Grand jury indicts father of 2-year-old J'Asiah Mitchell for toddler's murder; Mom speaks out

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A Fulton County grand jury has indicted an East Point man accused of murdering his 2-year-old son and lying to police about the boy's disappearance.

Artavious North is facing charges of murder, felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, concealing the death of another, and abandonment of a dead body in connection with the death of his son, J'Asiah Mitchell.

J'Asiah Mitchell's mom shares message for son's accused killer

It’s been almost eight months since Asia Mitchell says she last heard her little boy’s laugh or held him in her arms.

"My baby was the most outgoing two-year-old, the most smartest, the most … I can say independently child that I have known," Asia told FOX 5 Atlanta in an exclusive interview.

In all that time, she said the pain she feels each day thinking about J’Asiah’s last moments hasn’t gone away.

"You took something precious, something innocent, you took a king from this world," she said. "You made a whole lie about how you did it, and the disappearance of him."

Artavious North indicted in J'Asiah Mitchell's murder

North's Fulton County grand jury indictment accuses him of maliciously causing his son cruel physical pain, leading to his death, and trying to cover it up by leaving his body in a dumpster.

Asia Mitchell had a direct message for the father of her son: "I have no sympathy of what time [you're going to] have, what you have to deal with or the predicament that [you're going to] be in," Asia said.

Asia said while the indictment is a step toward justice for her baby boy, she won’t know closure until those charges result in a conviction.

"When I hear guilty, guilty, guilty, that’s when my smile and my relief is going to go," she said.

What happened to J'Asiah Mitchell?

East Point police discovered the body of a child on Aug. 23, 2023, at the East Point Transfer Station, a garbage facility, on South Martin Street. Investigators said the body had been out in the elements for several days.

About a week later, the Fulton County medical examiner identified the remains as the missing toddler and charged North with his murder.

Officers and members of the community had been searching for Mitchell since the night of Aug. 16 when North told police that the boy was kidnapped at the Aspen Woods Apartments on Flat Shoals Road.

According to North, a group of armed robbers cut him off as he was leaving the apartment complex and took the child.

North was first taken into custody on charges of lying to police. They said they had reason to believe the toddler had not been kidnapped. At the time of his arrest, investigators told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes he was considered a person of interest in the boy's disappearance.

He has been held at the Fulton County Jail since he was initially taken into custody.