55: A Party To Die For | The Disturbing Case Of Tyler Hadley

It's a story making this national headlines mom was killed first then dad A 17 year old who killed his parents with a hammer I saw bloody sheets piled everywhere. I saw Berk and pictures with blood on them He's a back of a hammer I believe in me. No one will believe me. I'll have you killed somebody 17 year old Michael Mandel loved to have a good time and on the night of July 16th 2011 that's exactly what he was doing He was at a party that was being hosted by his best friend Tyler Hadley and this was a killer party I mean, there were people everywhere music blasting all throughout the house people talking people drinking people dancing And Michael was right there smack in the middle of all of it He had already had a few drinks he was talking with friends just enjoying the night like everyone else there But at some point Michael decided to step away from the crowd for a little bit He left the packed rooms and all of the noise behind him and headed somewhere quieter Probably just looking for you know a little break from all the noise for a minute So he made his way down the hallway looking for a specific room the master bedroom And when he finally found it he reached for the door knob turned it and pushed forward Expecting the door to fully swing open however the door only opened a few inches a little crack before coming to a complete stop It felt like something was wedged behind the door physically preventing it from opening all the way But what Michael didn't know in that moment is that what he was about to uncover would not only change the entire course of the party and the night But it was something that would stay with him for the rest of his life Because lying on the floor behind this door there was a pair of human legs blocking this door from opening any further And the legs belonged to his best friend Tyler's dad Blake And next to Tyler's dad was Tyler's mom Mary Jo Both of them were just there lying on the ground motionless The even more disturbing part is that they were both covered in blood They had been violently attacked But the question that he was left with and everyone at the party was left with is who did this? Who violently attacked this teenager's parents? How did these teens go from partying and having what they thought was just this normal night To unknowingly being in the same space as two people who had been murdered in the other room Now I first covered this case back in 2022 But since then there have been new updates I've changed my perspective on things a little bit and so I wanted to reopen the case with you today And if you're new to reopen cases you'll basically be hearing from me Current Annie and also past Annie The audio might jump around a little bit because I've changed my equipment over years But I string all of it together to make sure that you have the full story Nuts and bolts of it, the new updates, the new perspectives Things that I've changed my mind on possibly here and there And so you have everything in one place I'll be jumping on present tense Annie periodically throughout the episode too Just kind of having those hindsight moments and dropping in the new updates But you'll hear from both both of us I guess it's an us both of us So you know the drill I'm Annie Elise And today we are reopening the case of Tyler Hadley Let's jump right in On Saturday, July 16th, 2011, 17-year-old Tyler Hadley signed into a Facebook account to make an announcement At around noon he wrote, "Party at my crib tonight." Dot dot dot maybe Several teens started commenting on the post To inquire about the uncertain invitation Was this party real? Was it not? Because anyone who knew Tyler knew that his parents were very strict Plus he had gotten into some trouble recently And was technically grounded So how was he going to get away with throwing a party? Was he waiting for his parents to go out of town Or did they have a sudden change of heart and permission to have people over? One of his friends sent him a message and asked what would happen if his parents came home And somehow Tyler was positive that this would not be a problem Only having a few close friends he was really eager to impress the kids in his town And there was no way that his parents would wreck his party So he confidently typed and sent his reply to his friend saying, "Don't worry, they won't." Blake and Mary Jo Hadley were a happy, fun, and loving couple They moved to Florida in the 1980s where Blake worked as an engineer at a local power plant And Mary Jo was an elementary school teacher Blake had been referred to as a giant teddy bear And Mary Jo was the kind of person who never gave up on people Especially people that she loved Their relationship had been described as the "model marriage" And the only thing they loved more than each other were their two sons Their first son, Ryan, was born in 1987 and their son at Tyler completed their family in 1993 Ryan was an easy baby, but Tyler had some struggles literally right out of the womb Tyler was born premature and spent the first month of his little life in an incubator Now this rough start caused Blake and Mary Jo to be pretty lenient And even indulgent with their boys Wanting to mitigate as many more hardships that they could for Tyler While everything always seemed to go smoothly and happened easily for Ryan As Tyler grew up, he encountered more and more medical issues One of these issues was a thyroid abnormality The thyroid plays a major role in a child's growth and development And Tyler became insecure of his short stature as a child Unsurprisingly, worrying constantly for their little boy caused Blake to develop some anxiety And Mary Jo was also diagnosed with mild clinical depression during this time Mary Jo wanted to do everything she could to protect Tyler from low self-esteem So to boost his confidence, she asked the doctor to play some on a growth hormone So that he could catch up physically to his peers However, by kindergarten, Tyler was already beginning to display behaviors that caused his parents to worry That he may have inherited some mental struggles as well Now, a doctor diagnosed Tyler with depression at the young age of six years old By ten years old, Tyler was placed on the anti-depressant lexipro Which is extremely rare for children his age Because it is a very potent and strong drug Typically, a child will only be placed on a medication like that After a very recent traumatic event Or as a last resort from counseling and therapy not helping But Tyler's doctor and his parents felt like it was the right thing for him at that time Even through these difficulties, Tyler was said to be very quiet in class Very respectful and although he wasn't considered popular, he was well liked by his peers As he entered his early teens like most kids, Tyler started pushing boundaries And becoming a little moody and defiant towards his parents At 15 years old, his mom took him back to the doctor and he was switched to the medication pros act from lexipro Shortly after, Tyler started to lose his quiet and shy demeanor And he started causing all sorts of disruptions in class So back to the doctor he went where he was then diagnosed with ADHD and placed on Adderall Pretty much all boys go through the awkward chubby phase Let me just start by saying that guys, no shame, no blame in that But Tyler already feeling different from having so many medical problems Going through this phase really lowered his self-esteem Which is something that Mary Jo had worked so hard to avoid So she pushed to keep him on those growth hormones, hoping that it would make him taller and raise his confidence As you can see, Mary Jo loved her son so much that she wanted to do everything she felt was right to make her son a happy kid Tyler and his mom were said to be very close And whenever they would get into arguments, he always felt extremely guilty Even though teens mouthing off to their parents is, you know, fairly normal During one argument, he told his mom to shut up but then immediately apologized right after He even told his best friend how sorry he felt for talking to his mom that way And said he couldn't believe that he had done that So like I mentioned earlier, Tyler was a really quiet kid up until high school And he didn't have many friends at all besides his best childhood friend Michael And a few kids that were in his neighborhood People weren't mean to him, but he really wanted to get a larger group of true close friends And so Tyler and Michael both started trying to fit in by hanging around kids Who