A man charged with the 2018 killing of a mother at her home in East Cobb has been sentenced to life in prison, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
On Wedneday, Gene Scarboro, 29, pleaded guilty to choking to death Xi-Anna Graham, 24, at her home on Bonnie Dell Drive, and was issued the sentence by Cobb Superior Court Judge Angela Z. Brown, the DA’s office said.
Scarboro was indicted in November 2018 on charges of malice murder and cruelty to children in the third degree stemming from the incident on Aug. 23, 2018, the release said.
During court testimony on Wednesday, Scarboro said he and Graham began arguing early that day, and enraged, he put his arms around her neck until she stopped breathing.
He fled the scene and made an anonymous call to Marietta Police asking for a welfare check, according to court testimony. Officers said they saw Graham without a pulse lying on her bedroom floor and tried to revive her, but without success.
The Cobb Medical Examiner’s office concluded Graham died from asphyxia due to strangulation.
Graham’s four minor children were at home during the incident, and according to the DA office’s release, one of them who had heard previous banging noises said in an interview at SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center that Scarboro “always, he does bad things to her…and now he…killed her.”
The DA’s office said that at Wednesday’s hearing Graham’s father told the court “I held her in my arms and watched her take her first breath, and he took her breath away.”
Scarboro has been in custody since his arrest the day of the crime and by law will get credit for the time he has served, the Cobb DA’s office said.
The DA’s office also urges anyone suffering from abuse in a domestic relationship to contact LiveSAFE Resources by calling its 24-hour crisis line at 770-427-3390 or visiting its website.
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