Detroit mom pleads guilty after toddler found dead in basement freezer
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A mother has pleaded guilty in the death of her 3-year-old son in a case that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy previously said “astounded even the seriously jaded.”
Azuradee France, 33, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in the death of the child — whose name is listed as Chayce Allen in court records — as part of a sentence agreement, confirmed Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, in an email.
Under the agreement, France will serve 35-60 years in prison, Miller said.
The child was found in an inoperable freezer in a Detroit home in June 2022, according to court records.
He died of blunt force head trauma and was believed to have been placed in the freezer in March 2022, Miller said.
Police discovered the boy when responding to a welfare check and determining “something just wasn’t right” as they spoke to the occupant, Detroit Police Chief James White said at news conference at the time. They found the child decomposing in the freezer in the basement.
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France was initially charged with felony murder, first-degree child abuse, torture and concealing the death of an individual.
Her plea keeps her from trial, which was slated to begin this week.
Prosecutors had sought to include a history of domestic violence in the home, citing admissions of whipping her 2-year-old nephew and investigations by Child Protective Services into her treatment of Chayce, who was blind, before his death, court records show. France also had four other children.
Lillian Diallo, attorney for France, declined to comment ahead of sentencing.
France is slated for sentencing July 29.
This is the second high-profile case with a mother in Detroit having placed her children in a freezer. Mitchelle Blair in 2015 pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of two of her children whose bodies were discovered in a freezer.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit mom pleads guilty after toddler found decomposing in freezer
