Video above: Reactions after Tampa mom accused of strangling daughter to death
TAMPA, Fla. ( WJET/WFXP ) — Rotesha Silveus, the Erie mother charged in May with the murder of her 18-year-old daughter, Natavia Sanders, was released from custody on October 3 and has been involuntarily placed in a mental health facility.
Silveus was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, resisting arrest without violence and resisting arrest with violence. After a motion filed by the defense, a mental competency exam was ordered.
On June 19, the medical examiner found that Silveus was not mentally fit to stand trial, and it was recommended that she be committed to the Florida Department of Children and Families, which would place her in a mental health treatment facility until the court orders her release.
Silveus was initially charged with domestic battery, but in late May, the charge was reclassified to a felony first-degree murder charge after the medical examiner’s office determined the cause of death was a homicide, and detectives said Sanders’s injuries were consistent with strangulation.