An autopsy being performed Saturday is expected to determine how a 6-year-old boy died, according to St. Lucie County sheriff’s officials.
His mother, 41-year-old Rhonda Paulynice, has been charged with second-degree murder, failure to report a death and willfully touching or moving the body, according to an arrest report. She remained in the St. Lucie County Jail without bail after her first appearance in court Saturday morning, said sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Bolonka.
The Medical Examiner’s Office was performing an autopsy on the boy, Ra’Myl Pierre, on Saturday to determine his cause and manner of death, Bolonka said.
Deputies went to their home in the 2500 block of Bedford Drive, near North 25th Street and Juanita Avenue in Fort Pierce, at about 10:30 a.m. May 30 to perform a welfare check, according to officials. The check was requested by a school resource officer after the boy hadn’t been to school at Samuel Gaines Academy since May 14.
They arrived and found a woman later confirmed to be Paulynice walking from the front of the home toward the sidewalk area near the road, according to the report. Deputies asked where the boy was, and she told them he was inside the house.
Paulynice got her house keys from inside her hair covering and opened the door, according to the report. Deputies noted she was behaving “oddly,” wouldn’t take off her sunglasses and appeared indifferent to their presence.
She pointed them toward a room when asked where the boy was, according to the report. Deputies found the boy on the bed, deceased and wrapped in fabric with only his face exposed. Because of how he was wrapped, deputies couldn’t see whether there were any signs of trauma.
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s officials are investigating the suspicious death of a 6-year-old child in the 2500 block of Bedford Drive after the child hadn’t shown up to school for about two weeks, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives arrived about 12:30 p.m. and determined the boy could have been dead for several days based on noticeable decomposition. Paulynice didn’t make any statements while they executed a search warrant at the home.
Before the boy’s body was taken away, Paulynice was allowed to say “goodbye,” according to the report. Although she appeared distraught, detectives noted, it didn’t appear sincere.
They then interviewed her at the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Richard Del Toro said during a news conference later that night. Detectives learned Paulynice last spoke to the boy May 18, and that’s when they believe the homicide occurred.
“What we did learn in speaking with the mother is she believes she was being told by God to basically exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” Del Toro said. “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.”
St. Lucie County sheriff’s officials investigate a crime scene in the 2500 block of Bedford Drive in Fort Pierce, where the body of a 6-year-old boy was discovered.
Del Toro said Paulynice “had a lot of highs and lows during the investigation, from laughing at different times at the scene to crying.”
Detectives have an idea of how she killed her son based on her confession, Del Toro said. However, they’re waiting for autopsy results to corroborate.
Sheriff’s officials went to the same house May 17, the day before they believe the boy died, for a medical issue Paulynice was having, Del Toro said. Officials had been to the home previously.
“There have been some domestic issues in the past, all the way back to January, involving the mother and a sister who once lived at the home,” Del Toro said, “but nothing involving the child that would lead us to where we’re at today.”
Breaking news reporter Will Greenlee contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Autopsy expected to show how 6-year-old boy died in Fort Pierce home
