A Florida teen who was supposedly jealous of a friend dating his crush allegedly lured him into the woods and beat him to death with a baseball bat, police said.
Dillen Murray, 16, was arrested on murder charges Monday after 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz was fatally bludgeoned in a wooded area near Lake Wales, news station WSCO reported.
Murray allegedly was angry that Diaz admitted he was in a relationship with his crush, and invited him to the woods to confront him.
The 16-year-old student told Diaz they would smoke pot, but he viciously attacked him with a T-ball bat, according to authorities.
“A witness who was in the area saw Dillen walking out of the woods, and Dillen told the witness that he just hit his friend with a baseball bat,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said, according to WSCO. “The witness ran into the woods and found Giovanni.”
Using the bat, Murray reportedly hit the 15-year-old at least nine times in the head and face, officials said.
Murray initially told investigators he attacked him in self-defense, but later allegedly confessed to the crime, according to news station WTVT.
“This child was brutally murdered by a 16-year-old with a baseball bat,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said to WSCO. “There is no reasonable excuse for this. Zero. None. It should never have happened.”
He was also booked on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
This was not his first altercation with Diaz. The teen was charged twice for battery involving the victim.
A GoFundMe page was created to raise money for Diaz’s funeral expenses.



