The woman who raised Florida school gunman Nikolas Cruz paid $50,000 to adopt him from his drug addicted biological mother and later bought his younger brother for $15,000, a new report claims.
Trish Devaney, who was friends with Cruz’s adoptive mother and lived next to the family from 1999 to 2002, told Radar Online that both Nikolas and his younger brother Zachary were born out of one night stands.
‘Nick’s biological mother was just a complete screw up, drug addict and thief,’ Devaney said.
She added that his adoptive mother Lynda Cruz was desperate to have children and paid $50,000 to adopt Nikolas from the hospital when he was born.
Lynda Cruz was desperate to have children and paid $50,000 to adopt Nikolas (above with Lynda) from the hospital when he was born, a family friend claims
When she learned that his biological mother was due to give birth again, she paid $15,000 so Nikolas would have a brother related to him.
‘She was happy with Nikolas and wasn’t going to try for another one, but when she found out he would have a biological brother, she decided right away to take him and her husband was on board.
‘Both children were born after one-night stands. She didn’t even really know who the two biological fathers were.’
Devaney said Lynda ended up paying to adopt through a lawyer after becoming frustrated with how long the process was taking.
When she learned that his biological mother was due to give birth again, she paid $15,000 so Nikolas would have a brother related to him. Nikolas and Zachary are pictured above
Nikolas Cruz remains locked up at the Broward County Jail after being charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder
Lynda’s husband Roger died when the boys were young. Their adoptive mother died in November after suffering from pneumonia.
Devaney described Nikolas as always being ‘a problem child’ when they lived next door to the family in Parkland, Florida.
She said Nikolas often hurt her children, including drawing blood when he bit her daughter’s stomach and throwing her son in the pool.
As Nikolas got older, Devaney claims many neighbors had considered moving out of their home because he had become so violent and police were always around at the home.
The brothers are pictured above holding the ashes of their adoptive mother Lynda Cruz who died from pneumonia in November
Above, the Parkland, Florida home where the 45 911 calls originated from. Cruz lived here with his brother and mother until 2017, when they moved just a few months before her death
Disturbing details continue to emerge about Cruz in the wake of him shooting dead 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School two weeks ago.
Police had been called to the Cruz home 45 times in the last decade – before his adoptive mother died and he and his brother moved in with family friends in November.
The calls related to Cruz included reports of him fighting with his younger brother, cursing at his mother and even throwing her against a wall when she took away his Xbox.
The severity of the calls got worse over time, culminating in a neighbor, Joelle Guarino, calling police in 2016 over a worrying Instagram post in which Cruz threatened to ‘shoot up a school’.