Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘She Hid the Knife in the Toybox’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Evil Lives Here,’ we get a detailed account of the harrowing case of Tyler and Charlee Worley’s murders, two children who are made to leave the planet way too soon. When their father Jason came across the lifeless bodies of his children, he blamed himself for not being able to protect them. With interviews with the children’s loved ones and the officials closely working on the case, the episode offers a deep exploration of the tragedy that took place in the Worley household in 2016.
Tyler and Charlee Worley Were Murdered in the Latter’s Room
Tyler and Charlee Worley were siblings who were brought into the world by Jason and Brandi Worley. The former was born on September 17, 2009, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was described as an energetic and loving first-grade student. With the innate ability to make new friends, he did not take much time blending with people. At the time of his demise, he used to go to the Sugar Creek Elementary School. Being a lover of sports, he played different sports, including football, soccer, baseball, wrestling, basketball, and more. On the other hand, Tyler’s younger sister Charlee Worley was born on September 26, 2013, in Lafayette, Indiana.
Charlee was a student at Wilson Pre-School and also in the process of learning dancing at Dance by Deborah. Given her curious mind, one of Charlee’s favorite things to do was attend story time at the library. Her other hobbies included getting dressed up and having her hair braided. Moreover, she attended basketball camp and VBS. Unfortunately, the two children could not reach their full potential as Tyler, aged seven, and Charlee, aged three, were murdered on November 17, 2016, within the walls of their own home.
On the fateful day, Jason Worley was awoken by the screams of his mother-in-law. When he got up and went to his children’s room, he found his two adorable children lying lifeless and unresponsive. Soon, the police were called and upon their arrival, they discovered that they had been stabbed to death. After taping the crime scene and collecting all the evidence, the detectives began the interrogation process to get more details about the children and their parents.
Tyler and Charlee Worley Were Backstabbed by a Loved One
The authorities found out that Jason and Brandi Worley had been with each other for about a decade or so. After staying engaged for a couple of years, they tied the knot in August 2009. Not long after, they became pregnant with their first child but there were complications when Tyler was prematurely born 10 weeks earlier than scheduled. Four years later, the married couple became parents for the second time, this time to a daughter they named Charlee. However, as the years passed by, a few cracks in the marriage began to come to the surface as Jason suspected that Brandi was having an extramarital affair.
When things still didn’t get any better between them, Jason asked for a divorce on November 15, 2016, seven years after the marriage. However, acting like everything was normal between them, on November 16, they went to Charlee’s dance program. After eating dinner together, Brandi headed to Walmart to purchase some pipe cleaners for Tyler’s school project. Instead, she brought home a knife and hid it in Tyler’s bedroom. A few hours after Jason went to sleep, in the early morning hours of November 17, 2016, Brandi woke up Tyler and took him to Charlee’s room for a “sleepover,” but instead, she stabbed him multiple times with the knife she purchased.
Next, Brandi killed Charlee with the same bloodied knife. Once Brandi was done, she even tried to take her own life and stabbed herself in the neck. She then talked to her mother and told her what she had done. Her mother ordered Brandi to call the police and headed to the Worley residence. Around 4:35 am, Brandi dialed 911 and confessed that she had stabbed her two children to death and stabbed herself as well. After revealing that she had also taken a large amount of Benadryl, she told them that she did it because Jason wanted a divorce and custody of the children.
Driven by fear of losing them, she ended up murdering Tyler and Charlee. When Brandi’s mother arrived at the house and found the children dead, she couldn’t help but scream, waking up Jason in the process. Horrified at the scene, Jason was told by Brandi, “Now you can’t take the kids from me.” The police confirmed that Tyler and Charlee were deceased and took Brandi for the treatment of her self-inflicted injury. After spending more than a week recovering in the hospital, she was arrested and charged with two counts of murder.
Brandi Worley is Now Serving For Her Crimes
During Brandi Worley’s trial for the murder of her children, Tyler and Charlee, in January 2018, she pleaded guilty to the charges but she displayed a total lack of regret for the horrendous crimes she had committed. Meanwhile, her defense explained that her state of emotional detachment stemmed from her depression as the gravity of her actions took a toll on her mental well-being over the period of time, disconnecting her from the tragic incident. When Jason was asked what sentence he would prefer for his ex-wife, he simply said, “All I care is to never see her again. Out of sight and out of mind.”
On March 19, 2018, the jury found Brandi Worley guilty of murder and sentenced her separately for the deaths of each of her children — 55 years for Tyler’s murder and 65 years for Charlee’s murder. Both sentences, which totaled 120 years, were to run one after the other, or consecutively, which meant Brandi was basically imprisoned for life. Currently, she is serving her 120 years of imprisonment behind bars at the Indiana Women’s Prison at 2596 North Girls School Road in Indianapolis.
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