Man Gets Death Penalty for Killing 2 Boys with A Hammer

A man in Florida was convicted earlier this month for the gruesome murder of two young boys and is set to receive the death penalty after a jury unanimously recommended the punishment Friday following a five-day sentencing trial.

Mark Wilson was found guilty of first-degree murder earlier this month for killing 14-year-old Tatyen and 12-year-old Robert Baker in August 2020.

Wilson, who was living with his wife, the boys’ aunt, in a shed on the family’s Melrose property at the time, beat the boys in the head with a hammer before slitting their throats.

According to authorities, the mother of the boys, Sarah Baker, was sleeping in the house during the murders. A homicide detective testified that Baker would have been unable to hear them in the living room from her bedroom due to insulation.

The Putnam County sheriff claimed, “The murder scene at the property was one of the worst I have ever seen.”

Shortly after the killings, State Attorney R.J. Larizza said, “I can tell you, I’ve been working in the criminal justice system since 1980 and these are some of the most brutal murders that I’ve ever heard of. He attacked these two kids without mercy.”

Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton stated in her testimony, “After hitting both boys in the head with a hammer, it appeared as though Wilson had either tried to slit the older brother, Tayten’s throat several times or sawed through his neck. The younger brother, Robert, had his throat slit as well from end to end, nearly decapitating him.”

Baker testified during the trial that before the murders, she had seen Wilson outside sharpening a knife that would later be matched to the murder weapon.

She found the body of her oldest son at the end of an 18-foot trail of blood. Both of the boys were covered in blankets, at first hiding the extent of their injuries.

Wilson’s mother, Chrisy Adkins, played a pivotal role in the investigation as a confidential informant who agreed to record the conversation with her son that would ultimately lead to his arrest.

“I told Mark that he needed to cooperate,” she said on the stand. “Take a lie detector test and clear his name. He got out of the bed, and he said, ‘Mom, I can’t do that,’ and I asked if he hurt those babies and in a voice that wasn’t his own, he said, ‘Yes, mom, I did it.’”

Adkins claimed, “My son often spoke strangely from time to time, especially when he was using drugs. My son and his wife were both drug users and we fought about that.”

In the recorded conversation that was played in the courtroom, Wilson confessed that he killed the boys because he believed the family was going to report him and his wife to the Department of Children and Families. He also claimed he and his wife had plotted to annihilate the entire family.

Then in another story, Wilson changed his confession and said the reason was because the boys had sexually abused his daughter.

Although Wilson did not provide a clear motive for killing the boys, in a recorded interview, Wilson told investigators he was high the morning of the murders, had been up for three days and didn’t remember them.

Forensic Psychologist Dr. Justin D’Arienzo told News4JAX that coverage of the case suggested Wilson could have been experiencing meth-induced psychosis.

“It is a psychotic reaction based on the drug use that mimics somebody that has schizophrenia,” D’Arienzo said.

He said the drug can make people agitated, suspicious and delusional including hearing and seeing things that aren’t present.

The family members of the boys have made their feelings clear: They want Wilson to be executed.

“We don’t want to work and pay taxes for him to live. Point blank. Period,” cousin Kelli Coco said.