Photo:Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
The GBI announced in apress releaseon Monday that thanks to a breakthrough in DNA sequencing technology, along with a tip from the public, they were finally able to identify the girl as Kenyatta “KeKe” Odom, 5, of Albany, Dougherty County.
Once the child was identified and after further investigation, the GBI charged her mother, Evelyn Odom (also known as Zmecca Luciana), 56, and her “live-in boyfriend” during the time of the child’s death, Ulyster Sanders, 61, with felony murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated battery and conspiracy to conceal the death of another person.
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“She knew that there had been a child that had gone missing and that her mother said that the child had gone to live with her father,” Seacrist said. “This person never really believed that story and just didn’t believe it was true.”
Seacrist said they then began to investigate this lead and that specific family tree, which led them to finally be able to identify the child in June 2023. He said the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children had also conducted a “forensic rendering” of what they believed the child to have looked like based on her remains. The result looked similar to a photo they obtained of Kenyatta.
The GBI agent said that since the summer, they have also followed up on interviews and “other investigative acts” to determine what led to Kenyatta’s death. On Nov. 1, they were able to “secure a True Bill on a grand jury indictment” to bring in both Evelyn and Sanders, who were “arrested without incident” on Thursday.
This screen grab taken from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s livestream of the news conference shows Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Jason Seacrist, at podium, and Ware County Sheriff Carl James addressing reporters in Waycross, Ga., Monday, Nov. 13, 2023.Georgia Bureau of Investigation/AP Images
Georgia Bureau of Investigation/AP Images
source: people.com