wouldn't really be considered good influences Portsey loose is a small town on the treasure coast of Florida Located smack in the middle of Orlando and Miami It's been referred to as Florida's ecological jewel because of the lush nature preserves And aquatic sanctuaries that are home to native alligators and manatees It's a boat lover's dream and a golfer's playground with some of the best courses in the state It sounds like a place that any adult would love to live on a vacation home or even settle into for retirement However, there wasn't much for teenagers to do there, especially back in 2011 If high school aged kids weren't involved in sports or preoccupied with a job They tended to get into mischief just out of pure boredom Tyler was no different and not ever really being the jock type He had to find other ways to have fun It was really common for teenagers in the area at a party to drink to dabble in drugs and even steal or vandalize Mary Jo and Blake being concerned with their son's safety and future, did their best to rain them in, but that only pushed him further away. And that's kind of how it goes when you try to have too much control whether it's a, you know, parenthood, relationship, friendship, people start to get resistant and they start to push away and pull back and, you know, you kind of have this struggle where you're hitting heads. So the group that Tyler was trying hard to fit in with, got him involved in marijuana and with drinking alcohol, which may have temporarily taken his mind off his anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. So to him, it looked great. But in an attempt to impress the group, one day Tyler went with the kids to an area in one of the nature preserves where he helped set a couch on fire. To an immature teenager, this may have just seemed like no big deal and just a harmless, you know, pyro prank. However, the fire got so big and so out of control that they could no longer contain it themselves. The fire department had to come to prevent it from spreading into the nature preserve, which federally protects animals that live there and their environment. The kids didn't consider how much trouble this could have gotten them into, but Tyler, along with some of the others, got off easy with just a simple warning from the county judge. Although the judge was easy on Tyler, his parents were not. And they were pissed and they started to realize that coddling him and allowing him to get away with so much as a child due to these medical conditions was starting to come back now and it was starting to bite them in the, you know, they you know what. So right away, they got Tyler back into counseling and started doing home drug tests. His parents were a little strict, possibly a little smothery and a little overprotective, but they cared deeply for their son. However, due to his immaturity, Tyler was unable to view his parents actions as signs of love, but rather viewed them as attempts to control him. They were now in a power struggle with a rebellious teen who was once their quiet, respectful, and emotionally fragile little boy who apologized after arguments who loved them. Tyler went through yet another medication change because his mother felt as though his depression may have been contributing to these new behaviors. So while most of us can remember times where we wished our parents would just let us do whatever we wanted and stay out of our business. At the end of the day, we knew it was because they wanted what was best for us. We especially know that if we're parents ourselves now, you know, and doing this with our own children guilty. So some of us may have slammed doors in our parents' faces or threatened to run away or stumped up the stairs yelling, I hate you. That was pretty much the extent of it for a lot of us. But for some reason, Tyler had feelings of rage towards his parents, and it only grew as their grip on him got tighter. Tyler started to make comments to his friends that he wished he could just kill them. His friends awkwardly would chuckle and, you know, shrug it off thinking he was obviously joking and was just upset for getting busted or grounded, but Tyler wasn't laughing when he would say these things. By age 17, if Mary Jo and Blake eased up at all, Tyler was back to drinking and doing drugs. So one day Tyler and one of his so-called friends got into a fight and he was actually arrested on charges of assault and battery. Once again, Tyler was given a slap on the wrist and served less than a week in the county jail and two weeks house arrest. It seemed like he was slipping further and further down this path of destruction and just of not caring about anyone or anything. Assulting someone he considered a friend showed his callousness towards people that he had relationships with. Tyler's brother Ryan recalled visiting his family and their mother worriedly waiting up all night for Tyler to come home. One night Tyler's parents caught him sneaking into his room through a window clearly intoxicated. So feeling helpless and not knowing what else to do, they took away his phone, his car, and made him start an outpatient substance abuse therapy program. Tyler was having to attend this program daily and he felt like he was suffocating under his parents control. He would have text conversations with friends where he expressed just how much he hated going to these therapy sessions. Instead of the program improving Tyler's mental health, it seemed it was declining internally and he even made comments on several occasions that he wished he could just take his own life. One day when talking to his best friend Michael, he made the statement, "I want to kill my parents and then throw a party afterwards. It would be so cool because no one has ever done that before." I'm sorry first of all there's nothing cool about that and there's a reason that nobody has done it before because it is psychotic, psychotic. But this statement, when I first heard about this case, rang true in so many ways because so many kids these days it feels like are committing crimes because of the notoriety they believe it will carry. They think it'll give them social media fame that they'll be noticed that nobody's ever done it before and so that's why they do these crimes and it is just such a scary time in which we live. But I'm sorry I digress let me get back to the case. So even though that remark was oddly specific, Michael still thought Tyler was just joking around. He had known the kid for years and even though this was a rough patch for the Hadley family, Michael could never fathom his best friend actually hurting his parents for real. Since Tyler was basically grounded for life after he was caught sneaking in the house drunk, his social life he worked so hard to build was evaporating and really just diminished down to Facebook messages on the family desktop computer. His friends recall thinking that their conversations were pretty typical and that they couldn't have known that inside Tyler's brain anger, resentment and compulsive thoughts were growing more and more intense. During his mental downward spiral, he decided to hide a kitchen knife in his bedroom just in case he ever had the guts to do something about his parents constantly trying to control him. In July of 2011, the Hadley family made a trip to Georgia to visit some family. Some of his aunts and uncles were called Tyler acting a little odd and one of his aunts were called worrying that he was showing signs of an eating disorder. Tyler had always struggled with body image issues and was terrified of looking overweight. So when she saw vomit off the side of the porch after dinner, she knew that it was his. His uncle said that during his visit, Tyler would pace around and say things like "None of you love me, none of you love me" and even though everyone considered the visit to be pleasant, none of them knew that that would be the last time they saw Blake and Mary Joe. The weeks after the family arrived home, Tyler seemed to be acting a little nicer towards his parents. He was being cooperative about going to his therapy meetings and Mary Joe felt like things may be on the up and up. Finally, after such long battles and so many years, she even had a text message exchanged with some of her friends where she wrote that she felt Tyler was finally over the hurdle and that she was so happy that he was back to his old self. Just so, you know, a breath of fresh air she finally has the weight lifted off her shoulders like my old loving son is back. That next Saturday on July 16th, 2011, Tyler made that