Mother of 5 found beaten to death in Philadelphia home

PHILADELPHIA — Police were searching Friday for the person who killed a mother of five inside her Philadelphia home.

Lexus Jawanda Brice’s mother called police after finding the back door kicked in on Thursday night. Officers discovered the 25-year-old woman dead in an upstairs bedroom, police said.

There were signs of a struggle, and Brice likely died of blunt force trauma to the head, police said. No weapon was found.

“We’re just not sure what it’s over yet. We don’t have many problems in this area. It’s a pretty well-kept neighborhood. We don’t have many issues, so we think it was someone who knew who this person was at this point,” police Capt. John Walker said.

The attack took place in the city’s Mayfair neighborhood.

Brice’s two biological children and three foster children were not home at the time, police said. The biological children were taken to their father, while the foster children were turned over to child welfare officials.

Brice drove a school bus.