A young man in Florida has pleaded guilty to killing his grandmother. Jaylin Christian will be spending the next few decades of his life behind bars after the brutal murder. The teen, who had trouble living with other family members in the past, went to live with his grandmother when no one else would take him in. Sadly, living with her wasn’t the solution everyone hoped it might be, and she lost her life as a result.
One day, Christian decided that he needed to kill his grandmother, and he got a kitchen knife and stabbed her repeatedly. By the end, he didn’t even know how many times he’d done it. Then he confessed to his crime.
Christian was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison, a press release from the 18th Judicial Circuit Office of the State Attorney stated. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to the murder in an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office.
In a January 12, 2026, hearing, Assistant State Attorney Mike Doyle called for life imprisonment. “She was his biggest supporter and champion,” Doyle said of Christian’s grandmother, 57-year-old Muriel Emerson. The woman took the troubled teen into her home “and within five months, she was dead,” Doyle added.
Christian killed Emerson on September 7, 2022, after she picked him up from school.
The then 16-year-old told police that he started having homicidal thoughts once he got home, WKMG reported at the time. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen before going into Emerson’s office and stabbing her, according to an arrest affidavit. Police said that the knife broke when Emerson tried to run, prompting the teen to get another one.
When a deputy asked the teen how many times he stabbed his grandmother, he told them, “too many to count.”
Christian then packed his belongings, stole money from Emerson’s briefcase, and took a picture of her dead body before covering her with a blanket and leaving the home.
The teen was found on the ground near a gas station, police said, per WKMG. He had cuts on his hand and blood on his shirt. When police found Christian, he told them he’d stabbed his grandmother, leading them to her body.
Christian appeared in court on September 9, 2022, and was officially charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery, WKMG reported at the time.
The Brevard County Medical Examiner determined that Emerson died from at least 42 “sharp force injuries,” according to the state’s attorney’s press release. Nine of the stab wounds pierced her heart and left lung.
Christian told the police he killed his grandmother so he could steal her credit card and run off with a male lover he met online.
In November 2025, Christian signed a plea agreement on one count of murder in the second degree and entered that plea in court, a spokesperson for the 18th Judicial Circuit Office of the State Attorney told Law & Crime.
At the teen’s sentencing, the judge ordered lifetime probation after he serves his sentence. If that probation is violated, he will have to return to prison.
“Although still baffled and pained by Emerson’s death, surviving family members including Christian’s mother, appeared satisfied with the resolution of the case,” the state’s attorney’s release read.
