An Oregon, Illinois, woman has pleaded guilty to first degree murder in the February 2021 death of her son.

Sarah Safranek, 38, entered a guilty plea Nov. 12 in the Ogle County Courthouse and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Back in 2021, Safranek was charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery to a child in connection to the death of 7-year-old Nathaniel Burton.

According to police, officers responded to a home at 403 S. Tenth St. for a report of a child not breathing. The child, later identified as Nathaniel Burton, was taken to KSB Hospital in Dixon where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy determined Burton died of suffocation.

Corina Curry is the editor of the Rockford Register Star.

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