Overview

• Burton pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse and 11 counts of fraud after a GoFundMe campaign raised over $3,000 under false claims of terminal illness.
• She was sentenced to a 19-month term suspended for 12 months under community supervision and mandatory treatment and parenting programs.
• Prosecutors detailed Burton’s secret birth in August 2022 when she placed her newborn in a garbage bag behind a couch and her partner later stored it in a chest freezer.
• Methamphetamine was detected in the infant’s system and forensic experts could not determine whether the baby was stillborn due to freezer preservation.
• Burton’s partner, Shaun Balaam, received a 12-month community-based order last year after admitting to improperly interfering with the corpse.