Alabama man sentenced to life for brutal murder of LaGrange pregnant mother
Curteze Avery (LaGrange Police Department)
TROUP COUNTY, Ga. - An Alabama man may spend the rest of his life in jail for the brutal stabbing of a 26-year-old pregnant LaGrange woman and her unborn child in 2022.
On March 27, 30-year-old Curteze Avery of Lafeyette, Alabama pleaded guilty to murdering Breanna Burgess, a single mother of three who was 5 months pregnant with her fourth child.
Officials say on the morning of July 27, 2022, officers doing a routine check found Burgess's body near Fort Drive and Whitesville Road in LaGrange. She had been stabbed in the throat more than a dozen times.
Phone records connected Burgess to a friend who was with her shortly before her death, who told investigators she last saw Burgess with Avery driving away in a neon green Chevrolet Camaro.
Breanna Burgess was found stabbed to death early Wednesday morning. (Provided by the family of Breanna Burgess)
Using traffic cameras, detectives were able to track the vehicle to a LaGrange home and found blood on the outside of the car. Avery was found hiding inside the home with blood-stained clothes in its washing machine and dryer. DNA analysis by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab matched the blood to the victim.
Police arrested Avery and another suspect, Shallandra Freeman, and charged them both with murder and feticide.
After Avery's guilty plea, a superior court judge sentenced Avery to life in prison. Avery will be eligible for parole in 2052, but the parole board will be authorized to reject the request.
"Curteze Avery cut short the life of Breanna Burgess and her unborn child. For this, it is just that he is now sentenced to serve life in prison," Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney John Herbert Cranford Jr. wrote in a statement. "While the family of Ms. Burgess will never fully heal from this senseless crime, the District Attorney’s Office is relieved to have obtained a life sentence without the family experiencing the difficulty and uncertainty of a jury trial.
Shallandra Freeman (LaGrange Police Department)
Freeman's case has yet to be resolved, officials say.