On May 17, a DeKalb County jury found Malisha Sasfras, 26, guilty of felony murder, three counts of cruelty to children in the first degree and two counts of aggravated battery.
The conviction stems from her son’s death that occurred on February 11, 2023.
DeKalb police went to an apartment off Candler Road after receiving a call about an unresponsive child. He later died at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Sasfras told police that her son had a headache that morning and went back to bed. Later that afternoon, Sasfras said one of her other children noticed the four-year-old would not wake up and was cold to the touch.
Investigators said Sasfras tried to wake the child up by pouring water into his mouth and then called her son’s father Javonte Harris, who convinced her to call 911.
CHOA doctors and nurses said the child had several scars and bruises in different stages of healing, indicating they happened over time.
DeKalb detectives said some of the injuries were patterned in the shape of a belt or cord. Officials also said the child had a scar around his neck and blisters around his wrists as if his hands had been bound.
The four-year-old also had a severe injury to his face, the warrant said .
DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy that revealed the child had died from blunt force trauma to the head, an injury that likely occurred six to eight hours before he died.
According to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, Sasfras was the only adult home during that time but claimed she did not know how the child received the facial injury.
She admitted to “whooping” her children sometimes, but she did not explain the multiple other injuries on her son’s body. Investigators obtained social media messages between Sasfras and Harris in which she repeatedly discussed beating the four-year-old because he was wetting his bed or having accidents during the day.
On Friday, Sasfras was sentenced to life plus 20 years in confinement.
Harris’s case is still pending. On May 9, 2023, he was indicted on charges of murder in the second degree and cruelty to children in the second degree.
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