60 GUESTS, 2 BODIES: The Night a Teen Killed His Parents to Host the Ultimate House Party

By The Joseph Bonner Reports | INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — On the sweltering afternoon of July 16, 2011, the Facebook status update seemed typical for a bored teenager on summer break.

“Party at my crib tonight…maybe.”

Tyler Hadley, 17, was known as a quiet kid, though lately, his parents had been worried. He had been skipping school and dabbling in drugs. His mother, Mary-Jo, and father, Blake, had recently confiscated his phone and car keys in a desperate bid to get him back on track. They had grounded him.

By all logic, there should have been no party.

But as the sun set over the quiet suburban neighborhood, cars began to line the street. Techno music began to thump through the walls. By midnight, more than 60 teenagers were inside the Hadley home, playing beer pong in the kitchen and smoking cigarettes in the living room.

To the guests, Tyler was the ultimate host. He was frantic, energetic, and handing out drinks. When asked where his parents were, he offered a casual shrug: "They’re in Orlando," he told one guest. "They don't live here anymore," he told another.

In reality, Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley had never left the house. They were just a few feet away, locked behind the master bedroom door.

The calm before the violence

According to police reports and court testimony, the "party of the year" was the result of a gruesome calculation. Tyler had spent the afternoon popping ecstasy pills and pacing the house. He knew he couldn't host a party with his parents home.

At approximately 5:00 p.m., Tyler walked into the garage and selected a 22-inch framing hammer.

His mother was sitting at the family computer. Tyler stood behind her for five full minutes, contemplating the act, before bringing the hammer down. When his mother screamed "Why?", his father Blake rushed from the bedroom.

Blake stared at his son, surrounded by blood, and asked the same question. Tyler’s response, later recounted to a friend, was chilling in its apathy: "Why the f*** not?"

After bludgeoning both parents to death, Tyler spent the next three hours cleaning. He dragged their bodies into the master bedroom. He used Clorox wipes to scrub the blood from the floor and threw towels, books, and furniture onto the bed to hide the human forms beneath the sheets.

Then, he unlocked the front door and posted one final update: “party at my house hmu.”

A macabre secret revealed

As the party raged, the house became a surreal crime scene masked by teenage debauchery. Kids put cigarettes out on the walls; neighbors complained about noise.

Amidst the chaos, Tyler pulled his best friend, Michael Mandell, aside near the backyard.

"Mike, I killed my parents," Tyler said.

Mandell laughed, assuming it was a dark joke or the drugs talking. But Tyler insisted. "Look at the driveway," he said, pointing to his parents' cars which were still parked outside. "I killed my parents."

To prove it, Tyler led Mandell down the hallway. He opened the master bedroom door. Mandell later testified that he saw a leg protruding from under the pile of household items and smelled the unmistakable scent of blood and bleach.

In a moment of shock that would later haunt the community, Mandell did not flee immediately. He stayed for a short time, even taking a photo with Tyler to document the night, fearing he would never see his friend again.

The 4:24 A.M. call

Mandell eventually left the house and, wracked with guilt and terror, made an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at 4:24 a.m.

"My friend... he killed his parents," Mandell told the dispatcher. "He's having a party right now."

When Port St. Lucie police arrived in the pre-dawn light, the party was winding down. Tyler, appearing nervous and "talkative," refused to let officers inside, claiming his parents were out of town. Police, citing exigent circumstances, entered anyway.

They found beer bottles, cigar wrappers, and the faint, coppery smell of blood that bleach couldn't quite mask. Behind the locked master bedroom door, they found Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley.

As police closed in, Tyler Hadley had been preparing for an encore. Just minutes before the sirens wailed, he had posted to Facebook one last time:

“party at my house again hmu”

Justice Served

In 2014, Tyler Hadley pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree murder. Though his defense team argued he suffered from severe mental health issues, the brutality of the crime—and the callous celebration that followed—painted a picture of a remorseless killer.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The house on Granduer Avenue has since been demolished, but the memory of the party thrown over the bodies of two loving parents remains a dark stain on Port St. Lucie history.