Alexandra Tobias

Background

Alexandra Tobias was 22 when she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Investigators later described her as having shaken her infant son while playing interactive games on her Facebook page. She was a Wolfson High School graduate who wanted to go to college and had a generally good reputation as a parent.

Tobias told investigators she became angry because the baby was crying while she was playing a computer game called FarmVille on the Facebook social-networking website. A jury trial did not occur because she entered her plea.

A personality test Tobias took on the Internet one day before the murder cast a grim outlook and labeled her as bipolar, with a passage that read: "Way to go, you crazy person. You are too much for any one person to handle, including yourself." Her plans to go to college were set back when she got pregnant. She and Dylan’s father, E.J. Edmondson (E.J. Edmondson), had an on-again, off-again relationship that became so intense that both of them were arrested for domestic violence several weeks before the baby’s death.

Friends and family described Tobias as fun-loving, albeit somewhat mischievous, and said she had grown into a respectable woman. Life dealt her tough knocks: she found her mother dead in 2008. Tobias told a psychologist she had been raped at a younger age.

Tobias told the judge she was suffering from postpartum depression and said she wanted to go back to the good person she was before the killing. She said: "I hate myself for what I did, but not for who I am," and she cried at points during the sentencing hearing.

The offence

Investigators and doctors concluded that 3-month-old Dylan Lee Edmondson was dying from head injuries after Tobias murdered him in her Jacksonville home.

Tobias told authorities she shook the baby while she was playing a FarmVille game on Facebook. She said she smoked a cigarette to compose herself and then shook him again. She said the baby may have hit his head during the shaking. She also told police she shook the baby three times, including once when he began crying while she was playing a computer game.

A forensic pattern emerged as investigators, doctors, Duval County jail inmates, and family began spotting lies Tobias used to cover up what investigators said was the truth. Tobias also reportedly tried to change the story, blaming abuse on her boyfriend, his mother, and her dog. She later told a psychologist she blacked out to try to cover up her confession to police, but she was caught when prosecutors provided a recorded phone call she made from jail calling it a lie.

At the sentencing hearing, Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud told Tobias:

"He who is the most defenseless among us was murdered by his own mommy. And why? Because he was crying during a game of FishVille or FarmVille or whatever was going on during Facebooking time that day,"

Soud also told Tobias:

"It was to you he [Dylan] would turn to for food. It was you he'd turn to for comfort, for love, for help when he was sick,"
"When he turned to you and cried, you murdered him."

Investigation

Detectives said that a month before she killed her son, Tobias joined a Facebook advocacy group against baby-shaking.

Prosecutors focused on Tobias’s Facebook activity and screen captures included in the case file showed she used the social networking site often. She labeled herself a Christian and a Republican and gave no specific reasons for being a fan of television’s "One Tree Hill" and Hollywood starlet Megan Fox. Tobias kept a profile for Dylan, and New Year’s Day postings showed he was 12 pounds and 22 inches tall.

Psychologist Stephen Bloomfield testified that Tobias took Xanax without a prescription on the morning of the baby’s death. Bloomfield explained that the anti-anxiety drug can exaggerate downward mood swings for depressives. Bloomfield said much of Tobias’s depression was rooted in her upbringing under a mother diagnosed as bipolar and who grappled with drug problems. Bloomfield said: "She doesn't seem sad and she doesn't seem happy," and he testified Tuesday that much of her depression was rooted in her upbringing.

Prosecutors said Tobias called the baby’s father before she called 911 to report that her son had stopped breathing. The recording captured Tobias as hysterical as she tried to collect herself to follow the dispatcher's instructions for mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions as the rescue squad was en route.

The father, E.J. Edmondson, said it was disheartening that the case became associated with social media coverage. He said: "That is insulting. It wasn't about Facebook. It was about my son," outside the courtroom.

Tobias wrote a letter to a male inmate she was trying to court romantically. The letter read: "I had a son named Dylan Lee but he passed away on January 20, 2010!" Prosecutors intercepted it. She also wrote: "They are trying to charge me with my son's death and child abuse. Now I don't expect you to understand but I can't really talk about it but I can tell you I'm in here for the wrong reasons."

A fellow inmate deposed in the case, Lois Hay, said:

"She laughs and she colors. I mean, she's got her coloring pencils and they sit around and they just - you know, it's like they're in a home for girls, you know. It's fun time, and it's not,"

Hay said Tobias told inmates she shook the baby and smashed his head off her computer monitor, and Hay also said Tobias changed the story to blame the abuse on her boyfriend, his mother and her dog.

Tobias’s sister, Elizabeth, told Assistant State Attorney Rich Mantei in a deposition:

"She was a young mother. She was under a lot of stress, but I don't see her doing anything malicious. She knows better,"

During the sentencing hearing, Elizabeth Tobias showed Soud pictures of Tobias and pleaded for mercy.

The judge asked for consideration of the 911 recording. Defense lawyer Jan Abel asked Soud to review the 911 recording before he sentenced Tobias. Soud reviewed it but said Tobias’s crying during the call did not change his mind.

Arrest

Tobias was arrested after the January death of 3-month-old Dylan Lee Edmondson. Police detailed the charge and also detailed the arrests of two men in other murders.

In Tobias’s case, paramedics were called to her Arlington home on Tuesday after she reported Dylan was not breathing. Dylan was taken to Wolfson's Children’s Hospital in grave condition with injuries to his head and a broken leg. Dylan died Wednesday, and an autopsy found "abusive head trauma," according to Lt. Larry Schmitt of the Sheriff's Office homicide unit.

Tobias initially was charged with aggravated child abuse, which was upgraded to murder when the boy died.

Police records show Tobias had been charged on Dec. 27 with fighting with the baby’s father, Earl Jackson Edmondson III. She was given six months probation and ordered to attend an anger-control class within 30 days; Earl Jackson Edmondson III was also arrested. The report said the state Department of Children and Families was to be notified because Dylan was home when the fight occurred, though it was unclear if the agency got involved.

Trial

Tobias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Outside the courtroom, Prosecutor Richard Mantei said Tobias’s plea would help avoid the family reliving the tragedy during a jury trial.

During plea proceedings, Prosecutor Richard Mantei said a sentence could be less because of state guidelines that called for 25 to 50 years in prison.

Sentencing

Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud sentenced Tobias to 50 years in prison after several hours of testimony.

The sentence occurred after Soud offered no promises about what he would order during a sentencing hearing scheduled for December, and after Soud delivered a scathing lecture from the bench.

Soud’s remarks included:

Soud told Tobias:

Tobias cried at points during the hearing and was led to a fingerprinting station with a blank look on her face after Soud gave the lecture.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Tobias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Dylan’s death. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison on February 1, 2011.

Aftermath

The case included discussion of social media and the FarmVille game, which prosecutors and investigators connected to Tobias’s behavior. Tobias’s plea and sentencing drew widespread coverage; popular websites such as Gawker and The Daily Beast picked up the story, and CNN’s "Nancy Grace" show picked apart the case for nearly an hour.

A family friend, Jason Smith, told The Florida Times-Union in a phone call to the family’s home that he could not believe the news and said Tobias was so protective she would not even let him hold Dylan. Smith said Tobias would not hesitate to take Dylan to the doctor if Dylan developed a cough or other illness, and he said:

"That girl was so protective over that baby. There should be more investigation done. I just don't know if she just snapped or what,"

Smith also said he learned Tobias had been charged with murder in Dylan’s death.