{"id":234576,"date":"2026-04-16T18:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/234576\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:27:10","slug":"state-to-seek-death-penalty-against-mother-charged-with-murdering-4-year-old-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/234576\/","title":{"rendered":"State to seek death penalty against mother charged with murdering 4-year-old son"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETE, Fla. \u2014 Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against the mother charged with killing her <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay28.com\/news\/region-pinellas\/2-found-dead-in-st-petersburg-home-including-child-sppd\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">4-year-old son in January<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Diana Cullom is facing a first-degree murder charge after police said a teen found her 4-year-old brother deceased inside a home.<\/p>\n<p>Officers responded to a call at a home on Tanglewood Drive NE on Jan. 27, where they discovered a dead 4-year-old child, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD).<\/p>\n<p>Police said the teen made the discovery after arriving home from school. SPPD identified the four-year-old as Finley Joseph Cullom. <\/p>\n<p>The boy&#8217;s 43-year-old mother, Diana Cullom, was taken into custody on Jan. 28 on a first-degree murder charge, per the Pinellas County Sheriff&#8217;s Office. <\/p>\n<p>Cullom had self-inflicted stab wounds, and there was blood at the scene throughout the house, per the report.<\/p>\n<p>According to the police report, she admitted to suffocating him with a plastic bag, then trying to commit suicide. She also had thoughts of killing her son the night before and that day, per the report.<\/p>\n<p>The state attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida filed a notice stating the state would seek the death penalty and ordered Cullom to undergo a mental health evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>Cullom&#8217;s next court hearing was scheduled for April 20, but it has been canceled pending the evaluation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ANNETTE.GUTIERREZ.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Wiregrass Elementary staff report injuries, Pasco County Schools investigates<\/p>\n<p>Pasco County Schools is investigating Wiregrass Elementary after teachers and staff reported on-the-job injuries and a lack of administrative support.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;A lot of anxiety&#8217;: Wiregrass Elementary staff report injuries, Pasco County superintendent investigates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETE, Fla. \u2014 Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against the mother charged with killing her&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[28757,205,66088,34137,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,5910,3670,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-234576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-4-year-old","9":"tag-abc-action-news","10":"tag-diana-cullom","11":"tag-first-degree-murder","12":"tag-pinellas-county","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news","19":"tag-tampa-bay-28","20":"tag-tampa-bay-local-news","21":"tag-wfts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}