First-degree murder charges after teen daughter finds suffocated 4-year-old brother being held in bed with mom

A St. Petersburg mother is jailed without bond after police say her 16-year-old daughter walked into a scene no kid should ever have to see.

In a FOX 13 Tampa Bay report, Kailey Tracy says the teen arrived home from school and found her mother, Diana Cullom, in bed holding the family’s 4-year-old boy, Finley Cullom.

Tracy reports there was blood in the house, and the discovery quickly turned into a homicide investigation that left a family shattered and a judge ordering the mother held with no contact allowed with her teenage daughter.

Even reading the basic timeline feels heavy, because there’s nothing “routine” about a child dying at home, especially when the first person to find him is his sister coming in the door after school.

The Call That Brought Police To The House

Tracy reports officers responded around 3:30 p.m. to a home on Tanglewood Drive Northeast in St. Petersburg.

Police say the 16-year-old daughter made the discovery after school, finding her mother holding her little brother in a bed.

Tracy notes investigators also found blood throughout the house, a detail that immediately signaled something violent had happened, even before the medical examiner’s findings clarified the exact cause of death.

This is one of those cases where the first impressions at a scene can be confusing, and the “what happened” can shift as investigators get more solid medical information.

That doesn’t make the outcome any less horrific, but it explains why early statements sometimes change once the facts are locked down.

What Police Say Happened To Finley

Tracy reports St. Pete police and court records say Diana Cullom suffocated her 4-year-old son using a plastic bag.

Police originally believed the boy had been stabbed, but Tracy says the medical examiner later determined there were no stab wounds on the child and that he had been suffocated.

That correction matters, not because one is “better” than the other – nothing about this is better – but because it shows how quickly misinformation can harden into a public story if investigators don’t get time to confirm the medical details.

In a tragedy like this, the truth should move carefully, even when the public wants immediate answers.

Tracy also reports Cullom had self-inflicted stab wounds, which police described as not life-threatening.

Those injuries were visible on her arms during her first appearance in court, according to Tracy’s report.

The Note, The Knife, And The Unknowns

Investigators say the teen also found a knife and a note inside the home, Tracy reports.

St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said it was police’s belief that the note was left by the mother, though police have not said what the note contained.

That missing detail is the kind of thing that fuels questions, because a note can point toward intent, motive, mental state, or planning – but it can also be deeply personal and part of evidence prosecutors may later use.

Tracy reports police still don’t know the mother’s mental health history, which is another major unanswered piece.

That gap can be frustrating for outsiders, but it’s also real life: mental health records are private, families may not share everything, and investigators still have to build a case based on evidence, not speculation.

In Court: No Bond And A Strict No-Contact Order

Tracy describes Cullom’s first court appearance as cold and tightly controlled, with the judge making clear she will remain in jail with no bond.

The judge also ordered she cannot contact her 16-year-old daughter at all, since the teen is “involved in this case,” according to Tracy’s report.

The judge’s message was blunt: no contact means no contact – no calls, no texts, no letters – until a further court order.

Tracy reports Cullom appeared expressionless, standing with her arms crossed as the judge spoke.

It’s hard to know what “expressionless” means in a moment like that – shock, medication, dissociation, or something else – but the courtroom detail adds to the unsettling picture of how disconnected these proceedings can feel from the pain behind them.

A judge has to focus on procedure and protection, even when the human story is unbearable.

A Father In The Front Row, And A Family Collapsing In Real Time

Tracy reports Cullom’s husband, Dr. Damian Cullom, sat in the front row of the courtroom with three others who were visibly emotional.

She describes him holding his head in his hands and covering his mouth at times, the kind of body language that doesn’t need translation.

According to Tracy, investigators believe Dr. Cullom was not home at the time of the incident.

The report identifies him as the owner of Crescent Lake Family Dentistry, and Tracy notes the business’s website describes Diana Cullom as someone who helped open the practice and contributed to building and renovation work.

Those public-facing biographies always read like a polished postcard—family, community, plans for the future  -and that’s part of what makes cases like this feel so jarring.

It’s a reminder that the “about us” version of a life can sit right next to the worst moment of that same life, and nobody sees the shift coming until it’s too late.

Police Say There Was No History At The Home

Tracy reports police said there was no history of officers responding to that home.

That’s an important point, because people often assume there were prior calls, obvious warning signs, or a documented pattern that was ignored.

Sometimes that’s true, but sometimes it isn’t, and Tracy’s reporting suggests this home wasn’t previously on police radar.

Chief Holloway also spoke about the emotional toll on responders and the family, Tracy reports, noting many of the officers involved have children themselves.

He pointed out the brutal detail that it was a 16-year-old coming home from school to find her brother and mother, and then the father arriving to the scene afterward.

In Holloway’s words, Tracy says, the neighborhood’s “heart is heavy.”

Police said they’re providing victim services and resources not only to the teenage girl, but also to the responding officers and firefighters, according to Tracy.

That part deserves attention, because people often forget how many lives a single event like this touches.

A teenager doesn’t just “move on” from an image like that, and first responders don’t just wipe it away at the end of a shift, even if they’re trained to stay calm in the moment.

The Defense: No Comment, A Plea Expected

Tracy reports Diana Cullom is represented by criminal defense attorney Kevin Hayslett.

After the hearing, Hayslett said he and the family had no comment, Tracy reported.

Later, Tracy noted that a plea would be forthcoming, which suggests the legal process is moving forward even as investigators continue sorting out the remaining questions.

That’s how these cases often go: the public wants a clean explanation, but the courts move in steps – first custody decisions, then charging documents, then hearings, then negotiations, and sometimes eventually a trial.

And in the background, a teenage girl is living through the aftermath, not as a headline, but as her new reality.

A Case That Forces Hard Conversations

There’s no easy way to talk about a child dying like this without sounding either too clinical or too emotional, and Tracy’s reporting walks a careful line by sticking to what police and court records say while showing what the courtroom looked like.

Still, it’s impossible not to think about the teenager at the center of the discovery.

A 16-year-old should be worried about homework, friends, maybe a part-time job—not walking into a bedroom and instantly realizing life has split into “before” and “after.”

It also raises the uncomfortable truth that families can look stable from the outside, even to institutions that interact with them, until a moment of crisis reveals something deeper.

That’s not a tidy lesson, and it’s not something you can solve with one policy change, but it’s a reality worth saying out loud.

Cases like this are also why early facts matter so much.

Tracy’s report points out police initially thought the child was stabbed, then the medical examiner clarified suffocation, and that shift is a reminder to be cautious with the first version of any breaking-news tragedy.

When the stakes are this high, accuracy is a form of respect.

What Happens Next

For now, Tracy reports Diana Cullom remains in jail without bond.

The no-contact order with the teen daughter remains in place, and the investigation continues.

Police have not disclosed what the note said, and they have not publicly explained what may have led to this moment inside that home.

What’s left is a family in pieces, a community trying to process something that doesn’t make sense, and a court system moving forward one step at a time – because even when the story is unbearable, the process still has to be followed.

And somewhere in all of this is the quiet, crushing part that doesn’t show up in legal language: a 4-year-old boy is gone, and a 16-year-old girl is carrying a memory she never asked for.