A 6-year-old child was found dead in his Florida home Friday, and his mother, who has been criminally charged in the death, believed she was being told to “exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” the St. Lucie County sheriff said.

The body of the child, Ra’myl Pierre, was found in his bed in the family’s Fort Pierce home shortly after 10 a.m., after school resource deputies requested a welfare check, Sheriff Richard R. Del Toro Jr. said.

His mother, Rhonda Paulynice, 31, was charged Friday with second-degree murder, failure to report a death, and with altering a body, Toro said.

“What we did learn in speaking with the mother is she believes she was being told by God to basically exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” he said at a news conference. “And when the child had stopped moving and basically passed away, at that point she felt that the child had been released from those demons.”

When the sheriff’s deputy arrived at the home, Paulynice met the deputy in the driveway and escorted the officer into the home, where the dead boy was found in a bed in his bedroom, Toro said.

The cause and manner of death could not be immediately determined and an autopsy will be performed, Toro said.

The sheriff’s office has responded to the home before, but not for anything involving the mother and child, Toro said. It last responded on a call about a medical issue for the mother on May 17, the day before investigators believe the death took place, he said.

There had been some domestic issues at the home in the past involving the mother and her sister, who no longer lives there, but nothing involving the child, Toro said.

The mother was interviewed by sheriff’s detectives Friday, Toro said.

“During the course of the interviews, our detectives learned that the mother last spoke to the child on May 18,” he said. “That’s when we believe the homicide occurred, and that she was responsible for child’s death.”

The second-degree murder case did not appear in online court records Friday evening, and it was not immediately clear if Paulynice had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

Toro told reporters at a Friday news conference that he has not spoken to the Paulynice, but he was told that she showed a range of emotions at the scene when speaking with investigators.

“What we do know is that she had a lot of highs and lows during the investigation — from laughing at different times at the scene to crying,” he said.

Investigators believe that the child had been dead in his room since May 18, Toro said, but he said the autopsy should help provide more insight.