‘I love my baby’: Mother accused of killing her infant says she didn’t do it

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GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A local mother who is accused of killing her infant daughter told a judge Tuesday that she didn’t do it.

Emoni Burnett, 22, said she believes the man who was staying with her is responsible for the death of her 14-month-old daughter, who was left in a closet.

Prosecutors indicted Burnett after a five-month-long investigation and have not charged the man the mother puts the blame on.

“Love my baby,” Burnett told the judge.

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Burnett said she found Ava Threatt unresponsive in her Gastonia home in August 2019.

"Ava Elizabeth Threatt was my baby,” Burnett said in court. “Alright, I love my baby. I really miss her joyful spirit. Her laugh. Her everything."

Burnett, her child and her friend lived in this house on A. J. Wesley Avenue in Gastonia.

A neighbor told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon that he won't forget Aug. 13 when medics were called to the house.

"Enclosed in a closet area where she had been put to sleep about 10 o'clock in the morning or so," prosecutor Debbie Gulledge said.

Someone called for help at about 1:40 p.m. so the child would have been in a hot, confined space for about 3 1/2 hours, according to investigators.

"Her body temperature, when they got to the hospital, was in excess of 100 degrees, which is some indication of, essentially, an overheating," Gulledge said.

Prosecutors said sometime after Ava's death, they had a hard time contacting Burnett.

Police arrested Burnett in Florida last week on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

"And now that (Ava) is gone every day in jail, a part of me is missing," Burnett said.

Burnett said she didn't leave the area to avoid investigators but that she was trying to escape the pain.

The judge set her bond at $50,000.

Prosecutors said they are certain that Burnett is responsible for her daughter's death, even though they are still waiting for an in-depth autopsy report.

She is due back in court next month.

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