Facebook post on his wall that said "Party at my house maybe" or Mary Joe in Blake letting Tyler throw a party now that his behavior seemed to be turning around. Tyler's friends highly doubted it and question him on the post but he was determined to prove to them that he was going to have a party and that none of them would ever forget it. Somehow he had to get through to his parents that he was having this party and so to hype himself up to do so, he listened to the song "Feel Lucky" by Lil Busy. Shortly before 5 p.m. Mary Joe hopped on the computer to do some reading for church the next day. She was going to read a Bible verse at Sunday Mass and needed to brush up on the words. The first Mary Joe was set to read was 1 Corinthians 13-4 and you've all heard it whether you've seen the movie "Wetting Crashers" whether you've been to any single wedding whether you've seen any sort of "Romecom" movie but it reads "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease, where there are tongues, they will be stilled, where there is knowledge, it will pass away. And she was reading perhaps the most famous verse from the Bible about love. Mary Joe's love for her son had been patient, it had been kind and even though he had done so many things, she was doing her best to not keep record of the wrongs. She studied these words, preparing to deliver them to the congregation of her church, probably hoping that they would resonate with them and help them through tough times like they had helped her. Little did she know, while she was sitting at her computer, the son she loved so much was standing behind her. Tyler had actually been standing behind her office chair for more than five minutes. He had just popped three ex-pills and was wearing boots, a jacket, and gloves, and had a claw hammer in his hand. He stood there silently, staring at the back of his mom's head trying to get the courage for what he had set out to do. The ex-pills kicked in and he was starting to feel jittery, energized, and like his mind was racing, a mile a minute. Thoughts of his mom grounding him, taking away his phone, taking away his car, trying to control every single aspect. of his life, trying to control everything since he was a little kid, always wanting him to be perfect, like his brother Ryan, always making him go to the doctors, go to the therapists, go to counselors, treatment centers, all of it was flooding back into his mind. So he raised the heavy hammer and let it come down on the back of his mother's head. Mary Jo turned around screaming in agony and asked her son why. Tyler hit her again and again until she fell out of the chair and continued over and over until she was no longer screaming. Blake, who had been taking a nap, busted out of the master bedroom to see what was happening to his wife. His son Tyler standing over his bloody wife was the last thing that he expected to see. He and Tyler locked his eyes and there was a very long pause. Blake asked Tyler the same question, why? Why are you doing this? And Tyler must have looked like a crazed rabbit animal with so much adrenaline just pumping through him from what he had just done and from the drugs and he just answered by screaming at the top of his lungs, why the f knocked? From there he lunged toward his father and Blake turned in a ran in an attempt to get behind their bedroom door and call for help. Little did he know just a few hours earlier their son took and hid all their cell phones so that there would be no chance at calling for help. Tyler caught up to Blake and started wailing on his father with the hammer just like he had done to his mom moments before. Blake fell on the bed and then down to the floor while trying to defend himself. But he was overpowered during Tyler's rampage and succumbed to the injuries inflicted by his son. And after Tyler caught his breath whether it be another act of disrespect or disgust in himself for what he had done, he wrapped his parents bloody heads with towels. He dragged his lifeless mother down the hall, dropped her next to her husband and threw the hammer that he had just blundered them with. And he threw that hammer down between their bodies almost like "Alright, drag you back here. I'm done. I'm done." Now that the first task on his psychotically contrived list was complete, the next important thing was for him to make the house look presentable, presentable enough for a party without the signs of a heinous double murder being obvious. So Tyler recalled that there was much more blood than he expected and it took him over three hours to get the majority of it off the floors, walls, and furniture. He then scurried around the house, stripping the walls of the Hadley family photos and gathering any other items of sentiment and chucking them into the master bedroom on top of his parents' bodies. Can you imagine? He took furniture like dining room chairs, small tables, the photos, trash, towels that he used to clean up in anything else that made the Hadley's house a home and he threw it in their master bedroom creating a huge pile on top of his parents. When he felt like he had done the best he could, he went to the bathroom to then clean himself up. Tyler has said that he stood in front of the mirror and stared ahead himself, manically, for several minutes. He said he almost didn't recognize himself because his face looked distorted from his jaw muscles being pushed further back the normal forming a sort of terrifying smile. He couldn't recall why he did that but he recalled a grotesque image in that mirror. He looked at his reflection with the blood spattered all over him and instead of crying, he began to laugh. So to calm himself down from the frenzy that he was in, he took a hot shower and then went and put on clean clothes to get ready for the night ahead. Tyler went and got a debit card out of his mother's wallet and drove to an ATM where he withdrew nearly $4,000. When he arrived back home, he sat down at the computer where his mother had been sitting just hours earlier and signed into Facebook to let everyone know that the party was definitely on. On Saturday night in July teens in the area were desperate to find something fun to do. So the thought of a party at a different person's house than usual sounded like a cool change, a change of pace, and slowly but surely high school and college aged kids started trickling in it to Tyler's house. Soon 20, 40, 60, and by midnight almost 100 people were partying in the hadly home. Kids were drinking, doing shots, playing beer pongs throughout the night, several people asked Tyler where his parents were, to which he gave all sorts of different answers. He answered by saying that they were in Georgia, they were on vacation in West Palm Beach and even told some of them that he was the owner of this house and that his parents lived out of state. At first for some reason, he was concerned about people smoking in the house. He yelled at them to take the cigarettes outside, possibly subconsciously maybe feeling guilty for tainting his parents home. But then he realized that a bunch of people outside would call more attention to his house party and he told them that he could smoke inside so that the cops wouldn't be called. The party guests took this as a go ahead to completely just desecrate this house. They were ashing on the floor, putting cigarettes out on the carpet, on the couches, ransacking the fridge, the cabinets for food, throwing beer cans and trash all over the place. Flipping furniture and making the hadly home look like a disgusting, frat house after hell week, I mean just a mess, disgusting. And Tyler was letting the success of his party take his mind off, what was in the bedroom, down the hall. He told people to stay out of the hallway and the master bedroom and surprisingly nobody really tried to venture back there, which surprises me because that these big parties people are usually looking for secret areas to either hook up to do drugs, but they were listening to Tyler. His best friend Michael was also there and they played dozens of games of beer pong until eventually all of the beer was gone. Tyler asked one of his friends older brothers Mark, who was 21 if he would take him to the gas station to get more beer. Mark agreed and the two along with Mark's girlfriend rode it to a nearby gas station. Tyler handed Mark a lot of $20 bills and when he went inside to get the beer, Tyler said to Mark's girlfriend that his parents were dead. She figured he meant that they'd passed away a long time ago, but this is one of the first signs that Tyler was having a hard