On May 11, Natavia Sanders called 911 saying she had "just woke up from being passed out," The call was then disconnected.
Officers arriving on the scene found Sanders unresponsive and her mother, identified as, 38-year-old Rotesha Silveus uncooperative.
Sanders died two day later.
The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide. During the investigation and interviews with witnesses, it was determined that Natavia had sustained injuries consistent with strangulation, police said.
Initially, police arrested the victim's mother for resisting an officer with violence and aggravated battery with great bodily harm. However following her daughter's death, Silveus counts were upgraded to first-degree murder, police said. She is being housed at the Orient Road Jail.
Jamarcus Hudley works in the area and said he noticed Silveus acting strange earlier that day.
“Very weird, like out of the ordinary. She was like outside screaming,” he said. “I felt like either the mom was going to get hurt or she was going to hurt someone else. I didn’t think she was going to hurt her own family.”
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18-year-old calls 911 before mother allegedly strangles her to death in Tampa
A Tampa mother is accused of killing her 18-year-old daughter after a medical examiner said the teen's injuries were consistent with strangulation.
