Two years after bullets tore through a Lake City home and claimed the life of 12-year-old Mariah Smith, a teenager has been convicted for her murder.
On Wednesday, Aug. 27, Jayden Burch was found guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder while armed in connection with the Aug. 24, 2023, shooting that left Mariah dead.
Mariah was struck by gunfire while sitting on a couch inside her home on NW Long Street, a neighborhood already scarred by repeated gun violence. Officers responding to the scene found her critically wounded. Despite immediate aid, she later died from her injuries.
Investigators quickly unraveled the case. Just four days after the shooting, police arrested 14-year-old Jatarious Flullen II. In October 2023, Burch—then 15 years old—was taken into custody in Miami after detectives pieced together interviews and forensic evidence linking him to the killing. By February 2024, a third teen, Matthew Rice, then 17, was also arrested in connection with Mariah’s death.
Mariah’s death struck the Lake City community deeply. On Dec. 13, 2023, city officials renamed her street “Mariah Reginae Smith Forever 12 Memorial Street” in her honor. The move marked the first time in the city’s history that a street had been renamed after a child lost to gun violence.
“This is history,” Mariah’s mother Todneisha Filer said during the street dedication ceremony. “No other family should have to go through what I’m going through, and I’m praying that we can stop the gun violence.”
Assistant City Manager Dee Johnson called the memorial “a solemn commitment” to honor Mariah and other victims of gun violence, expressing hope it would “spark conversations, inspire change, and serve as a beacon of remembrance for years to come.”
The tragedy also underscored a troubling pattern. Just one month before Mariah’s death, a 19-year-old was shot and killed on the same street.
Now, with Burch’s conviction, the case moves into its next chapter. Court records show he is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 13.
