Man sentenced to life for fatal stabbing of pregnant woman in Troup County, district attorney says

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - An Alabama man was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murders of a pregnant 26-year-old Troup County woman and her unborn child, according to the Coweta Judicial Circuit district attorney.

Early in the morning of July 27, 2022, Breanna Burgess was found dead near Fort Drive and Whitesville Road in LaGrange, District Attorney John Cranford Jr. said in a news release Thursday.

Burgess, who was 20-weeks pregnant, had been stabbed in the throat at least 14 times. She and her unborn child were pronounced dead at the scene, Cranford said.

LaGrange police used cellphone records to quickly find a friend who Burgess was with shortly before she was killed. The friend told officers she last saw Burgess with 30-year-old Curteze Avery of La Fayette, Alabama, as they were driving away in a neon green Chevrolet Camaro, according to the district attorney.

Prosecutors said investigators used traffic cameras to track the Camaro to and from the crime scene shortly before and after the deadly stabbing.

Officers found the car at a home in LaGrange a few hours after the murders with blood on the outside of it, Cranford said.

Investigators reportedly obtained a search warrant for the car and the home and found Avery hiding inside the home.

Police found blood throughout the inside of the car, inside the home, and blood-stained clothes in the washing machine and dryer, according to prosecutors.

A DNA analysis by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab showed it was Burgess’ blood, according to Cranford.

Another suspect, Shallandra Freeman, was also arrested at the home and charged with murder and feticide. The status of her case is unclear.

Investigators at the time said Avery, Freeman, and Burgess had been acquaintances for several years and Burgess was targeted.

On Oct. 6, 2022, a Troup County grand jury indicted Avery on charges of malice murder and feticide.

On Wednesday, March 27, 2024, Avery pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences for the killings of Burgess and her unborn child.

Avery will become eligible to seek parole in 2052, “but the parole board will be authorized to reject his request” according to Georgia law, Cranford said.

“Curteze Avery cut short the life Breanna Burgess and her unborn child. For this, it is just that he is now sentenced to serve life in prison,” Cranford said 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.”