Tyler Hadley Hand Tracing

On July 16, 2011, in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Blake Hadley, 54, and Mary-Jo Hadley, 47, were murdered by Tyler Hadley, their 17-year-old son. Three years later, he was convicted of the murders, and sentenced to life in prison.

Tyler decided how he wanted to commit the murders a few weeks prior to committing them. He ostensibly told a friend exactly what he was planning to do at that time—stating that having a big party after a parricide had "never been done before." Shortly after noon Tyler wrote on his Facebook wall, "party at my crib tonight...maybe."

After Tyler's parents returned home that day, he hid their phones and locked their black lab (who he suspected would defend his parents) in a closet.

Shortly before 5:00 p.m. on the evening of July 16, 2011, Tyler took three pills of ecstasy and then stood behind his mother, Mary-Jo, as she worked on her computer in the family room. He attacked his mother with the back-end of a claw hammer first. Hearing the screams, his father rushed out of the bedroom to see what was happening. Blake saw Tyler attacking his mother and froze at the sight, exclaiming "Why?" Tyler replied, "Why the fuck not?" before fatally attacking his father with the hammer. After murdering them, he dragged their bodies into the master bedroom and spent three hours cleaning up the blood and throwing household items that reminded him of them on top of their bodies.

Tyler first invited people to his party at 12:15 p.m. on the day of the murders, hours before he murdered his parents. He funded the party with his dead parents' credit cards (he was spotted by an ATM when his photo was taken as he pulled cash out of the accounts) and then picked up some friends. Around 60 people attended the party that night and several are alleged to have noticed "the smell of dead bodies".

During the party, Tyler apparently told several people about what he had done. Tyler went on a short walk with a friend, Michael Mandell, and confessed the crime. After returning to the party, Mandell discovered the bodies of Blake and Mary-Jo in the master bedroom. Mandell did not leave the party immediately. He continued to spend hours with Tyler and even took a selfie with him. Four hours later, Mandell left the party and called a local crime hotline to report the murders. News of the crime was then spread by word of mouth. Hadley was arrested early the next morning.