6-year-old dead in Florida; mom was trying to 'exorcise demons,' sheriff says

A 6-year-old child was found dead in his Florida home Friday, and his mother, who has been criminally charged in the death, believed she was being told to “exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” the St.

A 6-year-old child was found dead in his Florida home Friday, and his mother, who has been criminally charged in the death, believed she was being told to “exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” the St. Lucie County sheriff said.

The body of the child, Ra’myl Pierre, was found in his bed in the family’s Fort Pierce home shortly after 10 a.m., after school resource deputies requested a welfare check, Sheriff Richard R. Del Toro Jr. said.

His mother, Rhonda Paulynice, 31, was charged Friday with second-degree murder, failure to report a death, and with altering a body, Toro said.

“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,” he said at a news conference. “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.”

When the sheriff’s deputy arrived at the home Paulynice met the deputy in the driveway and escorted the officer into the home, where the dead boy was found in a bed in his bedroom, Toro said.