Victoria Toth, an Orlando mother whose two-year-old son died during the summer of 2018, pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated child neglect as part of a deal with prosecutors on Thursday.
According to court records reviewed by Law&Crime and elsewhere reported by WESH-TV, Toth took the deal after originally being charged with aggravated manslaughter along with her boyfriend Jonathan Pursglove.
Prosecutors allege that Pursglove sucker-punched the toddler, Jayce Martin, so hard that his spine went through his intestines. The boy was sick for several days thereafter, according to the boyfriend.
“I thought he might have been dehydrated because it’s been so hot,” Pursglove told law enforcement. “We went to that park and I just remember that he didn’t want to play. You know, he didn’t want to do anything. He didn’t want to play.”
Toth told investigators she didn’t seek medical attention for her child because she was afraid Pursglove would suffer legal consequences. Instead, after the alleged attack, the boy’s mother performed an internet search of Martin’s symptoms before giving him some water and sending him off to bed. He eventually died from his injuries.
The sum total of neglecting those injuries for days on end, according to the prosecution, is that Martin was tortured to death.
Toth has managed to keep herself in the media over the course of the prosecution.
In April 2019, a series of jailhouse phone calls revealed that Toth, who previously made bail, had been skirting court orders to stay out of contact with her boyfriend. In one such phone call, the dead child’s mother claimed to have spoken with the ghost of her son.
“Jayce even told me that it’s not true,” she said of the allegation that Pursglove had killed the boy. “Jayce is telling me that he’s pissed off at my parents and I can’t do anything to help, to make them open their eyes.”
Toth said she had come into contact with her son’s spirit after visiting a psychic who provided a medium for him to contact her from beyond the grave.
“I talk to Jayce and he tells me that this is something that we are supposed to go through,” Toth said in one such phone call. “Hearing Jayce tell me that we’re going to get through it gives me something to hold onto.”
During those phone calls, Toth and Pursglove also detailed their plans to marry one another and have sex immediately after the latter is released from jail.
On August 13, 2019, Toth appeared in court and raised to her middle finger to the media.
Just getting a look at the video from court. Victoria Toth had a message for us, as she sat there charged with killing her 2yo son. #WFTV pic.twitter.com/mSTgTj6Og1
— Field Sutton (@EFieldSutton) August 13, 2019
On August 14, 2019, body camera footage from the day Martin’s body was discovered was released by the Orlando Police Department.
In the footage, according to WESH, “Toth can be seen running after a news crew.” Her attempts to garner publicity, police warned, would only make things worse.
“Think about your child,” an officer tells the not-quite-bereaved mother.
“My child’s fucking dead,” Toth angrily responds.
She was arrested and charged two months later.
Pursglove’s plea hearing is scheduled for March 3.
Toth faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
[image via screengrab/WFTV]
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
