May 8, 2022- 5:29 p.m.
On July 16, 2011, Tyler Hadley stabbed and beat his parents to death with a hammer.
Three hours after the murders of Blake and Mary Jo Hadley, their 17-year-old son threw a house party while the crime scene lay undiscovered behind the master bedroom door in their Port St. Lucie, Florida home.
For weeks leading up to the murders, Hadley had casually mentioned how he had wanted to kill his parents.
He was angry with his mother for confiscating his cell phone, which just added to his growing disdain.
No one believed him. In the weeks leading up to the murder, he had been arrested for aggravated assault, started a fire on a wildlife preserve, and his parents had invoked the Baker Act on him.
On July 16, 2011, Hadley made multiple Facebook posts, stating his parents would not be home and he would have a party.
Around 5:00 p.m. Hadley took 3 ecstasy pills, hid his parents’ phones, and went to get a 17-inch hammer from his garage. He stood behind his mother for about 5 minutes as she worked on the computer.
He then started striking her in the head multiple times. His father ran into the room and Hadley attacked and killed him.
Ryan Blake Hadley received (at minimum) 39 blunt trauma injuries including a large gaping wound on the right side of his head, soft tissue bruising and multiple fractures to his arms and legs.
Assistant Medical Examiner Linda O’Neil stated that Mary Jo had a large gaping wound on the back of her head, multiple fractures, several broken ribs, and a lacerated lung.
She had over 36 blunt force trauma injuries.Hadley wrapped his parents’ heads in towels and put their bodies in a back bedroom.
He cleaned up the blood and moved all the furniture from his house into the same room with his parents and locked the door.
Hadley told all his friends he was going to have a party. He went and got 5K from the bank before the party started. Over 100 people would eventually attend the party.
Around 1:00 a.m., Hadley pulled a friend aside and told him what he had done to his parents.
Not believing him, Hadley showed his friend a bloody footprint and took him to the bedroom to show him the proof.
Around 4:42 a.m. his friend called Crimestoppers and reported what Hadley told him. Police arrived on scene and made the discovery.
Hadley was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was found guilty and given two life sentences.
Hadley was not eligible for the death penalty due to his age at the time of the murders. He is serving his sentences at Okeechobee Correctional Institution, where he signs jailhouse autographs as “Hammer Boy”.
The Hadley family home was demolished in 2015.
