LAKE WALES, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office has released the 911 call placed after the beating death of 15-year-old Giovanni Diaz.
Editor's Note: The first two and a half minutes of audio were used for this article and edited for profanity. The contents of the audio may be considered disturbing to some.
The murder suspect, 16-year-old Dillen Murray claims throughout the call that he was attacked by Diaz in the woods. According to police, Murray later confessed that he attacked Diaz and hit him repeatedly with an aluminum bat.
“He brought me to the woods and he took my baseball bat and tried to beat me,” Dillen Murray told the 911 dispatcher. “They’re saying I’m going to go to jail if he dies. He attacked me,” he said later on the same call.
Listen to the 911 call here:
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Murray beat Diaz nine times over the head, according to the sheriff's office. Murray had no physical injuries.
A press conference was held early Tuesday afternoon:
"Two days earlier, [Murray] told a witness, 'I wonder what it's like to kill somebody?'" Judd said.
Judd showed photos of Murray's Facebook page, which included pictures of a bloody knife, a bloody clown and Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker.
"This is a kind of gives an image of what we believe is the way that he thought," Judd said. "We know that people's Facebook pages and their social media can show their real personalities, and we think that these photographs that he had on his Facebook page capture his personality very well."
Murray later told detectives what really happened. They say he was mad at Diaz because he was in a relationship with the girl he liked.
“It so angered Dillen, because he was in love with this young lady who didn't like him at all,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.
The victim's family is still too devastated to talk about what happened on camera. But neighbors disturbed by what happened. Some of them said they're not surprised and described Murray as the neighborhood bully, a sentiment echoed by Diaz's family Monday night.
“This kid was destined for trouble,” one person who lives near the crime scene said.
Murray had a history of getting into it. He'd been charged three other times since 2016 for hitting Diaz, his dad, and another girl.
“Then we hear the story two days ago when he tells the witness, I wonder what it's like to murder someone,” Judd said.
Judd described Diaz, on the other hand, as a bright kid who'd never gotten into any trouble before.
Some of the audio transcript for the 911 call was also released by the sheriff's office:
1:09 - I texted him when he was supposed to be off school, and I texted him and texted him and I got no response so I started walking down the street and stuff, and I saw him walking, and he brought me into the woods, and he took my baseball bat and he tried to beat me.
1:43 - He tried
to attack me, and then me and him got into a fight but I had the baseball bat, and I don't know if he's dead cuz I hit him so many times, man.
4:00 - (yelling to his dad) Dad! Dad help! Dad help. Dad help (to the dispatcher) I'm gonna run and get my dad; (talking to his dad) Dad
- help me, Gio tried to kill me and I think I killed him; I'm not playing dad, he attacked me in the woods.
4:56 - (talking to his dad)
He told me to come in the woods by myself with the baseball bat cuz after we were done smoking we were going to get Zach and play baseball; then he said he had to take a pee; then all of a sudden, he's behind me with the baseball bat - he tried to get me and I grabbed it; all he did was punch me in the face but I hit him one time and said stop, and he's like, now you're gonna ____ get it, and he came at me again, and I kept hittin' him and hittin' him.
5:44 - They're saying I'm gonna go to jail if he dies.
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