Main: Tyler Ryan Hirsch in court (Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office). Inset: Tyler Ryan Hirsch (Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office).
A 24-year-old Florida resident will spend his life in prison for the sexual assault and murder of his 33-year-old neighbor, who was a family friend. He stabbed her to death, then as a 16-year-old, took the bus to school and attended classes as if nothing had happened.
Fifth Judicial Circuit Judge Mary P. Hatcher sentenced Tyler Ryan Hirsch to life imprisonment for the 2018 murder of Melody Victoria Bennett, according to authorities.
This sentence followed Hirsch’s open plea in March — a guilty plea without a sentencing agreement — leading to convictions on first-degree murder, attempted armed sexual battery, armed burglary, and three counts of battery against a law enforcement officer.
According to a news release from the state attorney’s office, the attack took place one day after Bennett turned 33.
On Jan. 25, 2018, Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Bennett’s County Road 625 residence after a report of a deceased woman. First responders met Bennett’s brother, who visited her home after several days of no contact from her.
After letting himself into Bennett’s home, the brother said he found his sister laying face-down in the living room.
Investigators concluded that Bennet died from “homicidal violence” as her body displayed numerous stab wounds. DNA evidence was collected, and an autopsy determined that Bennett likely died between the nights of Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 from “multiple sharp force injuries.”
A probable cause affidavit said Bennett had defensive wounds on her hands and arms.
While canvassing the neighborhood, investigators spoke with 16-year-old Hirsch, who told police that he “knew the victim as they were neighbors and the victim was a family friend.”
“Hirsch denied any knowledge of the crime, however, officials later learned that the day the victim’s body was located – when there was a large law enforcement presence in the area – Hirsch was picked up by his school bus driver who asked what was going on, with Hirsch responding that a woman was stabbed to death,” the release states. “At that time, law enforcement officials had not released any information about the crime, nor the manner of death.”
Investigators spoke with Hirsch’s teacher, who informed them that on the morning of Jan. 22, 2018, Hirsch came to school and quickly asked if he could go to the nurse “to retrieve a band-aid” because he had “a large laceration and other minor cuts to his hand.” When asked how he was cut, Hirsch told his teacher he “didn’t want to talk about it and that it was personal.”
During a subsequent interview with investigators, prosecutors said Hirsch “story about his interactions with the victim changed.” The DNA samples collected from the scene later came back as a match for Hirsch, who was arrested and charged with Bennett’s murder in January 2019.
“This was a senseless and horrific act of violence that devastated a family and shocked an entire neighborhood,” Fifth Judicial Circuit Chief Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie said in a statement. “We are grateful to the investigators who worked tirelessly on this case and to the judge for today’s life sentence, which ensures that the defendant will never again be in a position to harm another innocent person.”
