A Florida mother, Alize Seymore, will spend decades in prison for torturing her 6-year-old in multiple ways, including locking him in a cage and starving him. The boy was eventually killed by being drowned in a tub.
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As reported by Law & Crime, the incident occurred back on April 22, 2023. Poli County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to an emergency call at an Eagle Lake home in Florida. Authorities had been informed of a child drowning in a bathtub.
The 6-year-old, Anthony Rouse, was rushed to a Tampa hospital and placed on life support. For two days, he was monitored, but he was eventually pronounced dead as no brain activity was detected.
6-Year-Old, Drowned
A probable cause affidavit obtained by the outlet revealed that Seymore initially told police that she had locked Anthony inside the bathroom and told him to take a bath. He had urinated himself, which led to the woman’s orders.
However, 20 minutes later, Seymore claimed she found Anthony “lying face down in the water in the bathtub.” She had been watching TikToks and opened the bathroom door with a fork.
Deputies, however, found that the bathroom had no electricity and no windows. Meaning, Anthony drowned in a pitch black room.
Later, authorities discovered a series of allegedly incriminating texts between Alize and Tre Seymore, Anthony’s stepfather. In them, the mother allegedly discusses punishing Anthony by placing him inside a cage, expressing her hatred for the child, and even stating she wanted to kill him because of how “dirty” the house was getting because of him.
Furthermore, Alize even expressed her desire to put Anthony up for adoption one day before the drowning incident.
A Lie Uncovered
However, her claims that Anthony drowned by himself were found to be false. One of Anthony’s siblings, who had initially lied after being threatened by his mother, said, according to an indictment, that Tre Seymore had held Anthony’s head underwater. The sibling watched in horror as his brother was drowned to death by his stepfather.
Both Alize and Tre Seymore also encouraged the siblings to physically abuse Anthony, including beatings and locking him up.
As a result, Tre Seymore was sentenced to 30 years in prison, having pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, child abuse, and causing a minor to become delinquent or dependent. He received that sentence as he agreed to testify against Alize.
Alize Seymore was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated child abuse. As part of her plea deal, the prosecution dropped charges of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, tampering with a witness, child abuse, and causing a minor to become delinquent or dependent.