Florida authorities say that the body of a 2-year-old boy has been found in the mouth of an alligator. The boy’s father, Thomas Mosley, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his son and wife.
According to a press release from the St. Petersburg Police Department on Facebook, this was a bitter end to a day’s longs search for the child. Chief Holloway broke the news, saying:
“It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that we found the body of Taylen Mosley. My condolences to his family.”
The release tells a more full version of the story, explaining the circumstances that may have led to this horrific finding. The press release says:
“The child had been missing since his 20- year-old mother, Pashun Jeffery, was found stabbed to death in her St. Petersburg apartment Thursday afternoon, March 30th.“A major search was launched using all the Department’s resources and the assistance of many local, state and federal agencies.
“The investigation led detectives to search Dell Holmes Park, 2741 22nd Street South, and Lake Maggiore. After spending all day searching the area, this evening officers were alerted to an alligator seen with something in its mouth. The alligator was killed in order to retrieve the body, confirmed as that of Taylen Mosley. The medical examiner will determine what caused his death.
“Tonight, Chief Holloway announced that Taylen’s father, Thomas Mosley, is charged with two counts of 1st-degree murder for the death of Pashun Jeffery and of his son, Taylen Mosley.”
Human encounters with alligators have been in the news recently, with multiple other events being covered by The American Tribune. In one story, a man was forced to defend his dog from the death grip of a gator by shooting the prehistoric creature in the head four times. Another instance saw a viral video of a gator ripping through a metal fence. Ellis from The American Tribune had this to say about the epic feat of strength:
“In a viral video, a giant alligator can be seen pulling apart a metal fence so it can crawl through it to the other side. WINK News meteorologist Matt Devitt posted the video to his Twitter account, stating, “FLORIDA GATOR VS METAL FENCE Check out this big guy bend the bars and plow right through it this week in Placida. He eventually got through according to the @WINKNews viewer who shot the video. Only in #Florida! @GatorsDaily””
According to Popsci, there are some precautions that need to be taken when living in an area that has gators. They wrote:
“If you do see one (or several), keep your distance—at least 15 to 30 feet. While alligators aren’t typically aggressive, they will protect themselves or their nests if they feel threatened. Alligators can be active year-round, especially during warmer summer months and between dusk and dawn when they do most of their hunting, but you should be extra wary in June during nesting season when they will be protecting their eggs, and in the spring when mating season begins.”
The Featured image is a screenshot from an embedded YouTube video.
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