PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. — A metro Atlanta mother has learned how long she will spend behind bars for the "senseless murder" of her child after pleading guilty.
"This is not motherhood as it should be," Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. "Mothers generally protect their young. This was a senseless murder of a child."
A'zaria Burton, 23, will spend the rest of her life behind bars without parole, including five years. According to District Attorney Austin-Gatson, the 23-year-old stabbed her 5-year-old son, Jayveon Pruitt, 22 times in the chest and planned to conceal his death by setting fire to her apartment with her child in it in October 2023.
She pleaded guilty to malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault family violence, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, first-degree arson, criminal attempt to commit a felony, and misdemeanor tampering with evidence.
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Jayveon's father, Daquarius Pruitt, previously spoke to 11Alive when the incident occurred. He remembered the last time he spoke with his son.
“The night before all this happened, I got home, and I called him,” Pruitt said as he remembered their last conversation.
They were supposed to play a video game together, as they often did.
“He said, ‘Dad, I’m going to go take a shower, and I’m going to call you back,'” Pruitt recalled.
He never got that call.
At the time, Pruitt thought it was because it was past his son's bedtime.
“I’ll just call him tomorrow,” Pruitt said he thought to himself. “But that was the last time I talked to him.”
5-year-old Jayveon Pruitt photos
The next day, on Oct. 19, a fire happened at an apartment complex in Peachtree Corners. Police said when first responders arrived, they found an unresponsive boy with “multiple stab wounds.” They said he was the only person inside the unit.
According to the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office, after authorities found Jayveon's body, they found Burton in the woods behind the apartment and arrested her.
After her arrest, Burton told police she was pregnant and about to be evicted and that she "could not take the stresses of life."
A news release from the DA's office added that Burton also told police she planned to kill her son the day before. She bought a product with a flammable gel inside. After dropping him off at work, she texted her boyfriend the morning of the fire, saying that she had put money and his belongings in the car they shared, the news release stated.
She then put her son in her bed and spread the flammable gel everywhere in her apartment. She later admitted that she started the fires after stabbing her son.
The DA's office said, "Despite being offered multiple opportunities to speak during the plea hearing, Burton remained silent and showed no emotions or signs of remorse."
"Our condolences are with the father and others who are impacted by this crime," District Attorney Austin-Gatson said.
Pruitt previously told 11Alive that his son’s mother loved him and took care of him. Pruitt called the news of his son’s death “mind-boggling," calling it a nightmare.
“I just hope he wasn’t up or knew that she did it. I just hope he was asleep,” Daquarius Pruitt said prior to the sentencing. “Because if he wasn’t asleep, I just really don’t know.”
He previously said he hopes people will remember Jayveon as a smiling, goofy kid.
“Don’t think about what happened to him,” Daquarius Pruitt previously said. “Just think about how joyful and playful he was. 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.”