16-year-old killed neighbor, then went to school, FL cops say. Now he’s sentenced

A 16-year-old sexually assaulted and killed his neighbor, then went to the school nurse in the morning for cuts on his hand that he didn’t want to explain, Florida authorities said.

Tyler Ryan Hirsch, now 24, has been sentenced to life in prison, the State Attorney’s Office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit announced Aug. 1. McClatchy News reached out to his attorney for comment on Aug. 4 but did not immediately receive a response.

His sentencing comes 7 1/2 years after Melody Victoria “Tori” Bennett was found stabbed to death in her home days after her 33rd birthday, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 25, 2018, Bennett’s brother went to her home in Bushnell after not hearing from his sister for days, investigators said.

She normally kept her back door unlocked, so he went inside and found her face down on the floor of the living room, according to an affidavit from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.

She had a dozen stab wounds to her upper body and had been dead for several days at that point, a medical examiner determined. Cuts on her hands and arms indicated that she had tried to defend herself, according to the affidavit.

Based on her clothing, it also appeared she had been a victim of sexual assault, investigators said.

Detectives began canvassing the neighborhood, and they spoke with Hirsch, then 16, who told detectives he really liked Bennett, according to deputies. He said she was nice, and she helped him with his drawings, investigators said.

The detectives said they also spoke with one of his teachers, who told them Hirsch asked to see the school nurse on Monday morning, Jan. 22, for a cut on his hand. When she asked him what happened, he told her it was personal, and he didn’t want to talk about it, deputies said.

By the time Hirsch went to the school nurse, Bennett was already dead, but her body wouldn’t be discovered for three more days, according to investigators.

The medical examiner believed she had died overnight between the evening of Sunday, Jan. 21, and Monday morning, Jan. 22, prosecutors said.

The day Bennett’s brother found her dead, law enforcement descended on the rural neighborhood as Hirsch was getting on the school bus, prosecutors said. The bus driver asked what was going on, and Hirsch responded that a woman had been stabbed to death, the affidavit said.

But law enforcement said they hadn’t disclosed anything about the incident or the cause of death.

After their first conversation with Hirsch, investigators went back to his home, where he lived with his foster parents two doors down from Bennett, to take a DNA swab from him and schedule an interview at the sheriff’s office for the next day, deputies said.

During that interview, Hirsch confirmed Bennett was a family friend and denied having anything to do with her death, according to the affidavit.

But Hirsch’s DNA was found on her clothes and underwear she was wearing that day, deputies said.

About a year after Bennett was killed, Hirsch was arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder, sexual assault with a weapon and armed burglary, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.

Hirsch entered an open plea in March and was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted sexual battery while armed, armed burglary of a dwelling, and three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, prosecutors said.

Bushnell is about a 50-mile drive west from Orlando.