A woman accused of telling a 10-year-old child to murder a 2-month-old infant in disturbing messages sent over the gaming platform Roblox has had her criminal charges dismissed, court records viewed by Luxury Handbag Shopping show.
Tara Sykes, 37, was arrested in October 2024 on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder, solicitation to commit first-degree premeditated murder, and child abuse without causing great bodily harm, according to court records.
In October 2024, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office received a report about “a 2-month-old infant who had suffered serious injuries after being dropped on the kitchen floor by a 10-year-old.”
Investigators ultimately learned that the child had been messaging with Sykes over Roblox, and that Sykes had “instructed the 10-year-old on various methods to kill the infant,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
On Thursday, January 22, under the terms of a plea deal involving Sykes pleading no contest to child neglect without great bodily harm, prosecutors dismissed the murder-related charges against her, court records show.
She was sentenced to 11 months and 30 days in jail, with credit for already having served 462 days in custody, according to court filings reviewed by Us.
Public defenders representing Sykes did not immediately return Us’ request for comment on Wednesday, January 28.
During Sykes’ criminal investigation, investigators discovered that Sykes told the 10-year-old child to drown the 2-month-old baby in a bathtub in the messages she was accused of sending over Roblox, according to the sheriff’s office.
She also told the child to “burn the infant with scalding water and drop the infant on the floor to kill the infant,” authorities said.
The child had been temporarily living with adults, who Sykes also instructed the child on how to kill, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sykes told the child to kill the adults “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,” authorities said.
The 10-year-old ultimately “doused the sheets,” but did not follow through with the rest of Sykes’ instructions, according to the sheriff’s office.
“I have been in Law Enforcement for over 40 years and have never seen anything quite like this,” Escambia County Sheriff Chip W. Simmons said in a statement in October 2024.
“There is something really wrong with her,” he said of Sykes.
At the time, Simmons’ office said that Roblox had been cooperating with investigators as the case unfolded.
The company previously told the Pensacola News Journal in 2024 that, based on an internal investigation, Roblox messages “did not contain the alleged instructions for violence that resulted in the arrest of Tara Alexis Sykes.”
Before the Roblox-related investigation, Sykes was arrested in 2024 on charge of neglecting a child without great bodily harm in connection with how an adult man impregnated her then 14-year-old daughter, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
She was then charged with extortion in connection with a threat to kill the man, according to the newspaper.
Sykes is set to appear in court in relation to those charges on April 8, the newspaper reported.
