ShareThisPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - When Tyler Hadley told his best friend what he had done, Michael Mandell didn't believe it at first, Mandell said Tuesday.
"He asked me to stay there until after everyone left to see them and I didn't want to," Mandell said. "I went in there and checked for myself.
"I opened the door. I saw bloody sheets piled everywhere. I saw broken pictures with blood on them and I looked down and I saw his dad's leg there."
Hadley, 17, is accused of bludgeoning his parents, Mary Jo and Blake Hadley, with a hammer Saturday before having as many as 60 people over for a party at the family's home here.
Mandell, also 17, said he was one of two people who saw the bodies.
Investigators went to the home about 4:20 a.m. Sunday after a tip that a 17-year-old had killed his parents and the bodies were in the home. Hadley's parents' bodies were found in their locked bedroom.
Port St. Lucie police officials have accused Hadley of using a 22-inch hammer to strike his parents in the head and torso. Then, they said, he used books, files and towels to cover their bodies.
Police on the scene wrote in their report -- released Tuesday with much of the information redacted -- that they found the bodies by removing rubble.
Mandell said Hadley told him he thought "the devil possessed him." He said the Hadleys were having financial problems and that, along with rap music and fights with his parents, influenced Hadley's actions.
Mandell said Tyler Hadley had taken the drug Ecstasy.
"After he told me, I didn't believe him because he's been my best friend forever. I would never suspect anything like this," Mandell said. "I was looking around, he told me if I look enough I could see signs. I looked on the floor and could see signs of blood."
Police believe the party began around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m.
"Everyone just having a fun time. Laughing around. Tyler was having a fun time himself, he was acting like nothing had happened," Mandell said.
An expert says if Hadley did kill his parents, he must have shown some signs of trouble before Saturday.
"I would imagine he bounced the idea around with someone first, even as a joke," said Eric Leever, a licensed mental health counselor in Stuart, Fla., who specializes in family conflict and troubled children.
"... There probably also were some indicators and a tendency toward violence before the incident," he added.
Indicators might include a disregard for people's welfare and property, as well as patterns of sudden violent behavior such as throwing objects, punching walls, physical confrontations or hurting animals.
Mandell said Tyler Hadley started getting troubled when he was about 15. But Saturday night was shocking.
"I feel like this kid that I've known all my life, I don't know him," Mandell said. "His family was my family. They were very good people. I really don't see any motive besides drugs.
"He took three Ecstasy pills before he did this. He said he couldn't do it sober."
Mandell said he stayed until the party was nearly over. "He was going to commit suicide once he got caught, but that failed," Mandell said.
Mandell said he didn't call police, saying he was shocked. Police came to his home Sunday morning and he told them what he knew.
(Will Greenlee reports for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers. Staff writers Jonathan Mattise, Nadia Vanderhoof, Zaimarie De Guzman, Adriana Montoya and Matt Prichard, and Kristyn Caddell of WPTV NewsChannel 5 contributed to this report.)
