Mum accused of killing six-year-old son in exorcism

A US mum is accused of killing her six-year-old son during an attempt to "exorcise the demons from his body".

Ramel Pierre was found dead in his bedroom at his Florida home on Bedford Drive on Friday.

Detectives performed a welfare check after his school reported he hadn't been seen for two weeks.

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It was then that his mother, identified as 31-year-old Rhonda Palynice, led them to his body.

Palynice was charged with second degree murder.

Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro said the woman went from "laughing" to "crying" at different times at the scene.

Toro said she informed police she was attempting to perform an exorcism at the time of his death.

"She believed she was being told by God to basically exercise demons out of the child's body," he told CNN.

"And when the child had stopped moving and 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."

Toro said Pierre's death has left the community reeling.

"From what I understand, this kid just lit the room up and was just loved by everybody, and so they're all gonna be having a very difficult time getting through this," he told CNN.

Palynice also faces charges for failure to report a death and altering the deceased body.

Police said there was evidence that suggested she was preserving his body.

"Our detectives learned that the mother last spoke to the child on May 18," he said.

"That's when we believed the homicide occurred. And that she was responsible for the child's death."