A mother in Gwinnett County who stabbed her 5-year-old son to death and then tried to cover up the crime by setting her apartment on fire was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges.
Azaria Shantae Burton, 23, admitted that she stabbed her son nearly two dozen times and used a flammable substance to set fire throughout her apartment in October, according to Gwinnett District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson. Burton refused multiple opportunities to speak in court and “showed no emotion or signs of remorse” at the plea hearing, the DA’s office said in a statement.
“This is not motherhood as it should be,” Austin-Gatson said, calling the murder of Jayveon Pruitt “senseless.”
When she was arrested, Burton told police she was pregnant, about to be evicted from her apartment and “could not handle the stresses of life,” the DA said. Officials said she delivered her baby but could not share further details about the child.
Jayveon was found by firefighters Oct. 19 when they responded to an apartment fire on Spring Lane in Peachtree Corners, Austin-Gatson said. Investigators later determined that the child had been stabbed 22 times in the chest and died before the fire began.
Police found Burton in the woods behind the apartment and arrested her.
Burton told police she had planned the fire the day before, Austin-Gatson said. Burton explained to investigators she had bought several packages of canned heat, the kind used for keeping catered foods hot, at a discount store. She scooped some of the flammable gel out of the containers and practiced setting it on fire in her trash can the night before her apartment burned.
The next morning, Burton dropped off her boyfriend at work and then texted him that she’d put his money and belongings in their shared car, Austin-Gatson said. She ended the text with, “I love you ... Bye!”
An arrest warrant said Burton killed her son sometime between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The DA’s office said Burton then laid the boy’s body in her bed and spread the flammable gel on the carpet in her bedroom and throughout the apartment before starting the fire.
Burton pleaded guilty to malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with family violence, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, first-degree arson, criminal attempt to commit a felony and misdemeanor evidence tampering, Austin-Gatson said.
After pleading guilty, Burton was sentenced to life in prison plus five years without the possibility of parole, according to the DA’s office.
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