Gwinnett County mother pleads guilty to murdering 5-year-old son, setting apartment on fire to conceal death

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA – A mother accused of stabbing her 5-year-old son to death then setting their Peachtree Corners apartment on fire will serve a life sentence in prison plus five years. 

Azaria Shante Burton, 23, 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 in connection with the October 2023 death of 5-year-old Jayveon Pruitt. 

“This is not motherhood as it should be,” Gwin County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “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.” 

Firefighters responding to an apartment fire on Spring Lane on the morning of Oct. 19, 2023, found Jayveon’s Pruitt’s body. He had been stabbed 22 times in the chest, investigators later determined, and died before the apartment burned. Gwinnett County Police located his mother in the woods behind the apartment and arrested her. 

Burton told police that she was pregnant and about to be evicted at the time of the incident and said that she “could not take the stresses of life.” She began planning the day before, buying sterno, the aluminum containers used in catering that contain a flammable gel inside, from a nearby Dollar Tree store. She told investigators that she practiced setting the gel on fire in her trash can. The morning of the fire, she texted her boyfriend after dropping him off at work to let him know that she put money and his belongings in the car they shared, and where to find the car. She ended the text by telling him, “I love you … bye!” 

She put her son in her bed and spread the flammable gel from inside of sterno cans on the carpet in her bedroom, on his bunkbed mattress, the kitchen trash, the laundry hamper, the living room, the master bedroom closet, and the shower curtain. Burton admitted to police that she started the fires and that she stabbed her son, according to the investigators.  

Despite being offered multiple opportunities to speak during the plea hearing, Burton remained silent and showed no emotions or signs of remorse.  

Assistant District Attorney Marlene Oldeen prosecuted the case with assistance from District Attorney’s Investigator Brad Wiley and Victim Witness Advocate Korinne Haskins. Gwinnett County Police Department as well as Gwinnett County Fire & Emergency Services provided invaluable assistance in the case.

Photo via Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office.