time holding in the secret about what he had done. Now was it because he was feeling guilty or was it because he was trying to show off to her? So when Tyler, Mark and his girlfriend arrived back at the house, the party looked like it was literally the inspiration for the movie Project X. And if you haven't seen that movie, it is just wild, but kids were texting their friends from surrounding towns to come because it was one of the biggest parties ever. This party was like an epic go down in history type party to these kids. Tyler looked around and realized that he only knew a few of the people at his own party, but everyone seemed to be having a great time. And that's all that mattered to him at the expense of his house, at the expense of his parents, at the expense of everything. When he was asked about any house rules, he said, just do whatever you want. Some people that Tyler did know noticed he was starting to act a little bit strange, seemed kind of down and maybe even getting paranoid, because he kept peeking out the front blinds. There must have been dozens of cars on the block, and he was probably nervous about the cops getting called for a noise complaint for too many people, for trespassing, for loitering, you name it. A couple of people who spoke to Tyler that night mentioned that he said he wanted to take his own life soon, which you'd think would be more alarming than they made it seem. Since that's not a typical statement or a small talk that you would make at a party, especially not one of these parties. At around midnight, when Mark was getting ready to leave, Tyler asked if he could talk to him outside. When they got outside, Tyler said, "Dude, I know you're not going to believe me, but I did some things. I might go to prison for life. I don't know. I'm freaking out." Mark asked Tyler what he was talking about, and he said, "I killed somebody." Mark replied, "You killing someone is your own business. Don't be telling me that. Don't be telling me that sort of thing. I don't need to know." Which I have a real issue with this mark, because if somebody's confiding in you that they just killed somebody, well, sure, it may not directly be your business, now it is your business, and it's your business to find out who it is they killed so that you can alert the authorities. It is your business. It's not, "Oh, you killed someone. Don't tell me. Don't tell me. I don't want to know. Do whatever you want to do." I take real issue here with that. When good old boy Mark left, Tyler went back inside and he talked to a few people and told them that he wanted to do something cool before he left. When they asked where he was going, he said he was going to take his life because he did something bad. I doubt Tyler was actually saying this because he was feeling guilty. I definitely think it was more so that he wanted attention or because he wanted people to ask what the bad thing was that he did. As if a party with 100 people wasn't enough attention for him, he needed more. He was itching for something more. At around 1am, Tyler found his best friend Michael, and since he didn't get the response that he was looking for from Mark, he asked Michael if they could talk outside and pry that. So Michael walked with his childhood best friend down to the stop sign at the end of the street, confused as to what Tyler needed to tell him that was just so secretive that they needed to get that far away from the house. So Tyler turned and stared at Michael and said, "I killed my parents." Michael, obviously, thinking that Tyler was joking, just kind of rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, okay, yeah, right," but Tyler was very serious, and he very seriously replied, "I'm being real. I'm not lying. If you look close enough, you'll see the signs." It gives me the creeps. So even though Blake and Mary Jo's cars were still in the driveway, nothing in Michael made him believe that Tyler was serious. He was drunk on drugs probably playing just a stupid prank. After he told me I didn't believe him, because he's been my best friend forever, I would never suspect anything like this, and I was looking around. He told me if I looked at enough, I could see signs. I looked on the floor, I could see signs of blood, and that's when I went around back and looked in his parents' bedroom. I saw bloody sheets piled everywhere. I saw birken pictures with blood on them, and I looked down, and I saw his dad's leg. After Michael saw all of the evidence, including Tyler's father's leg sticking out from beneath the pile of his possessions, he ran out of the room. One party goer said that when Michael slammed the bedroom door he looked terrified, and even a little deranged. He needed Tyler to tell him what happened. So Tyler explained everything, how he was angry at his parents, how he had been planning this for weeks, and even considered different weapons before he settled on the claw hammer. He told him about how he stood behind his mother until he had the guts to hit her, and how his dad came running out asking him why before he then killed him too. He told him about his reflection in the mirror and laughing after he did his best to just clean everything up before the party. Michael was an utter shock at what his best friend just told him. Running away and yelling for help didn't even cross his mind. This was Tyler, his best friend. He saw the evidence, but he still just could not believe it. In his days, he slowly started to come to terms with the fact that this would probably be the last time he ever saw his best friend. Michael stayed at the party a little while longer, allowing his mind to adjust to the realization that everything was going to change for the both of them. He asked Tyler to take a selfie with him, hoping to preserve the last moments he'd ever spent with his best friend. Now I've got a issue with this too, because if I'm sorry, I've never read in that position, granted, but if my best friend just told me that she killed her two parents and they were in the other room as we've all been partying for hours, the last thing I would do is be like, hey, girl, girl, come on over here. Selfie. Selfie. Like what? And although it wasn't a happy picture, because the picture, unlike any that they had ever taken before, should both of their faces with an indescribable will make sure of sadness, fear, and pain, it still is just such an odd, odd move. At least to me, it just feels weird. So soon after, Michael decided to leave the party. A few minutes later, Tyler called to ask where he went, and Michael told him that he was tired and wanted to go home to go to sleep. Tyler told him he was going to have another party the next day and wanted to know if he would come. Michael told him he'd be there and hung up the phone, still trying to wrap his head around what he had to do next. At around 2am, one of the teenagers announced that there was another party going on nearby. So the majority of the kids at Tyler's house had no loyalty towards him. And they decided that they wanted to go check out this other party to determine which one was better. There was a mass exit of dozens of kids drunkenly piling into cars, screaming with their heads out the windows and peeling out down the street. So Tyler stood in his yard and yelled, "Where is everybody going?" And as the majority of the people left, he felt alone, possibly questioning if all of this was even worth it. The commotion caused a neighbor on the block to call the police, but when they showed up, less than 20 people were left to Tyler's house. They knocked and stood outside the front door and simply asked Tyler to keep it down before getting back into their cruisers and driving away, not at all knowing that there was a crime scene right on the other side of that door. When the kids got to the location of the supposed other house party, they realized there wasn't actually anything going on there, and the majority of them turned right back around and headed back to Tyler's. But when they got back, Tyler seemed different. He was agitated, pacing around, turning off the lights, and making food for himself in the dark kitchen. At 4.40 a.m., Tyler made another post on Facebook that said, "Party at my house again, hit me up." His house party might have just continued on into the next night if Michael hadn't made the decision to call the police on his best friend. Michael called the service crime stoppers, and in no time at all, the cops were back on Tyler's front doorstep. The officers could see a shadow through the window of someone pacing back and forth, and when