Medford Woman Indicted on Murder Charge

A Medford woman who allegedly fatally stabbed her husband during at fight has been indicted, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Shawntina Burston, 39, of Medford, allegedly stabbed Troy Burston, father of their two children, following a heated argument and struggle on Jan. 29 at their home on Exchange Avenue, prosecutors said. Burston allegedly planted a kitchen knife in her husband's upper-left chest that night while the couples' two children slept upstairs.

Burston was indicted by a Middlesex County Grand Jury on a charge of first degree murder, District Attorney Gerry Leone announced Wednesday.

Burston allegedly confessed to the crime almost immediately, telling Medford Police Officer Lee Enos that "it was self-defense, he was choking me and hitting me," according to a police affidavit. She initially told police she blacked out during the incident and couldn't remember what she used to stab him, but eventually confessed further details of the killing, police said.

The tip of a knife was found the couples' living room, and police spotted the body of the knife in plain view in a rubbish barrel, according to the affidavit.

The couple began arguing at a birthday party Sunday, and it escalated when they returned home to 108 Exchange Ave. Sunday, Assistant District Attorney John Verner said during a January arraignment. The argument began in the couples' bedroom, and moved through the kitchen and living room, at some point becoming physical, Verner said.

During the argument, Burston tore her husband's shirt off and found a hickey on his chest, Verner previously said.

"That continued to inflame the defendant," Verner said at the arraignment.

She spotted the knife near the sink in the kitchen while they were arguing, and swung it at her husband, according to the affidavit. She told police she didn't intend to strike him with it, and was only trying to scare him.

The couples' two daughters, ages 3 and 6, were upstairs sleeping at the time of the incident, police said.

When Medford police were called to 108 Exchange Ave. at about 10:40 p.m. on Jan. 29 they found Troy Burston lying in the snow outside shirtless with a stab wound to his chest, prosecutors said. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A next door neighbor said they saw Troy Burston lying in the snow outside with his wife on top of him, screaming at him to "stop it" and "get up," Verner said.

Burston has no prior criminal convictions, though she did face separate charges in 1996 for disturbing the peace and driving an uninsured vehicle.

An arraignment date in Superior Court has not yet been set.