Thomas Mosley (left) stabbed Pashun Jeffery (center) more than 100 times, officers said. He was also charged after their son Taylen Mosley, 2, was found dead in an alligator’s mouth. (Images: St. Petersburg Police Department)
Authorities on Monday announced that a 2-year-old boy found in an alligator’s mouth had actually drowned to death. Cops in St. Petersburg, Florida, previously said that young Taylen Mosley and his mother Pashun Jeffery, 20, were murdered by his father Thomas Mosley, 21.
“The Pinellas Medical Examiner confirmed the cause of death of two-year-old Taylen Mosley,” cops said in a statement. “The child died of drowning.”
The Pinellas County medical examiner’s office did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
Thomas Mosley remains at the Pinellas County Jail without bond for two counts of first-degree murder.
As authorities previously said, it was Thomas Mosley’s birthday on March 29, and Jeffery’s family went to his apartment to celebrate it. The relatives left, leaving the Mosleys and Jeffery alone at the residence. It was hours later that Thomas Mosley allegedly arrived at his own mother’s home with “severe lacerations to both of his hands and arms consistent with injuries caused by slippage during a knife attack” and went to the hospital.
Jeffery’s family checked on her the following day to see blood on the sidewalk leaving her apartment, police said. They called the complex’s management, who entered the residence to find Jeffery dead. It appeared she had been stabbed more than 100 times, police said.
And yet Taylen was nowhere to be found. The search ended tragically on March 31, in Lake Maggiore, about 10 blocks from where his paternal grandmother lived, according to officials.
“After spending all day searching the area, this evening officers were alerted to an alligator seen with something in its mouth,” authorities wrote. “The alligator was killed in order to retrieve the body, confirmed as that of Taylen Mosley.”
Officers said they “euthanized” the alligator and recovered the child’s body.
Police did not detail how Taylen precisely wound up at the lake. Thomas Mosley’s public defender issued a written plea of not guilty in the ongoing case.
“We are heartbroken that we must begin putting them both to rest,” Jeffery’s mother Lakita Denson and great aunt Theo Brickhouse-Sails said in a statement released through police. “We have set up this gofundme as many of you have asked about how to support us beyond the thoughts and prayer. This is the only official gofundme campaign, and donations are appreciated and will be used for funeral services and to support the family during this time.”
A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $46,000 of a $50,000 goal.
“And a special thank you to our family, Pashun’s friends, and Pashun’s coworkers at CVS for reaching out during this time,” they said. “During their grieving, they also took the time to check in on us, wipe our tears, and give encouraging words. To all, we still need your prayers. #JusticeforPashunandTaylen.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
