The body of a 2-year-old Florida boy, who had been missing since his mother was found dead Thursday, was also found dead in the mouth of an alligator on Friday, police said.
Police were waiting for the medical examiner to examine Taylen Mosley’s body to determine the cause of death, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Friday.
However, Holloway said the boy’s father, Thomas Mosley, 21, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the boy’s mother, Pashun Jeffery, 20, and their young son, Taylen. The department posted the news on its Facebook page.
A frantic day-long search involving local, state and federal authorities, including dive teams and officers using drones, had been underway since the body of the boy’s mother was found stabbed to death in her St. Petersburg apartment Thursday afternoon.
While searching for the boy in nearby Dell Holmes Park recreation area and Lake Maggiore, detectives spotted an alligator in the lake with something in its mouth. When they realized it was a child’s body, they shot at the alligator, killing it.
“As the detectives got closer, they put a bullet into the gator and the gator dropped the object and we were able to retrieve Taylen’s body intact,” Holloway said at a Friday night press conference posted by the Spectrum Bay TV station. News 9 in Tampa Bay. .
“We’re sorry it had to end this way,” Holloway said at a press conference.
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Police had issued an orange alert for Taylen on Thursday after police found his mother’s body. Jeffery, who worked at a CVS store, and her son were last seen by family members around 5:20 p.m. Wednesday. According to police, neighbors heard a loud commotion near their apartment around 8:30 p.m., but police were not called.
Jeffery’s mother contacted the apartment complex’s manager after not hearing from her daughter the next day. Relatives said Jeffery and Taylen had just moved in a month ago.
Jeffrey was found dead in what Holloway described as “a very violent crime scene”, where she had been stabbed numerous times.
Thomas Mosley went to his mother’s house around 9 p.m. Wednesday with the cuts on his arms and hands, Holloway said, and then admitted himself to a local hospital, where he remained Friday night. “He didn’t want to talk to a detective and later he asked for a lawyer,” Mosley said.
Contributions: The Associated Press.
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida police find dead body of missing boy, 2, in alligator’s mouth
