The search for a missing two-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida, ended in tragedy.
WSVN 7 Miami reports investigators found the body of Taylen Mosley in the jaws of an alligator, thanks to a team of divers and drone usage. Police spotted an alligator in Dell Homes Park, just a few miles from the child’s home. The young child was reported missing after his mother, Pashun Jeffery, was found dead. St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said the child’s father, Thomas Mosley, will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
“We are sorry it has had to end this way, Holloway said. “We didn’t want to find him this way, but at least we can bring some closure to that family now.” Authorities were able to euthanize the alligator to retrieve the boy’s body intact.
Family members claim the last time the victim and her son were seen was around 5:20 p.m. last Wednesday. Neighbors compla
ined of hearing a loud commotion near the couple’s apartment around 8:30 p.m. However, the police were not called. On Thursday, when Jeffery’s mother didn’t hear from her, she called the apartment complex property manager. Later, authorities found Jeffery dead, with over 100 stab wounds, in what Holloway described as “a very violent crime scene.”According to CNN, it is still unknown how the child got to the park or how he died.
The senior Mosley went to his mother’s house around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday before checking into a hospital Friday with cuts to his hands and arms, allegedly caused by slippage during the knife attack. He was later booked in the Pinellas County jail. The arrest affidavit reports a bloody fingerprint, allegedly belonging to Mosley, found on a cleaning bottle under a bed in the victim’s apartment and a bloody shoe print.
Mosley refused to speak with authorities and asked for an attorney. However, it wasn’t clear Saturday whether or not he had obtained legal representation yet. “The father is not talking to us.”