Mom Escapes Murder Charge In Death of Son Kept In Cage, Drowned for 'Stealing Food'

Alize Seymore pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated child abuse on Monday and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently, per CourtTV. Seymore and her husband, Tre Seymore, were initially indicted on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, tampering with a witness, child abuse, and causing a minor to become delinquent or dependent, all in relation to the death of Alize's 6-year-old son, Anthony Rouse.

Tre previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, child abuse, and causing a minor to become delinquent or dependent; he had agreed to testify against his wife in trial and was given 30 years in prison as part of a plea deal.

Authorities were called to the Seymores' home on April 22, 2023, after the boy's mother and stepfather claimed they found him in the bathtub, face down in the water.

Per the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the pair told deputies they sent him to "take a bath as punishment for soiling himself," but then didn't check on him for "at least 20 minutes," with Alize saying she was browsing TikTok, as detailed in a probable cause affidavit in the case.

Tre said the door was locked when he went to check on Anthony, while Alize said they pried the door open with a fork and found him unresponsive. Law&Crime reports Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the two tried to pass off the death as a suicide -- though Judd is quoted as saying, "We knew early on during this investigation that there was no rational explanation for this young child's death."

Anthony was declared dead in the hospital the following day, never regaining consciousness.

"During a search warrant at the home, detectives noted that the bathroom did not have electricity, nor windows to allow in any light. The bedrooms where the children slept also did not have electricity," the Sheriff's Office said in September 2023, when the two were indicted. "Tre admitted that he turned off the breaker to those rooms so that there would not be any electricity for the kids. The kids' bedroom doors also locked from the outside. Clothing soiled with urine and feces was in one of the bedrooms; the closet in that bedroom also had feces on the wall."

Detectives also found a dog cage in the garage, which the Sheriff said "was used to 'punish' the victim by locking him inside it." Text messages between the two and photos and videos "of the abuse and the victim being locked in the dog cage" allegedly backed up those allegations.

Among the texts sent the month of his death, via court docs, Alize said, "Bro imma end up Killing this fat bitch, my house getting is f--kn dirty cause him, walls in garage turning f--kn black gt marks and s--t like bro."

That same night, she allegedly sent Tre video of the boy in the cage -- adding, "He stay in that f--kn s--t and rottttt." Authorities described the victim as having a "terrified and traumatized look" on his face in one of the "multiple videos" showing him in the cage.

In another message, Alize allegedly said "I hate him" of her son, before Tre asked her, "Why keep putting him in the garage if you're going to constantly have her over, Wtf is wrong with you alize, Can you please f**king think for once in your life." Alize responded to that one by allegedly writing, "She don't even know he here he ain't speak all day. I've been talking to him."

Another text shows Alize allegedly writing, "Couldn't get him out and honestly don't want him out," before talking about the song "Street Runner" while saying, "If I ever killed VICTIM it would be to that song ... Cause I honestly was gonna I'm just being honest." The day before his death, she also said, "I wanna put him for adoption."

Per the sheriff, the boy's autopsy "revealed evidence of scars from prior physical abuse," while noting he had "multiple open wounds as well" at the time of his death. Meanwhile, other children in the home also spoke with detectives, revealing more alleged abuses.

"Two of the kids (ages 7 and 10) told them that they were rewarded with candy and food if they participated in 'beating up' the victim and putting the victim in the dog cage," said the sheriff. "They disclosed that Tre would take the victim 'swimming' in the bathroom as punishment, and that 'swimming' meant 'drowning' which meant 'holding the victim's head underwater.'"

The punishment, they said, came after the child "got in trouble for stealing food."

"One child told detectives he witnessed Tre holding the victim's head under the water and then pulling the victim out of the water and performing CPR," they said. "He said that Alize threatened to choke him if he told the truth about Tre doing this to the victim."

The children also told police that Tre would perform chokeholds on them to get them to go to sleep.

 "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," authorities concluded.