Sentencing today for woman guilty of 2008 murder

Natasha Graham (pictured) faces life in prison for the murder of her cousin, 23-year-old Tabitha Ann Hartfield. Graham will be sentenced today, April 20, in Pearl River County.

By Monica Land

POPLARVILLE – A 31-year-old woman convicted last month in the death of woman found buried in a shallow grave nearly four years ago is scheduled to be sentenced today in Poplarville.

Natasha Graham was found guilty in March of the death of 23-year-old Tabitha Ann Hartfield. It reportedly took a 12-person jury only 70 minutes to find Graham guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 2008 death of Hartfield, her cousin.

Graham faces up to life in prison on the murder charge, and a maximum of 20 years for the conspiracy charge.

Graham is scheduled to appear before Circuit Court Judge Anthony Mozingo today at the Pearl River County Courthouse.

During the course of the trial, autopsy results revealed that Hartfield, the mother of two, was likely strangled to death before her body was found in a shallow grave in the woods near the Marion County line.

One of the first pieces of evidence introduced during trial was a tape of the 911 call Graham made one week after the murder.

In the call, Graham admitted to the dispatcher that she killed her cousin and needed to tell someone about it. The next day, she led authorities to the location where Hartfield was buried, in the woods near her grandmother’s home, WDAM reported.

In the 911 call, Graham was heard crying, and grows increasingly emotional. During a breakdown, she asked the dispatcher if her three boys would be okay and claimed that she didn’t “understand” the situation.

Graham told police that she and her boyfriend, Ethan Dakota Dixon and Hartfield’s husband, Ronald, buried Hartfield after she was killed. Authorities said the weapon used in Hartfield’s strangulation was a dog leash and that the body had two slit wrists, possibly, in an attempt to cover up the murder.

Graham was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder to which she plead not guilty.

During trial, the prosecution charged that all three suspects, Graham, Dixon and Ronald Hartfield conspired in the murder while the defense claimed that Graham was forced into the murder because she was threatened by Dixon and Ronald Hartfield.

The jury disagreed.

Dixon and Ronald Hartfield both face future trials for the murder.

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