{"id":27707,"date":"2025-06-05T12:39:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T16:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=27707"},"modified":"2025-06-05T12:39:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T16:39:13","slug":"florida-mother-admits-killing-6-year-old-son-by-trying-to-exorcise-demons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/06\/florida-mother-admits-killing-6-year-old-son-by-trying-to-exorcise-demons","title":{"rendered":"Florida Mother Admits Killing 6-Year-Old Son by Trying to &#8220;Exorcise Demons&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_27710\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27710\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/06\/Exorcism-Murder_credit-rhonda-paulynice-Facebook-Inset-WPBF.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27710\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/06\/Exorcism-Murder_credit-rhonda-paulynice-Facebook-Inset-WPBF.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27710\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">rhonda.paulynice \/ Facebook | Inset: WPBF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following a 6-year-old boy\u2019s two-week absence from school, administrators called the St. Lucie County Sheriff\u2019s Office (70 miles northwest of Palm Beach, Fla.) to do a welfare check. What they found was a horrifying scene as they arrested the boy\u2019s mother for second-degree murder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rhonda Paulynice, 41, claimed she was \u201ctrying to exorcise demons\u201d out of her son\u2019s body. Ra\u2019myl Pierre, a student at Samuel Gaines Academy in the St. Lucie Public School District, was found dead on his bed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fstluciesheriff%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0MX6DrLb7CN4rBrFahbjAKuSKzVvFQyRpXTsLRinWpMaWE6ffuVhWDEUePYF2zs8ol&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"652\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;In speaking with the mother, she believed she was being told by God to exorcise demons out of the child&#8217;s body,&#8221; St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro said during a press briefing on Friday. &#8220;When the child had stopped moving and passed away, at that point, she felt the child had been released of those demons and was waiting for him to basically come back [to life] at that time.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on reports from the Sheriff\u2019s Office, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2025\/06\/03\/florida-mom-rhonda-paulynice-killed-son-exorcism\/84006617007\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">USA Today notes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Paulynice took deputies to her son\u2019s room where the boy was \u201cwrapped in fabric with only his face exposed\u201d lying on his bed. Investigators believe he died on May 18 and has been in his room ever since.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lieutenant Andrew Bolonka, a St. Lucie County Sheriff&#8217;s Office spokesman, said, \u201cThe Medical Examiner\u2019s investigation is still ongoing, and additional analyses, including toxicology testing, have yet to be completed. Until the full investigation is concluded, no definitive conclusions can be drawn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An affidavit obtained by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/eu.tcpalm.com\/story\/news\/crime\/st-lucie-county\/2025\/06\/02\/mom-started-suffocating-6-year-old-son-in-bed-new-details-in-homicide\/83991538007\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">local Treasure Coast News<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in southeastern Florida states Paulynice admitted to putting her hand over her son\u2019s mouth, trying to suffocate him to exorcise her son\u2019s demons. Additionally, arrest records read that Paulynice appeared \u201dindifferent to her son\u2019s death, the role she played in his death or her actions of not reporting it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Our hearts are with the student&#8217;s family, friends, classmates, and all who loved and cared for him during this incredibly difficult time,&#8221; St. Lucie Public Schools said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Del Toro shared that his office will not release any other information \u201cout of respect for the family\u2019s privacy and the ongoing investigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to second-degree murder, Paulynice is charged with failure to report a death and willfully touching or moving the body. She is currently being held on a $150,000 bond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following a 6-year-old boy\u2019s two-week absence from school, administrators called the St. Lucie County Sheriff\u2019s Office (70 miles northwest of Palm Beach, Fla.) to do a welfare check. What they found was a horrifying scene as they arrested the boy\u2019s mother for second-degree murder.\u00a0 Rhonda Paulynice, 41, claimed she was \u201ctrying to exorcise demons\u201d out&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":27710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida Mother Admits Killing 6-Year-Old Son by Trying to &quot;Exorcise Demons&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Florida mom is charged with murder after claiming she tried to &quot;exorcise demons&quot; from her 6-year-old son, found dead weeks after vanishing.\" \/>\n<meta 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