Amber Alert Issued for 2-Year-Old Boy Whose Mother Was Found Slain Inside Her Florida Apartment, Police Say

Missing toddler
Pashun Jeffery, 20, left, was found dead in her St. Petersburg apartme, and her two-year-old son, Taylen Mosley, is missing, police said.St. Petersburg Police Department

Little Taylen Mosley had just turned 2 earlier this month. Florida police issued an Amber Alert after his mother was found brutally slain in her St. Petersburg apartment, authorities said Thursday. Her son remains missing.

An Amber Alert has been issued in Florida for a missing toddler whose mother was found brutally slain inside their St. Petersburg apartment, as desperate searchers look for the child who is considered in danger, police said.

Taylen Mosley, who had just turned 2 earlier this month, has been missing since Thursday, when police conducted a welfare check after the mother's family contacted authorities, saying they were unable to reach 20-year-old Pashun Jeffery.

Mosley was found dead inside her home and her son was nowhere to be found, police said. "That crime scene is very violent on the inside," St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway told reporters Thursday afternoon, when the Amber Alert was issued. "We want to find Taylen. That's our main goal right now, we just want to make sure the child is safe," he said.

On Friday, police said Taylen's father had been identified as a person of interest in the investigation, but that Taylen was not with him. "Detectives followed up leads overnight but have not located the child. We have a fresh team now canvassing the (apartment) complex," the department said in a statement.

The father was not identified. The department said the mother had been "murdered."

Searchers on Friday were using K-9 units, helicopters and drones to find the little boy. Nearby retention ponds were also being dredged, police said. 

"The homicide scene, we will work that," the police chief said. "But right now, we want to bring this child home."

The mother's cause of death was not released. Mosley and her son were believed to be the only occupants of the apartment where her body was found, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact St. Petersburg police at 727-893-7780.

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