A Florida mother was arrested in connection with the death of her 6-year-old son, who was found dead at a home on Friday.
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputies were conducting a welfare check at the home of Rhonda Paulynice, 41, after school officials alerted them that he missed classes for two weeks.
Paulynice encountered deputies in the driveway and took them to her son’s bedroom where he layed dead in a bed.
The mother told detectives that God told her to exorcise the demons from her child’s body.
“When the child had stopped moving and basically passed away, at that point, she felt the child had been released of those demons and was waiting for him to basically come back,” Sheriff Richard Del Toro said.
Police said the boy’s decomposing body was wrapped in fabric except for his face in an attempt by the mother to preserve his remains.
Paulynice told deputies she last spoke to her son on May 18, the day they believe he was murdered.
“From what I understand, this kid just lit the room up and was just loved by everybody, so they’re all gonna be having a difficult time getting through this,” Del Toro said of the victim’s school community.
The mother was charged with second-degree murder, failure to report a death, and altering a body.
