Florida woman charged with attempted murder after messaging with 10-year-old girl on Roblox, telling her to 'kill' 2-month-old baby: police

A woman in Florida has been arrested after telling her daughter, a 10-year-old girl to torture and kill a two-month-old infant. The two were allegedly messaging via the gaming app Roblox, according to police. The woman has been charged with attempted murder in the case.

Tara Alexis Sykes, 36, who was from Pensacola, Florida told the girl to use "various methods to kill the infant," the Escambia County Sheriff's Office said in a release. The information on the incident was relayed to police by Gulf Coast Kids House, a child advocacy center, which reached out to the sheriff's office. 

The 10-year-old was living with a foster family at the time. NBC reports that "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."

"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 police release stated. "Additionally, 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."

A forensic interview conducted with the 10-year-old revealed that the girl said she dropped the infant "on the floor at the direction of her mother." During the interview, the girl said that she was "terrified" of her mother and was worried that her mother would harm her if she did not harm the infant.



“During the investigation, it was learned that the 10-year-old was communicating with Tara Sykes through the social media platform, Roblox. In the communication thread, Sykes instructed the 10-year-old on various methods to kill the infant,” the release added.

"We completed an internal investigation and looked at activity on our platform by the two usernames that were provided by law enforcement," a spokesperson from Roblox told The Post Millennial. "While they did communicate on Roblox, the conversations on our platform were in policy and did not contain the alleged instructions for violence that resulted in the arrest of Tara Alexis Sykes. We've provided these findings to the investigators on the case."

The Gulf Coast Kid's House called authorities after a 2-month-old infant had suffered serious injury after the boy dropped the infant on the kitchen floor. Police revealed that the child was not able to burn the sheets, but managed to douse the sheets with aerosol.

"I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this," Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said of incident. "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."

Sykes was charged with attempted murder while being engaged with aggravated child abuse. She is being held in Escambia County Jail without bond and the investigation into her action is ongoing.



The article and headline has been updated to reflect additional reporting on the case and a comment from Roblox. The case is still under investigation.