A 41-year-old woman in Fort Pierce, Florida, is facing murder charges after authorities found her 6-year-old son dead and decomposing in his bed, nearly two weeks after he was last seen.
Police discovered the body of Ra’myl Pierre on Friday following a call from school officials who had grown concerned after the child missed more than two weeks of school. According to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, the boy’s mother, Rhonda Paulynice, was arrested the same day.
Authorities said the child’s body was found in an advanced state of decomposition. An autopsy is pending to determine the official cause and time of death, according to the New York Post.
“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,” Sheriff Richard Del Toro said during a press briefing.
“And when the child had stopped moving and basically passed away, at that point she felt that the child had been released from those demons, and was waiting for him to basically come back, at that time.”
Paulynice had posted a series of religious-themed messages on Facebook in the days leading up to the discovery, with what authorities described as increasingly erratic behavior. Investigators at the scene reported she swung between moments of laughter and tears while they searched the home on Bedford Drive.
“Being a parent, being out on a scene like that, seeing a 6-year-old child that was killed for no other reasons other than just someone being purely evil, it’s hard,” Del Toro said.
“From what I understand, this kid just lit the room up and was loved by everybody, so they’re all going to be having a very difficult time.”
Deputies had previously responded to the home multiple times this year for family-related disturbances, mostly involving the mother and her sister, who had lived there before. Law enforcement noted that Ra’myl had not been part of those earlier disputes.
On May 17, one day before investigators believe the boy was killed, officers visited the home for a reported medical concern but found no apparent danger to the child at that time.
Paulynice is now charged with second-degree murder, failure to report a death, and altering a body. She is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail.
