CT man sentenced to 70 years in prison for fatally stabbing girlfriend in 2019 in front of her young son

A Pawcatuck man was sentenced on Monday to 70 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend in front of her young son in Stonington in 2019.

Carlton Henderson, 47, was sentenced by Judge Shari A. Murphy on Monday for the 2019 murder of 41-year-old Brandia Irvin, according to a statement from New London State’s Attorney Paul J. Narducci. A jury found Henderson, Irvin’s live-in and longtime boyfriend, guilty of murder and risk of injury to a minor in New London Superior Court on June 2.

On Nov. 30, 2019, Stonington Police Department officers were dispatched to an apartment on Mechanic Street and found Irvin on the ground near the stairs of her first-floor apartment suffering from multiple injuries to her head and neck, according to police reports. Irvin was transported to Westerly Hospital, where she was later airlifted via LifeStar to Yale New Haven Hospital.

Police said Irvin’s young son was present as the defendant stabbed the victim with a kitchen knife, court records said. According to the warrant for Henderson’s arrest, Irvin told her son to get help, and he ran to the neighbors telling them that his mother was being “killed” by Henderson.

The defendant fled the scene as the police arrived but was later apprehended behind the Hillside Apartments in Norwich on Dec. 5, 2019.

Irvin succumbed to her injuries a day later, on Dec. 6, 2019, at Yale New Haven Hospital. According to her obituary, Irvin enjoyed music and dancing and was a devoted mother to her two sons.

“Although the conviction of Mr. Henderson can never replace the life that he took or the trauma that he caused, this office hopes that this sentence will bring some peace to the family of Ms. Irvin,” Narducci said.