Dillen Murray Murders Giovanni Diaz

Dillen Murray was sixteen years old living in Florida when he would murder fifteen year old Giovanni Diaz with a baseball bat

According to court documents Dillen Murray would lure Giovanni Diaz into the woods where he would attack and beat to death the other teen with a baseball bat

Apparently Dillen Murray was mad at Giovanni Diaz for claiming that he had sex with a girl that Murray liked

Following the murder Dillen Muray would call 911 and told the operator what he had done

Dillen Murray would be arrested, plead guilty and was sentenced to sixty years in prison

Dillen Murray Current Information

Dillen Murray Case

A Lake Wales teenager will face up to life in prison when he’s sentenced in April after pleading guilty to fatally beating his friend with a metal baseball bat in a dispute over a girl.

Dillen Alex Murray was 16 two years ago when he lured 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz to a wooded area near Caloosa Lake Village, the mobile home park south of Lake Wales where both boys lived, and bludgeoned him to death. He then called 911, saying he’d just beaten his friend and had left him bleeding in the woods, according to court records.

Murray was taken into custody on allegations of first-degree murder later that day – March 19, 2018 – the same day Diaz died. Diaz was beaten so severely around his face, head, chest and arms that he died less than 30 minutes after Murray had called 911, court records state. Polk County sheriff’s deputies found a bloody, dented baseball bat nearby

Murray would tell detectives that he had become angry after Diaz told him he’d had sex with a girl Murray had dated and with whom he was still in love.

In a recorded statement the day Diaz died, Murray accused Diaz of initiating a fight by hitting him in the face with his fist and threatening him with the bat, though deputies reported they found no physical signs that Murray had been attacked. Murray said he took the bat from Diaz and used it to defend himself, leading to the fatal blows. He told detectives he struck Diaz in the face while he was lying on the ground to ensure Diaz would never talk badly about the girl again, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.

Murray’s lawyer, Christopher Boldt, of the state’s Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, said Wednesday he anticipates testimony related to Murray’s mental health during the two-day sentencing hearing, scheduled to begin April 1. He declined to comment about the plea, which Murray entered without an agreement with prosecutors.

In February 2019, Boldt and co-counsel Byron Hileman sought an evaluation to determine if Murray was competent to stand trial. As that evaluation moved forward, they filed a separate motion three months later stating their intention to rely on an insanity defense. They cited childhood-onset schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder.

In June, after Murray had been examined by three doctors, Circuit Judge Jalal Harb ruled that he was competent and the criminal case would proceed.

At the same time, Murray’s lawyers were seeking to suppress his confession, arguing that detectives should have heeded Murray’s repeated requests to have his father present during the three-hour interrogation. That motion was still pending when Murray entered his plea in late December, according to court records.

Murray, now 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and, had he been an adult when the crime occurred, he would have been sentenced to mandatory life in prison. But at 16, he was a juvenile, which affords Harb greater discretion in sentencing.

Murray had been held in the juvenile division of the Polk County Jail until last October, where he was relocated after turning 18. He’s been held without bail since his arrest.

Polk teen pleads guilty to brutally beating friend to death over a girl