Tampa woman arrested after police say she killed her 4-year-old son

Tampa police have arrested a woman who they say murdered her 4-year-old son.

Arayia Hudson, 36, was arrested just before 7:30 p.m. Monday on a charge of first-degree murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse, the police department said in a news release.

At 4:37 a.m. Saturday, Hudson called 911 from a home on the 8400 block of North 15th Street and said her son Joseph was not moving. She performed CPR until police arrived, court records state.

Hudson told police that Joseph started coughing and gasping after eating potato chips and drinking water. She said Joseph had mucus and water coming out of his nose and mouth, according to court documents.

Joseph was unresponsive when police arrived minutes later. They continued CPR until Tampa Fire Rescue took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:51 a.m.

An autopsy found Joseph’s cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and torso, according to court documents.

In an interview at the scene, Hudson told detectives that Joseph had a fungal infection on the top of his head for over a year. She also said his head was swollen after he fell off a swing at the park a few days before. She said Joseph had stopped eating, was moving slowly and was wheezing during that time, court documents say.

An investigator with the Medical Examiner’s Office found that Joseph had multiple other injuries, including bruises, scrapes on his torso, swelling to his brain, a tear on his liver, bruising on his intestines, internal bleeding, dark discoloration around his eyes and injuries to his buttocks and scrotum.

One of Hudson’s other sons told detectives he saw his mom kick Joseph in the stomach and push his head into the bathroom wall multiple times Thursday and Friday.

He said Joseph was “almost unconscious” both days after getting kicked and hit, court records state. He also told detectives that he watched his mother hit Joseph with a shoe in the scrotum, mouth, buttocks and hands.

The son was hesitant to talk to detectives because “he didn’t want his mom to go to jail,” according to court records.

Another one of Hudson’s sons told detectives that he would help his mother discipline Joseph by holding his arms while she hit him with a shoe.

Detectives found that Hudson tried to cover up the abuse by telling them she was disciplining Joseph because he was playing with his feces, court records state. In an interview, she told detectives that she struck him with a shoe multiple times, causing him to hit his head against the bathroom wall. Hudson also said she used tinted sunscreen to cover bruises around Joseph’s eyes.

“This is a heinous crime. Every child deserves to feel safe in their own home and especially with their own mother,” police Chief Lee Bercaw said in the news release. “The Tampa Police Department is committed to bringing justice for Joseph and ensuring the safety of all children in our community.”

Hudson’s two other sons were reunited with their fathers, who did not live with her, police said.

Records show that Hudson was being held Tuesday at the Falkenburg Road Jail in Tampa without bond. Prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to have her held while her case is pending. A hearing on the motion has not yet been set.