The killing was reported just bgefore 10 am on Drexel Road near Land O’ Lakes, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Street View image from Sept. 2022. © 2025 Google
A 911 call reporting the death of a boy led to his mother – a public school teacher – being accused of homicide, according to investigators in Florida.
It happened Sunday, Oct. 19, in the Drexel Road area near Land O’ Lakes, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
“The suspect, an adult woman and mother of the juvenile, reported the incident to dispatch around 9:50 a.m.,” the sheriff’s office said. “The manner of death is part of the ongoing investigation.”
Justine Mroz, 40, was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide, the sheriff’s office said.
Details of a motive have not been released.
A second-degree homicide charge indicates the death was not premeditated, experts say.
Pasco County Schools lists Mroz as a teacher at West Pasco Education Academy’s Harry Schwettman Campus in Hudson, which hosts grades 6 through 12.
“Pasco County Schools can confirm that Justine Mroz is employed by Pasco County Schools. She has been arrested by Pasco Sheriff’s Office and will not be on any school campus,” the district wrote in a statement .
“On behalf of the entire Pasco County Schools family, we extend our deepest condolences to all who are grieving. We are deploying crisis teams to provide care and support to those affected by this heartbreaking event.”
Land O’ Lakes is about a 20-mile drive north from Tampa.
Mark Price
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