This Florida mother will spend a lot of time in prison for torturing her 6-year-old son by locking him in cages, suffocating him until he fell asleep, not giving him food, and hitting him until he drowned while being forced to take a bath in a locked, dark bathroom with no electricity. Alize Seymore will spend 20 years in a state prison for her part in the murder of young Anthony Rouse, according to a Polk County judge’s order on Monday.
In September 2023, Alize Seymore was charged with first-degree murder, severe child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, tampering with a witness, child abuse, and making a minor involved with drugs or crime. Her trial was about to start, but she made a deal with the prosecutors and decided to plead guilty to two counts of aggravated child abuse. After that, she was given 20 years for each count, which means they had to be served at the same time.
Anthony’s stepfather, Tre Seymore, who is married to Alize Seymore, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, child abuse, and making a kid delinquent or dependent. He got 30 years in prison but had to say bad things about Alize Seymore in exchange.
As was already said, around 3:20 p.m. on April 22, 2023, officers from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home in Eagle Lake, Florida, because a child was reportedly drowning in a bathtub.
As soon as they got there, they took Anthony to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa and put him on life support. He was watched for two days and showed no brain activity, so experts said he was dead.
A probable cause statement says that Alize Seymore told police that she locked her son in the bathroom and told him to take a bath after he urinated on himself. She supposedly said she found the boy “lying face down in the water in the bathtub” when she went to check on him 20 minutes later, put down her phone to use TikTok, and used a fork to open the bathroom door.
It was “completely dark” in the bathroom while Anthony took a bath, and the breakers had been cut off, so there was no power.
Authorities also said they found out that the suspects had sent texts that could be used against them in the weeks and days before Anthony’s death.
On March 31, the couple texted each other about the victim being caught taking “a handful of noodles,” being locked up in a “cage,” getting out, and then being locked back up.
At some point on April 1, Alize Seymore is said to have written, “Bro, I’m going to kill this fat b—. My house is getting f—ing dirty because of him. The walls in the garage are turning black with gt marks and s— like bro.”
Later, she is said to have sent her husband a video of Anthony being locked in the cage and said, “He can stay in that f—ing s— and rottttt.”
After that, Alize Seymore is said to have texted the victim, “I hate him,” and said she was “too busy with the other kids I love and care about sic.”
In the end, she is said to have said the day before Anthony drowned that she wanted to adopt him.
The affidavit says that one of Anthony’s brothers told investigators that he lied at first about how Anthony drowned because his mom threatened him. This is why the indictment includes a charge of tampering with a witness.
[redacted] said in the interview that the victim got in trouble for taking food, so Tre [Seymore] took the victim to the bathroom to go “swimming.” “Redacted advised that’swimming’ means ‘drowning,’ and ‘drowning’ means ‘holding the victim’s head underwater,'” the statement read. “redacted said this out loud and also showed with his hand how Tre had the victim’s head underwater.” He said Tre told him over and over to go to his room, but he didn’t listen and instead watched Tre drown the victim. So, redacted said he was in the bathroom standing at the time of the event.
Investigators said the suspects often talked about locking Anthony in a dog cage as a punishment and told the other kids in the house to hit him and lock him in.
“Alize would tell blank to lock the victim and the other kids in the bedroom.” Alie also gave redacted and [redacted] candy or food if they beat up the victim at her request. The affidavit also said that Tre would pick out the target and “take him swimming” as a cruel way to torture and punish him. “The investigative findings above, coupled with the concerning observations of neglect noted at the incident location, show the on-going abuse and neglect perpetrated by Tre and Alize; ultimately, leading to the death of the victim.”
