Boy found in alligator's mouth had been thrown in lake by dad

A little boy whose body was found in the mouth of an alligator in Florida died of drowning after being thrown in a lake by his father, police said.

Taylen Mosley, 2, was found at Lake Maggiore near St Petersburg in Florida last month.

St Petersburg police told CNN the boy's confirmed cause of death was drowning.

The boy had been put in the lake by his father Thomas Mosley, who is charged with his murder, as well of that of Taylen's mother Pashun Jeffery.

She had been found dead in her apartment.

A search for Taylen was launched after Thomas Mosely went to his mother's house with "severe lacerations" consistent with "slippage during a knife attack", a police affidavit read.

Jeffrey's family went to her apartment and found blood on the pavement outside. She was found inside with an excess of 100 stab wounds.

Taylen was missing, and the following day an alligator was spotted with an object in its mouth, which it dropped after a shot was fired.

It was then police discovered Taylen's body.