Florida Police Say an 18-year-old Calls 911 From Her Bedroom and Then Her Mother Strangles Her to Death
Florida police say an 18-year-old girl called 911 and said she had just woken up after being choked.
When police arrived, the girl was already out cold in the kitchen. Her mother has been charged with murder, the Tampa Police Department said in a news release on May 28.
McClatchy News tried to get a response from the public defender’s office on May 29 but did not hear back right away.
Possible Cause Affidavit made in Hillsborough County says that Natavia Sanders called the police around 6 a.m. on May 11 and said she “just woke up from being passed out.”
As cops arrived, she told them that her 38-year-old mother, Rotesha Silveus, had choked her and was outside her room.
The person answering the emergency phone heard the door open, but then the line went dead. When I tried to call her back, I got a message.
After 14 minutes, the police said they arrived and knocked on the door for six minutes while trying to talk to someone.
The mother finally answered the door, but cops say she tried to shut the door when they asked to talk to her outside.
According to the police, they stopped the door from closing and handcuffed Silveus after a short fight.
They said they went inside and found Sanders lying on the kitchen floor. They started CPR, but at the hospital, they were told she was brain dead.
Police said there were three kids younger than 10 inside the house.
The eldest, who is nine years old, told the cops that she heard Sanders calling her name as if she needed help.
Police say that when the child went downstairs, they saw Silveus on top of Sanders. Sanders didn’t seem to be breathing because the mom had her hand over her mouth.
The 9-year-old girl did what her mom told her to do and went back upstairs.
Police said that scans done at a Tampa hospital in the days that followed showed that the 18-year-old had “no signs of brain activity.” She passed away on May 13.
At first, Silveus was charged with aggravated abuse with great bodily harm. However, the charges were changed to first-degree murder when the medical examiner said Sanders died of strangulation injuries, ruling the death a homicide.
People who knew Sanders are sad about her death.
An online friend shared a video of Sanders at a bowling alley with the words “Natavia, I miss you so much.” I keep asking myself, ‘Am I ever going to be okay?’ You’ll always be missed.
Sanders said on social media that she went to high school in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Someone on Facebook wrote, “She was a unique person, a gift, and everything anyone could ever ask for.” “She was kind and patient, and she didn’t deserve what happened to her at all.” “She should have lived her life.”
Lee Bercaw, the chief of police in Tampa, called it a “heartbreaking case.”