Arrest affidavit of Tyler Hadley, the teen accused of killing his parents, released

PORT ST. LUCIE — Tyler Hadley stood behind his mother, Mary Jo, as she sat at the computer.

He thought about killing her for about five minutes.

Hadley, 17, decided to hit his mother, a 47-year-old veteran teacher, in the back of the head with a hammer. As he started hitting her she screamed and turned and asked Tyler Hadley, “‘Why?’”

Tyler Hadley’s father, 54-year-old Blake Hadley, came out of a bedroom and looked at his son. The two stared into each other’s eyes.

“Tyler said he then went after his father and murdered him,” according to statements in Tyler Hadley’s juvenile arrest affidavit, obtained Wednesday from prosecutors.

The horrific account in the affidavit came from a juvenile who identified himself to Port St. Lucie police as being “best friends” with Tyler Hadley, who was on suicide watch Wednesday in the St. Lucie County Jail on two counts of second-degree murder.

The juvenile, identified as “M.M.,” said Tyler Hadley early Saturday afternoon said he was going to kill his parents, but the friend didn’t take him seriously because Hadley had told him he was going to kill his parents in the past. The juvenile said Tyler Hadley later the same day said he was going to kill his parents.

“Again, M.M. did not take Tyler Hadley seriously,” the affidavit states.

Police have said Tyler Hadley posted to Facebook about 1:15 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. Saturday about a party at his home — before the homicides occurred.

The party at the Hadley home in the 300 block of Northeast Granduer Avenue is thought to have started about 9 or 10 p.m., police have said. The juvenile said he was there with about 60 other people when Tyler Hadley asked him “to step outside the house and told him he needed to talk to him.”

“Tyler confided in M.M. that he had killed his parents,” the affidavit states. “M.M. didn’t believe him and Tyler pointed out both his parents’ vehicles were still in the driveway.”

Tyler Hadley then told his friend he stood behind his mother as she sat at the computer and thought about taking her life for about five minutes.

“Then he decided to strike his mother in the back of the head with a hammer,” the affidavit states.

Tyler Hadley told the friend it took about three hours to clean up “all the blood and that it had been more than he had expected,” according to the affidavit.

The friend told police he didn’t believe “what he was being told,” and Tyler Hadley told him to look on the floor in the garage. He saw a bloody shoe print.

The friend opened the master bedroom door and saw legs “beneath a pile of items that had been thrown on the floor,” according to the affidavit. The juvenile knew it was Tyler Hadley’s father because of the shorts.

Investigators went to the Hadley home early Sunday morning after a tip that a 17-year-old had killed his parents and the bodies were in the home.

The juvenile told police that Tyler Hadley told him he intended to kill himself by taking 10 Percocet pills when law enforcement officials came to his home. Percocet is used to relieve pain.

Tyler Hadley told “M.M.” he’d taken his parents’ cell phones “without their knowledge prior to killing them and put them in his bedroom so they could not get to them,” the affidavit states. Tyler Hadley showed “M.M.” a credit card taken from his parents so he could get their money.

Police got a search warrant for the home. The bodies were side-by-side face down, towels wrapped around their heads.

A “claw hammer” was pulled from between the bodies with a “waffle-type print.” The affidavit said it is “consistent with the marks located on each of the victims backs.”

Police were dispatched to the home at 4:32 a.m. Sunday after a 4:24 a.m. anonymous call came through Crime Stoppers in Orlando.

The caller, identified by police as “M.M.,” said he had information that Tyler Hadley killed his parents at 5 p.m. Saturday. The caller said a hammer was used, and gave the address of the Hadley home.

Officers found a Lincoln, a Toyota truck and a Ford Expedition at the home. The Lincoln was registered to Tyler Hadley, while the other vehicles were registered to people police believed to be Tyler Hadley’s parents.

Tyler Hadley answered the door and “appeared nervous, frantic and very talkative,” according to the affidavit. He also looked to have a blank stare and very large pupils. He said no one was inside and that his parents were in West Palm Beach.

He said he couldn’t contact them and declined to let police inside. Police had a “grave concern” for the safety of Tyler Hadley’s parents and went inside. The home was in disarray, with empty beer bottles and cups.

The bedroom on the west side of the house had clothing strewn about, cigar tobacco on the floor and about 15 empty beer bottles on the bed. A second bedroom was in “complete disarray,” and officers walked toward a third bedroom. The door was locked from the inside. Tyler Hadley told officers it was his parents’ room and he didn’t have the keys. An officer spotted what looked to be dried blood on the door