one peeked in for a closer look, they described Tyler as having a very disturbing look on his face, with wide eyes that never seemed to blink. They looked in through the window, and when Tyler began it taking stack after stack of books off the shelves in the living room, going to the back bedroom and throwing them in there. And to me, I just feel like by getting rid of the photos, the furniture, or the books, it's almost like he didn't want any reminder of his family in the home. He didn't want to see anything that would remind him of his parents. When the police knocked on the door, the remaining lights inside the home turned off. They thought they were going to have to force their way in, but suddenly, Tyler opened the door and stood with one hand hidden behind his back. One of the officers demanded that he put his hands up and come out of the house. Tyler complied and got on the ground and was handcuffed. The officer described his demeanor as frantic and almost incoherent when they asked him if any adults were home. With Tyler shackled in the driveway, officers pushed into the front door and viewed a completely destroyed home that looked as though it had been vandalized and partied in for weeks. As they made their way through the house, in addition to the party trash, they noticed blood on the walls and blood on the computer desk where kids had unknowingly bounced their beer pong balls off of. They made their way all the way to that back bedroom, and Tyler started screaming from outside for them not to go in there. You can't go in there, you can't go in there, he yelled over and over and over again. Inside, under the huge mountain of family photos, a furniture, trash, and clothes, they found Blake and Mary Jo Hadley. And for Tyler, the party was officially over. Later that afternoon, a victim's family advocate called Ryan Hadley to tell him the news about his family. Wanting to ease him into the details, the advocate initially told him that Tyler had killed their parents while they were asleep, as if that somehow would make it easier to comprehend. Blake and Mary Jo's sibling came to provide support and tried to make sense of the most unimaginable horror happening to their loved ones. How can I go see him? How can I do that? It breaks my heart, it really does. It's love to kid, you know. But he took away my best friend, my confidant, my brother, and how can you sit down and have a normal conversation with somebody that have robbed you something so precious? Michael and Mark, as well as other party goers, gave statements to the police. Now, in 2011, it was unclear how juveniles should be charged and prosecuted for crimes such as this. But ultimately, the judge decided to charge him with two counts of first-degree murder without the possibility of parole. Initially, Tyler pled not guilty, but changed his play to no contest, accepting conviction but not admitting guilt. And he did that only one week before the trial was set to begin. Sentencing was a brutal experience for the jury, especially for the Hadley family, who had to hear the details of Blake and Mary Jo's death, see the autopsy photos and hear about Tyler not only planning to kill them, but throwing a massive celebration afterwards, with them still lying lifeless in the home. Friends of Tyler's took the stand and recounted their experience at the party and things that he had told them leading up to what happened. The prosecution painted a picture of Tyler being eventful, controlling teenager that was never going to allow his parents to control his life. They said that his motive for killing his parents was pure selfishness of wanting to throw party to impress his friends or gain new friends. And the defense argued that Tyler's brain wasn't functioning properly, due to a lifetime of medical and medical conditions made worse by dangerous medications, immaturity, and impulse control as a result of his ADHD. The psychologist called the testify explained that mixing drugs and alcohol with his prescription medication would exacerbate his obsessions of wanting to kill his parents because he viewed them as an obstacle in reaching his goals. Told the court, many professionals had found that Tyler Hadley had significant mental illness over the years beginning at around age 10. He argued Tyler's premature birth and his small head circumference are risks for a whole host of problems later in life. And that when he first met Hadley, he had major depression with what was called psychotic features. He added, "Veer mental illness is why a young man with good parents went and killed them." "At least in the month or so before he was arrested, he had developed the delusional thought that became very obsessional and very much a rumination of that he needed to kill his parents and he needed to die." Dr. Myers also said Tyler Hadley's use of alcohol and drugs, including cough syrup, was "him taking whatever he could get to get out of the state of mind he was in when he was not high." Medical examiner's testimony, everyone in the courtroom, had to view photos from Mary Joe and Blake's autopsy, and he explained that they had over 60 wounds combined from the claw hammer. He tragically explained that Mary Joe and Blake would have felt every single blow and been aware that their son was the one inflicting this whore on them. Both of their wounds were consistent with that of people actively fighting for their life. In a letter to his best friend, Michael, Tyler explains that he felt like he was being controlled by the devil, and that the devil was talking to him. Tyler was diagnosed by psychologists in jail with major depressive disorder with psychotic tendencies, which could result in hearing some voices, but not having an exchange with these voices, like a person with schizophrenia would have. So even though the defense claimed that Tyler did express remorse for what he did to his parents, this was refuted by the prosecution who had evidence of Tyler signing autographs in jail, referring to himself as "bam bam," "hammer boy," and writing "it's hammer time." I mean, oh my god. Just once again, trying to impress others with some kind of, you know, misplaced sense of humor and some tough guy persona, it's sick. His cellmate also had stated that Tyler told him, "The party was great. You should have been there." Not only did Tyler's actions affect his family emotionally, but it divided them as well. Due to disagreements about what they felt would be the correct punishment. Ryan, Tyler's brother, testified that even though he still loved his brother, he felt that he deserved the highest possible penalty for what he did to their parents. While the defense argued for a lighter sentence than "life without parole," Blake's brother pointed out that Tyler already got a lighter sentence. He gets to live. So due to this, he should have to live his entire life in prison with no chance of ever getting out. However, Mary Jo's mother, Tyler's grandmother, felt that Mary Jo would want her son to be given another chance. She felt like even though he committed a horrible, atrocious crime, his life was worth saving, and he could be rehabilitated. And one day be a productive member of society. Ugh, I don't know about that grandma. Pestimony from Tyler Hadley's grandmother, her grandson, killed his parents in Port Saint Lucie. He was just 17 years old at the time. She told the judge that she hoped he could see the light of day again, even if she won't be around when he's out. She said he's a loving person. He said people think I don't think about this or that I don't. He said, I've heard somebody say, do I ever cry? He said, yes grandma, I cry. I put my, when I go to bed, I put the sheet over my head and I cry. I think he always thought he never had a friend, he never could, for whatever reason. He just felt like he was never good enough. He played soccer, he wasn't good enough. He played, he played a trombone, he wasn't good enough, he played drums, he wasn't good enough. He just always felt like he was like a step below everybody else. She says Hadley was on all kinds of medications before high school, growth hormones, thyroid medicine. He came for his acne and antidepressants, divertorio fought back tears and she talked about the day before Hadley killed his mother and father. They all went out to eat for dinner, divertorio says Hadley complained of a headache on the way home. And he turned to me, gave me a hug, I love you grandma, he set up and turned to Sam and I love you grandma. And then he laid back down when I got out of the car, he's always playing back down on the