{"id":12187,"date":"2012-05-03T01:50:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T08:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=12187"},"modified":"2012-06-30T11:48:22","modified_gmt":"2012-06-30T18:48:22","slug":"murder-suspect-surrenders-tells-her-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/05\/03\/murder-suspect-surrenders-tells-her-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder suspect surrenders, tells her story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A sobbing Neffertashia Burroughs (center) was comforted by more than a dozen friends and family members before turning herself in to the Palmdale Station Wednesday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013A 21-year-old woman accused of stabbing a man to death in February turned herself in to authorities Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

Neffertashia \u00a0Ann Burroughs<\/strong> hugged several family members, huddled in prayer, and then collapsed several times before making her way into the Palmdale Station around 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry! I\u2019m sorry!\u201d Burroughs choked out between sobs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Burroughs was wanted on a warrant in connection with the stabbing death of 25-year-old Mantwell James<\/strong>. Shortly after midnight on Feb. 29, deputies reportedly found James wounded and bleeding after being called to the 44200 block of Cedar Avenue in Lancaster. James died at the hospital.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department\u2019s Lancaster Station placed Burroughs on a \u201cMost Wanted<\/a>\u201d list, which was circulated to the media, and appealed to the public for information leading to her capture. Burroughs\u2019 relatives contacted local civic group, The Community Action League, and the organization assisted Burroughs in turning herself in to the Palmdale Station.<\/p>\n

Speaking by telephone while en route to the Palmdale Station, Burroughs told her side of the story to The AV Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the public to know that I am very sorry for what happened,\u201d Burroughs said. \u201cMy family and his family loved him [James] dearly, and I loved him too\u2026 I also want the public to know that he was not my boyfriend, he was like my brother, my best friend and also my kids\u2019 Godfather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burroughs said there was no romantic relationship between her and Mantwell James, but she said James did stay over by her Cedar Avenue residence from time to time to help out with her three children.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids were his God children so he\u2019d help out with the kids sometimes, and I helped him out by letting him spend the night,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019d come, eat, and shower and leave and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said James gradually began to read more into the relationship and began acting jealous when she had male company. She said about a month before the stabbing, James \u201cstarted getting obsessed\u201d and \u201cdoing crazy things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStalking me at stores, it was all types of stuff\u2026 hiding behind doors when I\u2019d come home,\u201d Burroughs said. \u201cSometimes I even feared to go home and I was staying at motels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lt. Paul Clay (right) said he spoke to Burroughs on the telephone about turning herself in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burroughs said James had threatened to break her neck once, but he had never hit her before the night of the incident.<\/p>\n

She said on the eve of the stabbing, the two had a physical altercation and James overpowered her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started yelling at me first and arguing with me about seeing people and having people over to my house, and then he slapped me\u2026 \u201d Burroughs said. \u201cI was like \u2018please just leave my \u00a0house,\u2019 and he pushed me, and I fell and I got up, and I asked him to not put his hands on me again, and he started hitting me and choking me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked specifically about the stabbing, Burroughs said: \u201cI don\u2019t remember how all that occurred, I just could remember the last thing was him choking me\u2026 I was scared for my life, I was in fear of my life, me and my kids, and I was also pregnant at the time \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Burroughs said others were at her home during the altercation, including one of her three children who was sleeping in the bedroom and did not witness the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left because I feared for my life and my baby\u2019s life,\u201d Burroughs said. \u201cI really didn\u2019t know at the time what had happened\u2026 I didn\u2019t know he passed or he was gonna die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burroughs said she did not return home because she feared for her life. She said after seeing herself in the media, she wanted to turn herself in, but was afraid and confused. Burroughs said she did not dye her hair or alter her appearance to avoid capture, and she said her three children, ages 4, 3, and eight months, were not in her care during the time she was wanted by authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not trying to run or any of this, I just needed time to get myself together to be able to face this,\u201d she said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t purposely done\u2026 I loved him so much and if I could do anything in the world to bring it back and change what happened, I would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burroughs said she contacted her Godmother for help in turning herself in.\u00a0Burroughs’ Godmother contacted Abdul Majeed Askia, who put her in contact with The Community Action League (TCAL), said TCAL member Pharaoh Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Burroughs was booked on a murder warrant Wednesday and held on $1 million bail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShe called me and we talked for a while and she felt that she could trust me,\u201d said Mitchell. \u00a0\u201cI connected her and Lt. [Paul] Clay by three-way on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI encouraged her and reaffirmed that she had made the right decision to turn herself in,\u201d Lt. Clay said.<\/p>\n

Members of TCAL picked Burroughs up from a residence in Paramount and transported Burroughs to the Palmdale Station. Burroughs met up with family members and said goodbye outside of the station before going inside to surrender to waiting deputies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be an emotional thing, so we tried to make it as easy for her as possible,\u201d said Palmdale Station Captain Bobby Denham, who was down in the lobby when Burroughs surrendered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud of the way they [deputies] handled themselves in taking care of this young lady with dignity,\u201d said Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Burroughs was booked at the Palmdale Station at 7:24 p.m. Wednesday on suspicion of murder, with bail set at $1,020,000.00, according to LASD Inmate Records.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013A 21-year-old woman accused of stabbing a man to death in February turned herself in to authorities Wednesday evening. Neffertashia \u00a0Ann Burroughs hugged several family members, huddled in prayer, and then collapsed several times before making her way into the Palmdale Station around 6:30 p.m. \u201cI\u2019m sorry! I\u2019m sorry!\u201d Burroughs choked out between sobs. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}