Mom 'practiced' burning Sterno gel before killing 5-year-old son, setting their apartment on fire

A’zaria Shante Burton and the apartment building where she allegedly killed her son before starting a fire (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

A 23-year-old mother in Georgia will spend the rest of her days behind bars for killing her 5-year-old son, fatally stabbing the child inside their apartment before setting the building on fire. A Gwinnett County judge on Monday ordered Azaria Shante Burton to serve a sentence of life in a state correctional facility plus an additional five years for the 2023 slaying of young Jayveon Pruitt, authorities announced .

Burton 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 her son’s death.

“This is not motherhood as it should be,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a statement following Monday’s hearing. “Mothers generally protect their young. There is something extremely wrong that must have happened to cause this tragedy. Our condolences are with the father and others who are impacted by this crime.”

As previously reported by Law&Crime, officers with the Gwinnett Police Department and firefighters responded to an emergency call before 8 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, regarding a fire at an apartment complex in the 4900 block of Springs Lane in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, which is about 18 miles northeast of Atlanta.

Upon arriving at the scene, first responders reported hearing an audible fire alarm from one of the units on the first level. Firefighters located and entered the first-level unit, only to make a grisly discovery.

Inside the apartment, firefighters discovered an unresponsive 5-year-old boy who appeared to have suffered multiple stab wounds. The child — later identified as Jayveon — was transported via ambulance to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for treatment. Shortly after arriving at the facility, the boy was pronounced dead.

Police said Jayveon was the only person inside the burning apartment when they arrived.

The apartment building where A’zaria Shante Burton allegedly killed her son before starting a fire (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

Police began combing the area in search of any persons of interest. Less than an hour into the search, officers came across an adult female in the area of the fire.

“At approximately 9:15 a.m., officers found a woman behind the building,” police wrote in a press release. “Her clothing was wet, and she was wearing only one sock. She was taken into custody.”

As detectives were working to determine whether the woman was involved in the apartment fire, investigators identified the woman as Burton and found out that she lived in the same apartment where Jayveon’s body had been discovered and was the mother of the victim. She was taken into custody and questioned.

In an interview with detectives, Burton said that she was pregnant and she and Jayveon were about to be evicted from their apartment. She continued, telling police that she “could not take the stresses of life.”

Burton then admitted that she began planning to kill Jayveon one day earlier, explaining that she went to a nearby Dollar Tree and purchased Sterno, the flammable gel used to warm catering food pans. She even admitted that she “practiced setting the gel on fire in her trash can.”

“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,” prosecutors said in a release. “Burton admitted to police that she started the fires and that she stabbed her son.”

Additionally, on the morning of the fire, she dropped her boyfriend off at work and then texted to inform him that she had put money and his belongings in the car they shared before writing, “I’m probably not coming back.”

Prosecutors said that Burton chose not to speak during Monday’s hearing. Instead, she “remained silent and showed no emotions or signs of remorse.”

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