console. That's the last time I saw you, I'm like your marigold. Ultimately while sentencing was announced, Tyler was given two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Now the majority of his family felt relieved, but they knew that a life sentence meant appeals and that it would be a long time before true healing could take place. Now get this, in 2018, Tyler's conviction ended up being overturned. Due to changes made to national guidelines on how to charge and convicted juveniles. It was also argued that the judge in his case did not consider that Tyler was never convicted of a capital offense prior to his parents murder. Update out on a story that broke just before this newscast started an appeals court, overturning the double life prison terms for Tyler, Hadley, the man convicted of bludgeoning his parents to death in their Port St. Lucie home back in 2011. Now, here's what this means, there's a couple of bullet points to need to tell you about this, that he will have a recentencing date. This does not mean that he will get out of prison, taking a look at video of his trial that we covered extensively in this appeals ruling, the original trial court, according to the appeals court, saying that trial court had said that Hadley had previously committed a capital felony, a very serious crime, prior to the murders, that turned out not to be true. Also, the judge in the appeals court said he didn't set an alternative to a life sentence that original trial judge. This full story, if you want to read much more about it and there are a lot of details in it, go to our website WPTV.com. The Hadley family felt like old wounds were just being ripped open with salt being dumped in when all they wanted to do was to be able to move on and live their lives. Now they had to sit in court and rehash the gruesome details of Blake and Mary Jo's murder. Tyler's defense argued that he had time to reflect, to grow up and that his brain has fully matured, which has allowed him to understand the magnitude of his actions that he had committed when he was still a child. During the time between his original sentencing, Tyler received his GED and was a born-again Christian, who attended regular ministries and had aspirations to become the pastor one day. Tyler took the stand to and made an apology to his family, which some felt lacked the conviction of someone who truly felt remorseful. Even though it did appear that Tyler had matured during his time behind bars, the judge wasn't convinced that he didn't understand right from wrong, even with his mental conditions when he murdered his parents back in 2011. The original sentence was upheld, and Tyler was yet again given two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Steve turned to me as a judge who was pronouncing his sentence and he said, "Today in a hammer of justice falls upon Tyler Hadley." And I think that sums it up. I will tell you that in 27 years of practicing law, I've never heard a judge more precisely and more succinctly summarized the facts and circumstances of a case that order is simply bulletproof. If this order subject to appeal and reversal, then I can't imagine anything other was standing, ever was standing, a pellet scrutiny again. I've said this for the last eight years. If Tyler Hadley does deserve life in prison, then no one does. So we're extremely pleased. I pray to God that the Hadley family finds some peace, although I doubt that's ever likely to occur, but there has to be finality. This has to be it. We cannot tolerate another recensing of this nature, simply unfair to the victims. And they've been left behind in this process for eight years. So let's put this thing to battle for. This family stated that there needed to be a finite ending to this situation. And they hoped that this would be the end of appeal so that they could finally heal. I mean, we would just like to say that we're very happy to have this over with. We feel like this is the third funeral we've gone through. Even though we love our nephew Tyler, we know he's done a terrible thing, but we sat in this courtroom for the last week and we listened to a bunch of very brilliant Yale brown, Harvard law professors that gave us a good education on the adolescent development of maturity with the brain. However, Tyler Hadley knew the price that he was going to have to pay to have a party like no other. He knew the price. He sure enough to understand that price. He even mentioned to his friends that he was going to go away for a long time, the rest of his life. He knew the price. He even went as far as planning, premeditating. He even rehearsed the killings of his parents the night before. He decided that that wasn't the right weapon to use. I've kind of find a different weapon. So he chooses a carpenter hammer and I'm sure he tried to figure out which end of that hammer should I use on my parents. So he used to claw end up it. Now we believe in forgiveness, we believe in all that, but we can't forget. We'll never forget. We'll live with this for the rest of our life. He gave us a license like Mary Joe didn't get that chance to live. He took that away from us. And now we sit here discussing in a court whether or not we should let him loose in 18 years with a resensing. I used to think when you're sane, as a society, we have to know what, when do we call it what an aunt called it. quits, and somebody can do something so horrific, such a horrible attack like that. Yes, he wasn't a baby. We proved that in court with these professors. He was a mature young man going through the stages from 14 to 25 of the brain development and all that. His brain was fully developed. How could it not have been to miraculously and methodically plan and then carry out an attack of such a gruesome consequences, and then at the end of it all laugh about it and throw it and celebrate and throw a party? We're going to go on, we're going to go on and live our lives and put the pieces together. But I just hope to God, this is it, I hope we don't have to do this anymore. Thank you. Besides the obvious victims in this tragedy, Blake and Mary Jo, their son Ryan was left alone, losing pretty much his entire family. He would go on to write an emotional and inspiring book called A Thousand Fireflies that told the story of his parents, the dark roads he went down during the grieving process, getting help, and discovering the light at the end of an extremely long, painful and exhausting tunnel. Another not so obvious victim of Tyler's actions was his best friend Michael. At the party, Michael's outlook on life and his close relationships were changed, and the moment he saw the body of Tyler's dad under the rubble in that bedroom. He struggled ever since with anxiety, trusting people having nightmares, and would end up getting into trouble with the law. Even though Michael has survived all of these hardships, he was never the same after what happened. Michael would later say that he truly believes that being the one who found the bodies ruined his life. Not only because of the psychological weight that he had to deal with in the aftermath, but because of the way that people look at him now as well. He claimed that for years, he wasn't just Michael anymore. But instead, he was the best friend of a murderer or he was known as the guy who found the bodies. It was an association that he couldn't escape from, and obviously nobody wants that. Now even though that's technically where Tyler's story ends, it wouldn't be the last time that we heard from him. Because in November of 2024, Tyler actually sat down with court TV for an interview. By that point, he was 30 years old, and 13 years had passed since he brutally murdered his parents. And for the first time since his arrest and his trial, Tyler opened up about what happened that night. And what he revealed, it may kind of change how you look at this entire case. Tyler, we're here today because we're trying to understand the mindset and motivations behind your actions. The adolescent mind, if you will, is notoriously unpredictable, especially for boys. So they say, "I'm predictable, impulsive, at 30." What does your 30-year-old brain think about your adolescent brain? What's he thinking? What's he doing? All he was trying to do was condom and impulate. There was really no need for any of that. Being an adolescent, okay, yeah, I understand. You're immature and all that, okay, but it's just, I can't even explain it. Still a mystery to you? Yeah, I was. I don't know. I just, I can't even sit here and begin to explain that. One of the very first things that Tyler