinous and sick this is, you know, what he did. But, you ... wouldn't have ran away, because you're comfortable with this guy. You don't see him as a killer.'

Mandell took a selfie with Hadley, which received a lot of criticism from people saying he didn't take the crime seriously, but he said he took the photo because he knew it was the last time he'd ever see his friend.


'I knew it was going to be the last time I ever [saw] him,' said Mandell who left the party hours later and called Crime Stoppers to report his friend's murder.


'You know, I didn't have any hesitation whatsoever for calling the cops,' Mandell said. 'The … worst feeling had to have been realizing ...that his parents are gone.'


Hadley, who was just 17 when he brutally beat his parents to death before throwing a party with their bodies still inside the house has been sentenced to life without parole on March 20, 2014.


Tyler Hadley beat his parents, Mary Jo and Blake Hadley, to death with a hammer at their St Lucie, Florida home in 2011, then spent three hours clearing up their blood so he could have a party.


In February, Hadley pleaded no contest in February to two counts of first-degree murder and on Friday Judge Robert R. Makemson handed Hadley two life sentences.

He branded the crime brutal, heinous and premeditated.

Hadley's attorney had argued for two 30-year sentences, to be served concurrently, with a review after 20 years. Hadley couldn't receive a death sentence because he was 17 at the time of the killings.

A fellow inmate has said Hadley signs autographs and refers to himself as 'hammer boy' behind bars.

After the shocking crime, a friend of Hadely's, Markey Philips, recounted that two weeks before the horrific murders, the teen had seemed withdrawn when they hung out at his home.

Hadley, who had been in trouble with the law in the past for arson and was a known drug taker and underage drinker, told mandell that he 'wanted to kill his parents and have a big party after' - because nobody had ever done that before. As Mandell told, ABC, he didn't take Hadley seriously.


On the morning of the killings, Hadley was asked by a friend if the party he had been bragging about all week was still on and if he was going to kill his parents, to which he reponded: 'no but im gonna.'

He took three ecstasy pills and used a claw hammer to murder his parents, authorities said.


That night, about 60 people gathered for a party at the family's Fort Pierce home, playing beer pong, smoking cigars and drinking while the victims' bodies were locked in their bedroom.

Friends described Hadley as being in a good mood and hospitable during the party. One friend said Hadley had planned to hold a second bash the following night.

Word of the killings eventually made its way around the party, police said.


Mandell's call to police lead to Hadley's arrest early the next morning.


Hadley told a friend interviewed by police that his father had punched him in the face several times, according to investigative files previously released by prosecutors.


But a fellow inmate said Hadley told him he'd never been beaten or molested, the files stated, and the man's brother, Ryan Hadley, called his parents 'awesome' and said his brother was a 'pathological liar.'

Word of the killings eventually made its way around the party, police said.


Mandell's call to police lead to Hadley's arrest early the next morning.

Evidence seized from the home hinted at some mental problems for the defendant, including a receipt for a mental health center and a bottle of an antidepressant medication, authorities said.


An inmate, Justin Toney, said that Hadley was famous throughout the prison and had signed autographs.

He said Hadley knew he had 'shocked the world' and realised something about his parents as he allegedly attacked them with a hammer.

'I said, "Did they try to stop you?"' Toney asked about the attack. 'And he was like, "No, that's how I knew that they really loved me."'

[ChristySD]

If it matters, it’s St. Lucie County (sometimes written as Saint Lucie County). I have a bit of family over on that side of the state. Thought this would help if anyone tried looking up county records.

[HYPRTCKR]

~ Youth is wasted on the ignorant, innocent, nonsense young.
~ Maturity is wasted on the wise, guilty, & commonsense old.

~ Both his parents seem kinda fake/phony in their social demeanor from the pictures shown, as well as both having some characteristic mongoloid features. Because of this I also deduce they (ab)used growth hormones, per as at the time, growth hormones were known to be used for youth enhancement in adults.
~ His parents probably also thought he was too immature for his age when they gave him growth hormones, which in those years was shown to cause aggressive behavior problems, especially in younger people, so it was only supposed to be used by adults who regarded it as an extra energy boost for ailing seniors.
~ He also seems to exhibit some mongoloid features which is usually predominant in rage criminals, & most probably brought about by the growth hormone being administered & thus causing his behavior problems.
~ Resentment from being too young with too old parents also comes to mind, per as premature expectations of success by his parents were met by dismay & disillusionment.
~ Old parents who expected their young child to inherit their old genetic wisdom, resulting in a maturely genius wonder child.
~ He had had sufficiently enough by the time he killed them & just wanted to have a normal teenage life before it was gone forever, for at least one last if not first time.