Cause of death released for missing Florida toddler found in mouth of alligator

Taylen Mosley, 2, died of drowning, medical examiner says

TAMPA, Fla. – The cause of death of a Florida toddler found dead in an alligator’s mouth last month has been released.

According to WTSP-TV, the St. Petersburg Police Department said the county medical examiner concluded that 2-year-old Taylen Mosley died of drowning.

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The boy was the subject of a Florida Amber Alert when his mother was found dead in her apartment in St. Petersburg. After a day of searching, authorities found the toddler’s body in the mouth of a gator in a nearby lake.

St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway announced that the boy’s father, 21-year-old Thomas Mosley, will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of the boy’s mother and their son.

Officers searching for the toddler at a lake a few miles from the apartment complex noticed an alligator “with an object in its mouth” that they quickly realized was a child’s body, Holloway said. They fired shots at the reptile, which dropped the body.

Pashun Jeffrey, 20, who worked at a CVS store, and her son were last seen by family members on March 29. Police said about three hours later, neighbors heard a loud commotion near their apartment but police were not called.

The next day, Jeffery’s mother contacted the apartment complex property manager after not hearing from her daughter. Police discovered Jeffrey dead in what Holloway described as “a very violent crime scene” in which the woman had been stabbed dozens of times.


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