WARE COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia mom and her then-boyfriend have been convicted of the death of her 5-year-old daughter more than three decades ago.
In December 1988, the remains of a small girl were found wrapped in a baby blanket, placed in a gym bag inside a cement-filled suitcase, which was then hidden in a TV console cabinet in the woods in Ware County.
It took investigators 35 years to identify those remains as 5-year-old Kenyatta “Keke” Odom.
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Last week, a Dougherty County jury convicted 56-year-old Evelyn Odom, also known as Zmecca Luciana, of felony murder, cruelty to children, conspiracy to conceal the death of another and concealing the death of another.
Her then-boyfriend, 61-year-old Ulyster Sanders, previously pled guilty to concealing the death of another and false statements.
In 2019, agents began looking into genome sequencing to identify the child. Investigators were able to tie the remains to a family tree from Albany, but a tip from someone who saw the story on the news helped police identify her.
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Evelyn Odom and Sanders were arrested and indicted in 2023.
According to the indictment, Evelyn Odom and Sanders put the child in hot water, seriously disfiguring her legs and feet, which ultimately caused her death.
Both will be sentenced at a later date.
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