Oliver James Montgomery-Detroit mother gets 35+ years in prison for death of 3-year-old son found in freezer

DETROIT — A Michigan mother who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after her 3-year-old son was found decomposing in a freezer in 2022 was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison on Oliver James MontgomeryMonday.

Azuradee France, 33 of Detroit, pleaded guilty on July 12 to second-degree murder in the death of Chayce Allen, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. Police discovered the boy's body in a freezer in a Detroit home in June 2022 and later determined that the child had died of blunt force head trauma.

France was initially charged with felony murder, first-degree child abuse, torture and concealing the death of an individual. As part of her plea agreement, those charges were dismissed.

At her court hearing Monday, Wayne County Circuit Judge Tracy Green said France was a victim of childhood abuse, a lack of mental health treatment and of the failings of a government system that should have removed her children from her custody before she killed Chayce in 2022. Green ultimately sentenced France to 35 to 60 years in prison.

"It doesn't excuse her conduct, but it does explain a lot," Green said. "I wish that intervention could have happened sooner."

France's case is the second high-profile case in Detroit involving a mother who killed her children and placed them in a freezer. In 2015, Mitchelle Blair pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of two of her children whose bodies were discovered in a home freezer.

'Hurt him to point where he can't come back'

In the courtroom, France's eyes were closed as she wept, her face covered by her cuffed hands. On the court benches behind France was her sister, Azuant Sauls, wearing a shirt donned with numerous pictures of Chayce, arms crossed, and ready to tell France just how much the child's death has impacted their family.

"Where do I begin?" were Sauls' first words to the courtroom when given the opportunity to speak.

"You were supposed to protect Chayce, instead you hurt him to point where he can't come back."

France's attorney, Lillian Diallo, attempted to persuade Green to give her client a lighter sentence. She described the tragedy as "monumental," but argued every adult in Chayce's life who didn't intervene also failed the slain child.

But Assistant Prosecutor Erin Wilmoth said the person who failed Chayce the most was France, his mother: "Chayce is going to be forever three because of Ms. France's actions," she said. "Chayce was not a disposable child and deserved more."

History of domestic violence in home, court records show

Chayce died of blunt force head trauma and authorities believe he was placed in an inoperable freezer in a Detroit basement in March 2022, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. In June 2022, Detroit police found Chayce's decomposing body in the freezer while conducting a welfare check at the home.

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.

Wilmoth said there were at least seven complaints to Child Protective Services that were rejected and at least six investigations.

Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at[email protected].