Atlanta Living category interest

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A mother charged in connection to the stabbing death of her 5-year-old son and then setting her Peachtree Corners apartment on fire was sentenced to life in prison, according to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office.

Azaria Shante Burton, 23, pleaded guilty to seven charges, including felony murder, malice murder, first degree arson and tampering with evidence related to the death of her son, Jayveon Pruitt, in October 2023.

On Oct. 19, firefighters responded to an apartment fire on Spring Lane and then found Pruitt’s body. He was stabbed in the chest 22 times and died before the apartment burned, the district attorney’s office said. Gwinnett County police found Burton in the woods behind the apartment and arrested her.

Burton told police that she was pregnant and soon to be evicted at the time of the incident and said that she “could not take the stresses of life,” the district attorney’s office said.

“She started planning the day before, buying Sterno, the aluminum containers used in catering that contains a flammable gel inside, from a nearby Dollar Tree store. The following day, she put her son in her bed and spread the flammable gel on the bedroom carpet, his bunk bed mattress, the living room, and other places around the apartment. Burton admitted to police that she stabbed her son and started the fires,” the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. “Despite being offered multiple opportunities to speak during the plea hearing, Burton remained silent and showed no emotions or signs of remorse.”

Her sentence also includes an additional five years.