was asked about was his childhood and how he viewed it looking back on it, which I thought that that was a really interesting question, because throughout this case, we've heard all kinds of details about Tyler's upbringing. We've also looked at court records, witness statements, interviews, reports, but when you really think about it, almost all of that information came from other people, third parties, right? So, I mean, I personally was more than intrigued to hear what he had to say. There have been many accounts of your childhood, but none from you yourself. So tell me, how would you describe your childhood? It was whatever, what any kid would ever imagine would be an ideal childhood. You love parents who both had careers. You had one sibling, right, an older brother, seems it sounds like you guys were close. Yeah. Yeah, grandparents, nearby aunts, uncles, cousins. You had a lot more love in your life than many people start out with, but it looks like you had mental health struggles. Yeah. Just pulling all of this out of the case record and the public record. One doctor noted, hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness. Is that how you felt? I did feel that way, yeah. I feel like I wasn't really going anywhere, you know. Were you having that dialogue, the internal dialogue that I'm worthless, I hate myself? I think it was embedded in my mind ever since I was a little kid with that. Of your own creation, like nobody put it on you. I don't even know where that came from. That's what I was like. Third grade, second grade. From his very own account, Tyler admits that this wasn't one of those cases where a family appears to be perfect on the outside, but behind closed doors, there's constant abuse, trauma, or some sort of hidden double life. He said that their family was pretty much exactly what it appeared to be from the outside. One big, happy family. How would you describe your parents? Saints. Saints. Yeah. Really? Why do you say that? Because they were. There ain't no other word for them. He's always there for you. Yeah. Even when I was acting a fool, acting out, being an idiot, you had the time I didn't appreciate it. According to Tyler, these feelings of worthlessness, they started at a very young age. But he was clear about one thing. They weren't coming from his parents, his brothers, or the people around him. These feelings were all coming from his own mind. And as we know, Tyler was also struggling with significant mental health challenges. And for the first time, Tyler addressed his struggles head on. Pressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, disruptive disorder. Yeah. Now, what's interesting about this interview is that Tyler spends a significant amount of time, in my opinion, talking about how he sees things differently now. He talks about knowing better, understanding things that he didn't back then, even appreciating his parents for everything that they did for him. But at the same time, he still seems to defend himself and a lot of the choices that he made leading up to the murders. Take one of these texts that he sent to a friend prior to the murder, for example. I see seven references to statements you made to friends about killing your parents. They were brutal statements. There it was. He would say things like, "If you kill my mom, I'll give you my Lincoln." I said that on a Facebook chat. She took your phone away once. You said she's a. I might kill her. That was a year before. Who talks like that? Even to your friends. Even joking. I mean, what kind of kid doesn't call them all? I mean, but with their friends, like, oh, my mom around me, you know, she's being. I said she's being a. She took my phone. To me, it really seemed like Tyler was trying to make the point that he hadn't been sitting around for years actively planning to kill his parents, you know, as in it wasn't premeditated. But that's the thing that he claims, that it was a joke, and that he was angry at them for whatever they had done that specific week to piss him off. But according to Tyler, there came a point where it stopped being a joke. And the idea of killing his parents, it became something that he started taking seriously. Hadley says the idea to kill his parents started his dark banter with his friends, and then took root in his mind. They thought it was a joke. I thought it was a joke too, until I just started thinking, "Do you remember the first time you had that thought sitting at my friend Marquis's house drinking a bunch of beer and just smoking weed?" And, yeah, that's the first time I ever had it, that was when I first started having that thing about the joke. That was when we first started joking about it. And then, probably, I would sit there and think about it. Is it possible that it became the sort of symbol of all that was wrong in your life, in your mind? Yeah, I think I latched onto it, and just didn't let go of it. Now, something I didn't mention back in 2022 when I first covered this case, is that the day that Tyler killed his parents wasn't the first time he had decided he was going to do it. Not long before the murders, after a completely normal evening with his family, Tyler stood over Blake and Mary Jo as they slept, and he held a pair of garden shears in his hand. Which can you imagine that? And imagine if they had woken up and seen their teenage son standing over them with gardening shears. Now, even though he hesitated that evening, Tyler was clear that the objective remained unchanged. In his mind, it had shifted away from being a question of if he would actually do it, and instead became a dark countdown of exactly when he would do it. Right, what's in your mind then? The same thing that was in my mind, the whole other, the rest of the month, just get it out of my head, and if I relieve myself of it, then I'll be doing. Get rid of all. - With them, the pressure-- - I was just losing it. It was gonna get out of my head, I couldn't stop. - Did you change your mind or just the plan? - I don't know, you know, I mean, the thoughts didn't go away. - It was that night that you told your friend, your parents might be going out of town. Is that the moment that the plan took shape? - I believe so. This was two days before. I think it was in the back of my mind. - I think that the creepiest part about that clip is the very eerie smile on Tyler's face while they're recounting the moment he almost kills his parents. He's smiling almost as if it's like a fond childhood memory. And don't get me wrong, I wasn't going into this interview really, you know, expecting a redemption arc of sorts, but when I saw him smiling like that, I knew that nothing else he said in this interview was going to matter. He didn't really regret what he did to his dad Blake and mom, Mary Jo. Even years later, he doesn't care. And he saw the pain that he caused his own family. Now fast forward to the day of the murder. Tyler originally had reported that he stood behind Mary Jo for about five minutes before he then ultimately attacked her. But his account has changed. And now Tyler is claiming something different. - July 16th, you, by your own account, he stood behind your mother for five minutes. That's what you told somebody. I did tell them, but I think it was more. 20 seconds, felt like five minutes. Might have felt like five minutes. - With the hammer. - Yeah. And you struck her from behind. