Rhonda Paulynice, a mother from Florida, allegedly informed deputies with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office that she felt God had instructed her to exorcise demons from her 6-year-old son’s body. She was charged with second-degree murder after the boy was discovered dead.
Following a tip from a school resource officer at Samuel Gaines Academy, deputies carried out a welfare check at a Fort Pierce residence at approximately 10 in the morning on Friday. According to the officer, Ra’myl Pierre had been missing school since May 14.
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Sheriff Richard Del Toro reports that when deputies arrived at the property, the boy’s mother, 41-year-old Paulynice, greeted them in the driveway. Ra’myl was lying lifeless in his bed as she led the deputies inside and to her son’s bedroom.
Deputies said that upon speaking with Paulynice, she claimed that God had commanded her to remove demons from her son’s body.
“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,” Del Toro said, according to WPEC.
According to the criminal probable cause affidavit, deputies discovered Ra’myl’s body wrapped in cloth, with only his face visible. He showed signs of decomposition, implying he had been deceased for several days. It is suspected that his mother was conserving his body.
Paulynice informed deputies that her last conversation with Ra’myl was on May 18. Del Toro believes that is when the 6-year-old was killed.
Del Toro sent his condolences to Ra’myl’s school community, stating, “From what I understand, this kid just lit the room up and was just loved by everybody, so they’re all gonna be having a very difficult time getting through this.”
Paulynice is charged with second-degree murder, failure to report a death and altering a body. A judge refused to grant her bail when she appeared in court by Zoom from jail on Saturday.
An autopsy was scheduled to identify Ra’myl’s cause of death.
