A 2-month-old by was seriously injured when a 10-year-old girl dropped the baby on a tile floor, authorities in Florida said Monday, announcing the arrest of a 36-year-old woman who they allege instructed the child via the online video game Roblox on how to kill the infant.
Tara Alexis Sykes was arrested Friday and charged with attempted murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.
An arrest report alleged that Sykes communicated with her 10-year-old daughter on the online gaming platform Roblox and instructed her "on various methods to kill the infant." The court documents said Sykes is related to the infant.
"Sykes instructed the 10-year-old to drown the infant in the bathtub, burn the infant with scalding water, and drop the infant on the floor to kill the infant," the sheriff's office said.
Gulf Coast Kids House contacted the sheriff's office Thursday about a 2-month-old infant who had suffered serious injuries after being dropped on the kitchen floor by the 10-year-old. Gulf Coast Kids House is a child advocacy center where forensic interviews and medical exams of children suspected of abuse are conducted.
The arrest report alleged that the 10-year-old picked up the infant "after he became fussy and was walking into the kitchen with him to find an adult" when the baby fell. The foster father picked up the baby and took him to the hospital, where doctors said he had a skull fracture.
Morgan Lewis, a sheriff’s spokesperson, said the boy is expected to survive.
The 10-year-old said in a forensic interview that she dropped the baby "on the floor at the direction of her mother," the arrest report alleged. The girl said she was "terrified of her mother and felt that if she did not follow through with the instructions, Sykes would harm or kill her as well," it said.
The sheriff’s office alleged that an investigation also revealed that Sykes had instructed the 10-year-old on "how to kill the adults the 10-year-old was temporarily living with by cutting their throats with a knife while they slept and burning their house by dousing bed sheets with aerosol spray and setting them on fire."
The 10-year-old doused the sheets but was not able to carry out the instructions, authorities alleged.
Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said he was "truly disturbed" by the allegations "and the thought that anyone could think like this, let alone instruct these acts to be carried out."
"I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this," he said in a statement. "There is something really wrong with her."
Sykes is being held without bond. Lewis, the sheriff's spokesperson, said she did not foresee the 10-year-old’s being charged. The case remains under investigation.
