A 2-year-old boy who was found dead in an alligator’s jaws was thrown into a Florida lake by his father, according to a police affidavit.
Thomas Mosley, 21, was charged on Friday after police found the body of his son, Taylen Mosley, in the jaws of an alligator in Lake Maggiore.
Mosley allegedly “did throw or place” his 2-year-old son, Taylen, into a lake, inflicting “mortal wounds” that caused the child’s death, according to the arrest report.
Police say the boy’s mother, Pashun Jeffery, 20, was found dead in a bathroom in her apartment on Thursday afternoon.
Jeffery was stabbed over 100 times on Wednesday night after celebrating Mosley’s birthday in her apartment with family and friends.
After Jeffery’s body was found, a search was launched for the missing toddler.
Police spotted an alligator in Dell Homes Park, about 13 miles from the apartment complex. The alligator had an object in its mouth.
An officer fired a single round at the alligator and it dropped Taylen’s intact body. The alligator was later euthanized, according to Fox News affiliate KHOU-11.
“We didn’t want to find him this way, but at least we can bring some closure to that family now,” said St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway.
Police charged Mosley with two counts of first-degree murder in both deaths. Mosley had checked himself into a local hospital for treatment of cuts on his hands and arms.
According to an affidavit, Mosley showed up at the hospital with “severe lacerations to both of his hands and arms consistent with injuries caused by slippage during a knife attack.”
Mosley was booked in the Pinellas County Jail on Friday night, online records show.
Video from inside the jail shows Mosley sitting in a wheelchair with both of his hands heavily bandaged.
Watch the video below.
