A Florida man who was charged in the death of his 2-year-old son after the tot’s body was found in an alligator’s mouth allegedly stabbed the boy’s mother more than 100 times after she hosted a birthday party for him, a report said.
Thomas Mosley, 21, allegedly killed little Taylen Mosley and his mother Pashun Jeffery, 20, after guests left a 21st birthday party for Mosley in the mom’s St. Petersburg apartment, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Jeffery’s body was found on the bathroom floor next to a bloody shoe print with a Gucci emblem and Mosley also left his fingerprints on a bloody cleaning bottle found under the bed, the report said.
The boy was later found inside the alligator’s mouth but the exact circumstances of his death were unclear.
The gruesome details were revealed after Mosley was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder for stabbing Jeffery more than 100 times in the bathroom of her Lincoln Shores apartment.
Police records show that Mosley had been living at the home for just a few weeks when Jeffrey decided to have a gathering for his birthday last week.
Guests left the party at about 5:15 p.m., leaving Taylen and his parents behind in the apartment, according to an affidavit cited by the news outlet.
Mosley left around 8:40 p.m. and went to the Lake Maggiore area, near Dell Holmes Park, where the boy was later found inside the alligator’s mouth.
He then went to his mother’s nearby house, where he arrived about 9 p.m. with “severe lacerations” on his hands and arms, according to the affidavit.
Mosley later went to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where he was admitted with wounds that were “consistent with injuries caused by slippage during a knife attack,” according to the document.
On Thursday morning, Jeffery’s family grew worried when they couldn’t reached her for their daily FaceTime call so they went to her apartment on Fourth Street North, where they found blood on the sidewalk outside, officials said.
They called the management, who unlocked the door and found Jeffery’s body and a “very violent crime scene” inside.
The victim was sprawled on the bathroom floor with over 100 stab wounds, officials said.
Also found was a bloody cleaning bottle under a bed with a fingerprint that was later identified as Mosley’s — along with a bloody shoe print with a Gucci emblem in the bathroom, according to the affidavit.
Taylen was missing, however.
Police issued an Amber Alert, deployed drones and a helicopter and brought in a bloodhound from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office K-9 to search for the boy.
When someone reported seeing something in an alligator’s jaws, police shot the beast and retrieved Taylen’s body.
Jeffery’s family said she had just started living on her own while taking care of her young son.
“This was her first month to have lived here and very happy to have a better place than what she had before,” her aunt Theo Brickhouse-Sails said. “And for a 20-year-old, she was doing well. She wanted more out of life.”
A photo posted on a GoFundMe page shows Jeffery holding Taylen at her high school graduation.
“We chose this picture because you will see Pashun’s pride at this moment,” her mother, Lakita Denson, and Brickhouse-Sails wrote.
“She was in her graduation gown, holding Taylen when he was just a baby. This picture shows how beautiful Pashun was and how dedicated she was to make a better life for her son,” they wrote.
“We will miss her smile, joyous laughter, and commentary on life,” they wrote about the slain mom, who had worked at a local CVS. “Taylen was a sweet and happy toddler and loved his mom.”
They added: “To see them together and their love for each other was a blessing.”
The family launched the GoFundMe page to help with the search efforts but said after Taylen was found that the nearly $30,000 raised so far will go toward memorial expenses.