Coweta DA announces man sentenced for 2022 murder of pregnant LaGrange woman
The Coweta Judicial Circut District Attorney’s Office announced that an Alabama man accused of murdering a pregnant LaGrange woman in 2022 pled guilty and was sentenced to time in prison for her and her unborn child’s death.
According to DA John H. Cranford, Jr., Curteze Avery, 30 of Lafayette, Ala., pled guilty on Wednesday to murdering Breanna Burgess.
When she died, Burgess was 20 weeks pregnant.
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The DA’s office said a Troup County Grand Jury indicted Avery on Oct. 6, 2022, for malice murder and feticide.
As previously reported by Channel 2 Action News, Burgess was found stabbed to death on a Wednesday morning around 2:30 a.m. while officers patrolled the area near Fort Drive.
An investigation into her death led to the arrests of Avery and Shallandra Freeman, who police said had known Burgess for several years.
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The DA’s office said investigators from the LaGrange Police Department used cell phone records to connect Burgess “to a friend who was with her shortly before the crime.”
That friend told investigators she saw Burgess with Avery driving away in a neon green Chevy Camaro.
When investigators tracked the Camaro with traffic cameras to and from the murder scene “shortly before and after the time of the murders,” the Camaro was found at a home in LaGrange a few hours later.
Police found blood on the outside of the car, according to the DA’s office, and got a search warrant for both the car and the home.
Inside, the DA’s office said police found Avery “hiding inside the residence.” While searching the car, they found “blood throughout the inside of the car,” and blood in the house along with bloodstained clothing in the washing machine and dryer.
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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation matched blood from the clothes to Burgess through a DNA analysis, the DA’s office said.
“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,” the office said in a statement.
Avery was sentenced Thursday to serve two life sentences for the murder of Burgess and her unborn child. Georgia law allows Avery to become eligible for parole in 2052, though the parole board will be able to reject the request, the DA’s office said.
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