Delusions about sex-trafficked girl led man to slay four members of Florida family, sheriff says – By CSB/AP Newsroom (CBS News) / Sept 10 2021
A chance encounter with a former Marine beset by delusions of child sex trafficking ultimately led to the massacre of four members of a Florida family, including a mother holding her baby boy, a sheriff said Thursday.
Bryan Riley, who faces murder and other charges in Sunday’s killings, stopped by the slain family’s Lakeland home briefly the day before after going to a nearby friend’s house to pick up a first aid kit, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference.
Riley had told acquaintances he was headed to do Hurricane Ida relief work and the friend offered the kit for the purported trip. A short distance away, Riley saw Justice Gleason mowing his lawn with his 11-year-old daughter in the yard, Judd said.
That provided the trigger that led to the slayings, Judd said: Riley saw the girl, believing she was an imaginary child named Amber who was suicidal and being held by a supposed sex trafficking ring that God had told him to confront. In fact, no one named Amber lived at the home and Gleason repeatedly told Riley that before asking him to leave their initial encounter.
