Florida mom claims she was ‘told by God to exorcise demons’ when she killed her 6-year-old son, police say
The local sheriff said the child was “killed for no other reason other than somebody just being purely evil”.
A Florida mother who’s accused of killing her six-year-old son claimed she was “told by God to exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” police say.
Rhonda Paulynice, 31, has been charged with the second degree murder of her son, Ra’myl Pierre, according to authorities.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro said the child’s school requested a welfare check on Friday after he had been absent for more than two weeks.
When police arrived at the family’s home in Fort Pierce -- around a two-hour drive southeast of Orlando -- the boy was found dead, lying on his bed.
“She believed she was being told by God to exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” the sheriff said. “When the child had stopped moving and passed away at that point, she felt that the child had been released of those demons and was waiting for him to come back,” he said.
Investigators believe the child died around May 18. An autopsy will be used to determine how the six-year-old died.
The sheriff talked of the trauma that comes with the job of being a law enforcement officer. “Our deputies see things that nobody should have to see…we get exposed to a great deal of trauma on this job,” he said.
Toro added: “Being a parent, being out on a scene like that, seeing a six-year-old child that was killed for no other reason other than somebody just being purely evil, and it’s hard.”
The sheriff expressed his condolences to the little boy’s family and said his “thoughts and prayers” were with his school.
“From what I understand, this kid just lit the room up and was just loved by everybody,” he said.
Toro said Paulynice was also charged with altering a dead body, which was related to what he said was the mother “preserving” her son’s body.