Florida woman arrested after texting a 10-year-old to toss a newborn on the ground and k!ll other family members

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, is facing charges of attempted murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse for her role in the messages.

The 10-year-old girl reported to investigators that she was terrified of Sykes and believed that not following her instructions would result in her de@th, according to the authorities.

While the adults were not physically harmed, the 2-month-old boy suffered injuries.

The sheriff’s office initiated the investigation on October 17, after receiving a report from a nonprofit serving child abuse victims that the infant had a skull fracture on September 26 after the incident.

Detective reports obtained by HuffPost revealed that the 10-year-old communicated with Sykes, who is her relative, through the online game platform Roblox at the time of the incident.

The young girl shared with the investigators that she created Roblox account for Sykes.

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 claimed she followed Sykes’ instructions to douse the bedsheets but did not proceed with setting the house on fire, as reported. Additionally, she allegedly confessed to intentionally 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 bail.

This case is particularly disturbing as it marks Sykes’ second arrest of the 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.The couple is facing charges of child abuse for not reporting an incident of “known s*xual battery,” as detailed in the report.

The report further reveals that the couple’s daughter, who was 31 weeks pregnant and malnourished, shared with the police that her parents had threatened her with mu*der if her grandmother did not hand over $10,000 to them.

Both allegations are currently under investigation.