The search for a missing 2-year-old in Florida ended tragically Friday when the boy’s body was found in a lake in the jaws of an alligator, according to police.
"We are sorry it has had to end this way,” St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said during a Friday night news conference.
The lake where the boy was found was only a few miles from the apartment complex where his mother, 20-year-old Pashaun Jeffery, had been found murdered earlier in the week. Police had been searching for the boy ever since.
Police say officers noticed the alligator “with an object in its mouth” in the lake and fired shots when they realized it was the boy’s body. The gator dropped the body at that point and was eventually euthanized.
"We were able to retrieve Taylen’s body intact,” Holloway said.
Jeffery and her son were last seen alive Wednesday afternoon. That night, neighbors in her apartment complex say they heard a “loud commotion” from her apartment but didn’t call police. Jeffery’s mother contacted the apartment complex’s property manager on Thursday after not hearing from her.
Holloway said they discovered “a very violent crime scene” within the apartment, and that Jeffery had been stabbed nearly 100 times.
The boy’s father, 21-year-old Thomas Mosley, is currently hospitalized with cuts on his arms and hands, and police say he will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
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