A frantic search for a two-year-old boy whose mother was murdered ended in tragedy when he was found dead inside an alligator’s jaws.

Taylen Mosley, nicknamed ‘Tay-Tay’, was found near Dell Holmes Park in St Petersburg, Florida, after a state-wide Amber Alert was issued.

Police chief Anthony Holloway said officers spotted the alligator ‘with an object in its mouth’ by Lake Maggiore.

After firing a shot, the alligator dropped the child, according to local news channel NBC Miami.

‘We are sorry it has had to end this way,’ Holloway told reporters.

Taylen’s father, Thomas Mosley, 21, will be arrested on two charges of first-degree murder in connection with Taylen’s death and the killing of the youngster’s mother, Pashun Jeffery, 20, the chief added.

The cause of the toddler’s death has not been disclosed pending an autopsy, and whether the alligator was involved in the death remains uncertain.

Pashun, a CVS store worker, was killed on Wednesday night in a ‘very violent’ murder scene at her apartment – but her son was nowhere to be found.

The mother and son were last seen by loved ones outside their Lincoln Shores apartment on 4th Street North around 5:20pm. They had only recently moved into the complex a few months ago.

At around 8:30pm, neighbours heard a loud commotion near the apartment complex but police were not called, the force said.

Pashun’s mother, Lakita Denson, having not heard from her daughter, asked the apartment complex property manager to check in on them at 2:30pm.

The manager raised the alarm after discovering Pashun’s body with ‘multiple stab wounds’, igniting a search effort and a homicide investigation backed by the FBI and state police.

A team including divers, drones and sniffer dogs combed the local area for 24 hours before finding Taylen some 13 miles from the apartment.

‘We were able to retrieve Taylen’s body intact,’ the chief said, adding: ‘We didn’t want to find him this way.’

The alligator was put down.

Mosley stabbed Pashun multiple times and then went to his mother’s at around 9pm on Wednesday with wounds on his arms and hands, Holloway said.

He then admitted himself to the hospital. Police waited until he was discharged to arrest him.

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