The residents were to start a search operation for two-year-old Taylen on Saturday. Instead, they received the tragic news on Friday that he had been found dead.
This is reported by several American media.
On Thursday last week, his mother – 20-year-old Pashun Jeffery – was found stabbed at home in St. Petersburg, Florida in the USA.
Outside the woman’s apartment, there was blood on the pavement. When the investigators entered the apartment, they found the deceased Jeffery.
In addition, a bloody footprint and a cleaning bottle with bloody fingerprints were found, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
Two-year-old Taylen was missing without a trace.
Search operation
As late as Friday, the police in St. Petersburg called for volunteers who would participate in the search for him.
In a lake in Dell Holmes Park, police officers observed the alligator with an “object” in its mouth. The action is described both in the media and in an official statement from the police.
– After searching the area all day and evening, the police officers were made aware of the alligator. It was killed to retrieve the body, the police write in a statement.
It shot the alligator, and it turned out that two-year-old Taylen was in the animal’s mouth.
– We didn’t want to find him this way. But now at least the family can have some peace, said police chief Anthony Holoway of the St. Petersburg police during a press conference reproduced in The New York Times.
The cause of death of the young boy is not yet known.
Father charged with murder
Taylen’s father – a 21-year-old – is charged with the murders of both Taylen and his mother, Pashun Jeffery.
He was arrested on Friday 31 March.
– The police would like to thank everyone who contributed with support, and everyone who volunteered to search for Taylen on Saturday. Unfortunately, the outcome was not as we hoped, writes the St. Petersburg police on Facebook.
