Pinellas dad accused of killing St. Petersburg boy and his mom indicted, faces death penalty
A Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court grand jury has indicted a St. Petersburg man accused of killing his 2-year-old son and the boy’s mother on two counts of first-degree murder, according to court records.
Prosecutors also filed a notice that they will seek the death penalty against Thomas Mosley, 21.
The indictment, filed Thursday, accuses Mosley of stabbing 20-year-old Pashun Jeffery to death and alleges that he “unlawfully and from a premeditated design did cause the death of” a child in his care under the age of 5. The name of the child is redacted in the indictment, but the St. Petersburg Police Department previously identified the child as Taylen Mosley, the son Jeffery shared with Thomas Mosley.
The body of Pashun Jeffery was found in her Lincoln Shores apartment, 11601 Fourth St. N, on March 30, but the toddler was nowhere to be found. According to arrest records, the young mother had been stabbed more than 100 times.
The next day, the body of her son was found in an alligator’s mouth in Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg. The lake, located near Dell Holmes Park, is more than 10 miles from the apartment Taylen shared with his mother. The Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner’s Office later determined the boy’s cause of death was drowning.
Thomas Mosley remained in the Pinellas County jail Friday, where he is awaiting trial.
Court documents cite four aggravating factors listed in Florida statutes as reasons why the state is seeking the death penalty: Mosley had been convicted of another capital felony or felony that involved the use or threat of violence; the killings were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel”; the victim was under the age of 12; and the victim was particularly vulnerable because Mosley had familial or custodial authority over them.
