Raleigh mother pleads guilty to being accessory after the fact in death of son
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A Raleigh mother appeared in court Friday in a 2014 case that triggered a statewide Amber Alert and ended with the discovery of her 2-year-old son's remains at Falls Lake.
Briana Dangerfield, 27, was charged with attempting to conceal the murder, child abuse, destroying evidence, and accessory after the fact of murder.
In an agreement with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. She was sentenced to prison for 6 years to 8 years, 4 months with credit for 2 years, 8 months served.
Her husband, Steven Daniel Blue, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder.
Police began investigating on Christmas Eve 2014 when Dangerfield called 911 to report her son Tristan missing at his home at the Arbor Creek Apartments off Buck Jones Road.
When police got there, Blue told them he last saw the boy at 7:45 a.m. that Wednesday, but police were not contacted by Dangerfield until 1:15 p.m.
Investigators initially said they believed the child may have wandered outside, issued an Amber Alert, and began an intensive search of the neighborhood.
The following Friday, the boy's remains were found in the water at Falls Lake in an area off of Creedmoor Road.
RELATED: Human remains found at Falls Lake
Search warrants in the case say Blue told investigators that the boy was "unresponsive" when he was taken out of the family's southwest Raleigh apartment. Police said the father told them he dumped the body at Falls Lake.
In court Friday, a prosecutor told Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens that the father made statements about smothering the boy, but later changed his story and said Dangerfield did it.
RELATED: Father of dead boy charged with murder
Dangerfield's attorney told Judge Stephens she "vehemently denies killing Tristan."
The prosecutor also went through the grisly details of how Blue tried to destroy the boy's body before taking it to the lake.
"It's very clear to me that this child suffered a horrific death," said Stephens. "It's difficult to understand how a mother could protect someone else involved."