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah? She asked you why. You remember that? - Yeah. Did she face you at that point? I don't remember. I don't know if she was facing me or if she looked back or what. - Do you remember asking you why, Tyler? - Yeah. - You kept swinging. - Yeah. - She screaming. - Yep. - Remember blood everywhere? - Yep. - Do you remember what Adelith and Tyler were thinking at that moment? - You know. - Is he just in the red zone? - Yeah. - I felt my face contracting this way. In a maniacal rage. I can't even contort my muscles like that in just the time that I can't even sit here and try to do that. And I felt my mouth this way. So your mom took 36, 37 blows, right? - Yeah, I guess so. What else do you remember? - Remember my dad running out? - In the commotion, your dad came out? - Yeah. - You described the stare down. - Maybe for a couple of seconds. - A couple of seconds. - Maybe a second. And I must have ran really fast because I got right to him. - What's in your mind at that point? The same thing that was already in my mind, dude. - Do it? - Yeah. - You hit him. He also asked, "Why are you doing this?" And I said, "Why not?" He said, "Why not?" And then I said, "Well, then I just keep going. "Keep swinging." Nope. - Something that gets talked about a lot in this case is what happened right after the murders. Because when Tyler goes into the bathroom, he sees himself covered in blood and starts laughing in the mirror. However, when he was asked about it, Tyler conveniently couldn't remember a whole lot about it. Or at least, he couldn't remember the exact "why" behind it. - And then I looked in the mirror and I laughed. Tell me about that. I went in my bathroom mirror and I was covered in blood. Everywhere in my old, it's everything. It was put it all over the place. And I laughed at myself in the mirror. - Why? - I don't know. It's hard to imagine you thought it was funny. - I don't think it was a funny laugh. No, it was more of a deranged laugh. More of a, I guess that is a little bit. Well, I guess it's a little bit deranged yet. - Another detail that gets discussed pretty heavily in this case is Blake and Mary Jo's bedroom. Tyler had completely trashed it, filling it up with all sorts of different things from the house that had reminded him of his parents and their life before the murders, photos, documents, whatever it may be. Almost as if he was trying to disassociate and distance himself from his parents and from the crime. But when Tyler was confronted with why he did that, he didn't have a single solid, confident answer. Everything I piled up in that room. - Why? - I was at the shame that I couldn't look at anything. I couldn't bear to look at it. - You felt shame at that point? - I felt a little shame, yeah. I'd admit it back in my mind, yes. A lady was starting to come on me out. Of course I felt shame, but I was keeping it down. I was terrified, I was petrifying. I felt a petrifying angst dread within the pit of my stomach, knowing that what lurched me on that door, what you did, yeah. And I just suppressed it and I threw everything in there. And I went about my business of just having a party. - Now potentially the biggest thing that Tyler gave from this interview was his actual plan, like in full, because apparently he never planned on killing his parents and trying to get away with it. - I think it's hard for people to understand the level of forethought and planning, what in legal terms yes is considered premeditation, but also the celebration, the fact that you partyed that night. - Can you account for that? - No. - What do you think young Tyler was thinking, I think he wanted one last blow out before he ends his own life? - Yep. - Was suicide part of the plan? - Yeah, it was. - I was in a back carbon garage and killed myself by carbon monoxide poisoning. - Blake and Mary Jo's deaths were never part of some plan to create a better life for Tyler. He didn't believe that he was going to get away with it and then just move on and live freely without his parents watching over him. And while Blake and Mary Jo experienced every single painful moment from their own son and ultimately died, grieving the child that they thought they knew and loved, Tyler's intention was different for himself. In his mind, he was going to have a peaceful death. He was going to sit in the car and eventually just fall asleep and dose off forever. And even though he would later go on to tell multiple people at the party about what had happened earlier that day, Tyler genuinely believed that he was going to get away with it long enough for everyone to leave. And then once they did, he would carry on with his plan to end his life. - I mean, I remember talking to somebody calling me, right? I was telling them to write something and I'm covered with blood. And I'm just like, yeah, come on, it was going to, you know, I'm just sounding normal. And nothing could snap you out of, it was already over with. What did you think was going to happen next? I had no thought that I would get arrested. Really, no, I had no thought that Michael would report me to nothing. - Even after Tyler was caught and arrested, he admitted that while he allegedly did feel some remorse, his main concern was actually about making his own life and his own future as peaceful as possible. So he started changing his story and lying so that his legal team could plead insanity in all of this. - There's a long record of you trying to manipulate the forensic doctors, right? - Yep. - You, for example, told doctors you were hearing heard voices, so apparitions, or was that malingering? - Hell yeah, yeah, of course it is. And at the time, I mean, I shouldn't have done that, but I didn't know what else to do at the time. - What was the point of it? - I mean, I was 17 years old. I was in a whole load of struggle. The only thing conceivable to me was, well, try to get an insanity defense and try to, you know, try to make it a little less hurtful yourself. - It wasn't about toning or remorse or any of that. - Your mind goes to how do I lessen the consequence? I still felt a more so. - You did? - Of course I did. Not just for myself, I don't, I didn't just sit there and just be like, oh, you know, I'm so, you know, of course I felt bad for, of course I didn't. - But do you see that it's hard to see that past all the conniving? - Of course. - All the lies and the lingering from people I expect. I don't expect nothing, I don't expect anything anyways. They're not going to, no matter what I say. - Now towards the end of this interview, Tyler actually shares his own perspective on his case, also on the crimes that he committed and how he all sees it now. And what he had to say, it might shock you. - The conviction and the sentence came down to whether Tyler is sick and treatable or irredeemably mad and or bad. it will be corrupted, which do you think you are? I think I am treatable but not worthy of the redemption of the opportunity. I mean, I'm treatable, you know, but I don't think I deserve it. I don't deserve the opportunity, the chance, the second chance, little. Despite everything that happened in this case and all the mental health diagnosis that Tyler has received, he does believe that he's treatable. But according to him, he doesn't deserve a second chance. Which is something he says he fully understands and genuinely believes about himself. Now to close out that interview, Tyler shared that if he could have three wishes today, this is what they would be. When you were young, your three wishes were one to get out of jail, two, have this whole thing go away and have your parents back, and three have a lot of money in that order. Yeah, that was 17-year-old, I was saying that. What are your three wishes now? Got one wish. Got one wish? Got one wish. What's that? I wish I could go back in time and just not do all this harm. It's all very interesting, right? I think that part of the reason why people get so invested in true crime cases is because as humans, we want and need to know the why behind things, why people are evil, why people feel compelled to do the things that they do. But in this most recent interview, it just proves that most of the time, there isn't a clear-cut answer. Today, Tyler is still sitting in prison. Now, whether he's sitting in there actually feeling remorseful or not, I mean, I don't know. In 2039, Tyler will be eligible for a sentencing review. And I don't know. Personally, I think that's too soon. Curious to know what you think? I feel like if you murder your parents in cold blood, then go on to party after the fact and laugh at yourself in the mirror when you're covered in their blood. Maybe it's life without parole, right? Like, maybe that's the answer. But I know that there's an argument to be had to about people's frontal lobe, their full development, if they're truly evil, if they're just underdeveloped, young and they don't understand the severity of their actions, I don't know. But that's where I'm at. I feel like 2039 still feels too early to me. But tell me what you think. I know this one was a twisted one and a wild one, but you know, here's my question for you. What would you do if you were at that party? How scary would that have been not only to make that discovery, but just to even know that you were a party-goer and drinking and raging all whilst with someone who just murdered their parents in cold blood? That is so eerie to think about. Thank you guys so much for tuning into another episode of "Ten to Life" with me, Annie Elise. I will be back with you next week with an all-new case. So make sure you're subscribed or that you're following if you're listening to this on your podcast app so that you don't miss it. And until the next one, stay safe. Bye.