COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A woman will now have to spend the rest of her life behind a prison cell after her 19-month-old son's body was found lifeless two years ago in the Chattahoochee River, officials said.
Breyanla Cooper pled guilty to each count she faced, including malice murder, according to the Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady Jr.
“I cannot imagine how painful this has got to be for the family. There’s just nothing the court can say or do to make this any better for anybody," said Superior Court Judge Kellie S. Hill during her plea hearing.
Her son, Faheem's, body was found on July 1, 2021. Cobb County Firefighters were at an event at the river when one of them noticed something floating in the water. After the discovery made headlines, Cooper called the police department's non-emergency line to see if she could identify his body, the district attorney's office said.
Detectives spoke with the child's mother and she told them a man kidnapped Faheem because she owed the man money. The mother claimed she did not make any reports because she was scared, the DA's office said in the press release.
She then told police she left the motel where her son was taken and relocated to another one. But when investigators reviewed video from both places, they did not find any evidence of her son being kidnapped.
According the district attorney's office, police later spoke to Cooper's mother who said she last saw Faheem five days before firefighters found his body. Her mother then gave police a description of her car where they were able to track her location. It showed that she was at the river on June 26, 2021 for about two hours. Police said it was during that time when she killed her son and left him dead in the river, officials said. .
"It is unimaginable for anyone to take the life of a child least of all his own mother," said DA Broady.
Cooper was arrested for the murder of her son the same day they found his body. Investigators then gained access to her phone which revealed searches for foster care and the river in June that year, the district attorney added. Cooper's older child told police that she said "their time with Faheem was done."
"It is unspeakable that a mother would do this to her own flesh and blood,” Judge Hill said.
She was sentenced on one count of malice murder, one count of aggravated assault and one count of concealing the death of another.