The family of theFlorida toddler discovered inside the mouth of an alligatorafter authorities allege his dad threw him into a lake says he had just celebrated his 2nd birthday weeks before his death.
The toddler’s cause of death is still under investigation, according to the Pinellas County Medical Examiner.
Taylen Mosley.St. Petersburg Police Department
“We’ve had to prepare funeral arrangements the last two days and it’s so very, very difficult to bury one [person]. But then to turn around and bury two — a mother and a son — you can’t even realize the pain,” Theo Brickhouse-Sails, the aunt of Pashun and the great aunt of Taylen, tells PEOPLE.
Taylen Mosley.FDLE Twitter
Brickhouse-Sails says Pashun was more like a daughter to her. She shared a tight bond with the 20-year-old aspiring medical assistant, and she says an even tighter bond with Pashun’s “Minions-loving” 2-year-old son Taylen.
Brickhouse-Sails says she typically spoke with Pashun three to four times per day, but when she couldn’t get a hold of her Thursday for their usual morning phone chat, she “got a bad feeling.”
“I was like, ‘Something’s not right,’ because she never has her phone off like this,'' Brickhouse-Sails explains.
That afternoon, she went to check on Pashun and Taylen at their apartment.
Pashun Jeffrey.St. Petersburg Police Department
“I saw blood droplets all the way on the sidewalk and up the stairs to the apartment. And I knocked, and knocked, and knocked, and I couldn’t get anybody — no answer. It was quiet,” she recalls.
A maintenance man entered the apartment and found Pashun brutally stabbed to death on the bathroom floor — more than 100 times, according to authorities — but her son was missing.
“My heart wanted Taylen to be somewhere safe,” says Brickhouse-Sails. “But my mind was afraid because I knew his mother had been killed.”
Mosley was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with their deaths.
His defense attorney Margaret Russell previously said in a statement to PEOPLE: “Due to the extremely serious allegations surrounding these tragic losses, our investigation is currently focused on gathering information about the facts and circumstances of the case, as well as our client’s mental state.”
Mosley has not yet entered a plea to the charges against him. He is scheduled to appear in court April 11.
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Brickhouse-Sails says she’s determined to keep the memories of Pashun and Taylen alive.
AGoFundMehas been organized to help defray funeral costs for the pair.
Memorial services are scheduled for Friday.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
