Florida police looking for missing 2-year-old boy after mom found dead
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Authorities are searching for a 2-year-old boy after his mother was found dead in her St. Petersburg apartment on Thursday.
According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, the body of 20-year-old Pashun Jeffery was discovered at the Lincoln Shores Apts., located at 11601 4th Street North. around 2:30 p.m. by apartment staff.
Her 2-year-old son Taylen Mosley is missing. An Amber Alert was issued minutes after authorities first reported him missing.
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2-year-old Taylen Mosley (St. Petersburg Police Department)
St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Pashun and Taylen were last seen by family Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. Then, around 9:30 p.m., a neighbor told police they heard a commotion coming from the apartment.
When family members failed to reach Pashun the next afternoon, they asked apartment staff to check up on her. That’s when her body was found inside her apartment.
“I can tell you its a very violent homicide scene in the apartment,” Holloway said. “Our main concern is we need to find this 2-year-old. We need to know where he is.”
St. Petersburg Police Public Information Manager Yolanda Fernandez said, “No family member has [Taylen] that we can find. Even though we are investigating her murder, our first priority is to find Taylen.”
Police said the toddler is not with his father.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and numerous off-duty investigators were called in to help search for Taylen.
“We have all hands on deck. We have every detective that we have in-house doing double shifts. Everyone is coming in to try to search the complex and try to find this child,” Fernandez said. “The longer he is missing, the more difficult this gets. We need to find this child.”
Detectives are currently combing the area for potential video footage.
“They are going door to door to see if anybody has any type of cameras or if anything that they saw law night or saw today that was suspicious so we can follow up on those leads,” Holloway added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact St. Petersburg Police.
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