Jaylin Christian killed his grandmother to steal her credit card so he could run away with a male companion
BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA — A Rockledge man who was 16 years old when he brutally stabbed his grandmother to death has been sentenced to 35 years in state prison, closing one of the most disturbing homicide cases in Brevard County in recent years.
Jaylin K. Christian, now 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2022 killing of his grandmother, Muriel Emerson, 57, under an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office that left the length of his sentence to the judge.
During a hearing Monday in Viera, prosecutors sought a life sentence, but Circuit Judge Charles Crawford imposed a 35-year prison term followed by lifetime probation.
Assistant State Attorney Mike Doyle told the court Emerson had been Christian’s “biggest supporter and champion,” taking him into her Rockledge home after he struggled to get along with other family members.
“She gave him stability, a roof over his head, and support, and within five months she was dead,” Doyle said.
Emerson was killed on Sept. 7, 2022, after she picked up her grandson from school and brought him to her home on South Carolina Avenue in Rockledge.
According to investigators, she was seated at her computer when Christian came up behind her and began stabbing her with a kitchen knife.
Rockledge police and prosecutors later recovered digital evidence showing Christian had searched online for information about how to attack someone from behind and how to kill a person with a knife.
The Brevard County Medical Examiner ruled Emerson’s death a homicide caused by at least 42 sharp-force injuries, including nine stab wounds that penetrated her heart and left lung.
Shortly after the killing, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a 911 hang-up call that was traced to a gas station on Clearlake Road in Cocoa.
Deputies found Christian there, and he told them he had just stabbed his grandmother “too many times to count.” He also showed deputies a photograph he had taken of Emerson after the attack.
Rockledge police were sent to Emerson’s home, where they found her dead.
Christian later told investigators he killed his grandmother to steal her credit card so he could run away with a male companion he had met online. Authorities have said no one else has been linked to the murder.
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, members of Emerson’s family — including Christian’s mother — listened as the details of the killing were reviewed. While the loss of Emerson continues to haunt them, relatives appear to accept the court’s decision.
Judge Crawford ordered that Christian serve lifetime probation upon completion of his 35-year prison sentence. Under the terms of that supervision, any violation would send him back to prison, prosecutors said.
Doyle said the sentence ensures that Christian will remain under court control for the rest of his life.
“He will never be free from the consequences of what he did,” Doyle said.
Emerson, a former probation officer, was remembered in court as a woman who dedicated her life to helping others — including her troubled grandson, whose actions ultimately ended her life in a shocking act of betrayal.
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