'Worse than torture': Convicted child abuser locked up for 'depraved' hot bathtub murder of 2-year-old
A boyfriend who knew from the start that he was "going to prison" was sentenced to nearly four decades behind bars for the hot bathtub water murder of a 2-year-old girl.
lawandcrime.com
John Tucker Hardee, 38, on April 23, 2018, placed Harley Williams into scalding bathtub water and left her there, severely burned the victim’s skin, and then texted the girl’s mother to come home from work when he began to realize what he’d done. Despite the obvious seriousness of the situation, the couple subjected Harley to a painful, torturous death instead of immediately taking the toddler to the hospital, the Office of the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney said.
Prosecutors said that Hardee and Shelby Rae Love, 28, medicated the toddler in various ways and did not call 911 until the early morning hours of April 24.
“Harley’s autopsy also revealed blunt force injuries throughout her body, including a 7-inch contusion to the back of her head and a large bruise to her abdomen accompanied by an internal injury to her small intestine,” prosecutors said.
At the time of the murder, John Tucker Hardee was on probation following a conviction in 2014 for beating his own son and strangling another woman in a Virginia Beach case.
