Left inset: Sarah Safranek (State’s Attorney of Ogle County). Right inset: Nathaniel Burton (Unger-Horner Funeral Home and Cremation Service). Background: Sarah Safranek in court for the murder of her 7-year-old son Nathaniel Burton (WTVO/YouTube).
A mother in Illinois has confessed to murdering her 7-year-old son, with court documents outlining how the boy was constantly in fear of being suffocated by the woman — telling his grandmother, “Mama is going to kill me.” The child said his mom tried “several times” to hold pillows and couch cushions over his head while he was playing and sleeping before his death in 2021.
“I can’t breathe grandma, she won’t let me breathe,” Nathaniel Burton told his paternal grandmother about his mom, Sarah Safranek, and her repeated attempts to suffocate him, according to court documents and Ogle County prosecutors.
Safranek, 38, of Oregon, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the February 2021 suffocation death of her son, local CBS affiliate WIFR reports.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services visited Safranek’s home roughly a dozen times over a two-year span before Nathaniel was killed, according to the Shaw Local News Network. DCFS closed the case each time after finding no indications of parental wrongdoing, Shaw Local reports.
The boy’s grandma told police that Nathaniel came to her “about two months prior” to his murder and said his mom had “come into his bedroom and put a pillow over his head while he was sleeping,” according to court filings.
Nathaniel’s maternal grandmother also reported similar statements that Nathaniel made about his mother, including allegations that Safranek had tried “drowning him in a bathtub.” The boy “constantly told her he was worried that [Safranek] was going to suffocate him,” according to prosecutors.
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Nathaniel’s sister also described seeing Safranek “choke him and hit him with a belt.” The boy’s foster parents, whom he lived with for several months when he was 5-years-old, alleged that he told them about similar incidents. His foster mom said that on one occasion, he “told her he was kneeling by the couch with the cushion off and playing with toy cars when [Safranek] threw the cushion over him, sat on it, and would not get off,” according to court documents.
Safranek suffocated Nathaniel on Feb. 17, 2021, at their home in the 400 block of S. 10th Street in Ogle County. He was hospitalized and died a day later.
Authorities launched an investigation and found substantial evidence implicating Safranek, including horrifying internet searches and journal entries “reflecting that she hurts her kids,” according to prosecutors.
“What is it called when a parent is obsessed with the thought of killing their child?” Safranek Googled on Nov. 1, 2020, according to court documents.
“How much does cremation of a child cost?” Safranek asked on Feb. 17, 2021, the day Nathaniel died. “How long does an investigation take after a child passes away?” she Googled that same day.
Other searches that Safranek made included inquiries about Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson, a Google search on “how to quickly kill someone,” a Wired article about the “best deadly poisons,” a Vice article about “why some mothers kill their children,” and a Google search on “how to kill someone with a voodoo doll,” according to prosecutors.
Safranek initially pleaded guilty in March 2024 but then withdrew her plea and was scheduled to go on trial last August. Her trial was removed from the court calendar, however, in July 2024 after prosecutors appealed several rulings that were made by a judge overseeing the case who retired.
Safranek was ordered last week to fully serve her 35-year sentence before she can be granted mandatory supervised release.
