A Georgia mom who admitted she "practiced" torching her apartment before stabbing her 5-year-old son to death said she was motivated to kill the boy because she "could not take the stresses of life."
Azaria Shante Burton, 23, pleaded guilty to malice murder, arson, and a slew of other charges in connection with the October 2023 death of 5-year-old Jayveon Pruitt.
She was sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
Firefighters responding to an apartment fire in Lawrenceville, Georgia, found Jayveon's mutilated body in Burton's scorched bed.
"This is not motherhood as it should be," Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a statement Monday. "Mothers generally protect their young. This was a senseless murder of a child. Our condolences are with the father and others who are impacted by this crime."
Jayveon was stabbed 22 times, according to a medical examiner. He died before the apartment was set ablaze. Burton was tracked down to the woods behind the apartment and taken into custody.
During police questioning, Burton confessed that since she was pregnant and facing eviction, she "could not take the stresses of life," and plotted her son's murder the day before, said prosecutors.
She purchased Sterno – a brand of canned fuel – from a nearby dollar store and "practiced" setting it on fire in her trash can.
Burton admitted to detectives she spread the Sterno throughout the apartment and started the fire after slaughtering her son.
Jayveon's dad, Daquarius Pruitt, said he hopes his son died in his sleep.
"I just hope he wasn't up or knew that she did it. I just hope he was asleep," Pruitt told WXIA-TV before Burton's sentencing. "Because if he wasn't asleep, I just really don't know."
Previously speaking with the outlet, Pruitt said he's trying not to focus on how Jayveon died – instead remembering his lovable little boy.
"Just think about how joyful and playful he was," he said. "And the type of kid he was and the smile he had. He was very energetic. He just loved life. He loved playing. He loved his mom, he loved his dad, he loved everybody."
