A Florida teenager was arrested for the horrific crimes he committed after he said something he should not have. Tyler Ryan Hirsch was arrested in 2019 after his neighbor was found dead with several stab wounds. Here’s how the police found out that Hirsch was behind the crime after what he said.
Melody Victoria Bennett was found dead in her house with multiple stab wounds. Bennett’s brother discovered her after showing up at her house. Melody had been unreachable for a few days, which prompted her brother to check up on her.
Authorities reached the scene and began interrogating the woman’s neighbors. Tyler Ryan Hirsch, who is 24 years old right now, was one of them. Hirsch, who was a teenager back then, told the authorities that Melody was a family friend.
He also lied to them about not knowing anything about the murder. The next day, the teenager boarded the school bus while the police continued the investigation in the neighborhood. When the bus driver inquired what had happened, Hirsch told him that one of his neighbors had been “stabbed to death.”
The way that Melody had died had not been made public information yet. Following his statement, cops showed up at his school to question him. The teenager’s teacher informed the cops that he had requested to see the school nurse a few days before.
Man sentenced for fatally stabbing his neighbor when he was 16 https://t.co/QNJyTF3pra
— True Crime News (@MyTrueCrimeNews) August 5, 2025
At the nurse’s office, he asked to get bandaged for several small cuts on his hand. He also sported a large cut that needed medical attention. When his teachers asked what had caused the injuries, he dismissed their question by noting that it was a personal matter he did not want to talk about.
The cops took a DNA sample of the teenager, which ended up matching the DNA at the crime scene. Upon further investigation, it was found that Hirsch had sexually assaulted and then gone ahead to stab her multiple times all over her body.
The teenager was arrested on January 17, 2019, which was almost a year after Bennet was murdered. Walter Forgie, the Fifth Judicial Circuit Chief Assistant State Attorney, spoke about the disturbing case. He praised the investigators who worked hard on the case.
BREAKING: Florida Man Sentenced to Life For M*rder
Tyler Ryan Hirsch, 24, has been sentenced to life in prison for the battery and m*rder of his neighbor, Melody Victoria Bennett, when he was just 16 years old. https://t.co/ruKu07ixvi pic.twitter.com/hwbKUFdyKG
— Re:Public (@realrepublicus) August 5, 2025
Forgie went on to thank the judge for the “life sentence, which ensures that the defendant will never again be in a position to harm another innocent person.” He also labelled Hirsch’s actions as a “senseless and horrific” act of violence that left his family and the entire neighborhood in shock.
In the month of March this year, Hirsch was charged with first-degree murder, attempted sexual battery while armed, burglary of a dwelling while armed, and three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, according to an official statement. Tyler Ryan Hirsch has been sentenced to life in prison for the horrific crime that he committed.
