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Nearly 35 years after a Georgia child’s death in Georgia, police arrested the mother of Kenyatta Odom, known for years as “Baby Jane Doe,” on murder and related charges, officials announced Monday.
According to CBS News, police arrested Evelyn Odom, identified as the child’s mother, on Thursday. Also arrested was 61-year-old Ulyster Sanders, who investigators identified as Odom’s then-boyfriend.
Both suspects are facing charges that include:
- Felony murder
- Cruelty to children
- Concealing the death of another
- Aggravated battery
- Conspiracy to conceal a death
On December 21, 1988, a road crew found Kenyatta’s remains inside an old television set off Duncan Mill Road in Millwood. She had been “wrapped up in a blanket, inside of a duffel bag, inside of a trunk that had been encased in concrete,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Special Agent in Charge Jason Seacrist said Monday.
“This was a dump site,” Seacrist continued. “There is an old desk, there’s other trash that just been thrown out where they threw out this child.”
A medical examiner ruled the child’s death a homicide but could not determine the cause, per the GBI. Initially unidentified, she didn’t match any local missing children until investigators searched a dumping site near the Albany Herald in Albany, which is around 100 miles from where Kenyatta was found.
Then, decades later, following a tip from a news article about Kenyatta, genome sequencing indicated that a family in Albany matched Kenyatta’s DNA.
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“A tipster called. She had heard the story of ‘Baby Jane Doe’ and she believed she may know who this little girl may be,” Seacrist said. “She knew that a child had gone missing and that her mother said the child had gone to live with her father. This person never really believed that story.”
First Coast News reports that an indictment indicated that the defendants submerged Kenyatta in scalding hot water, which subsequently led to her death. Police said there was evidence that her legs were disfigured from hot water.
The defendants then disposed of the child, investigators said. On November 1, the GBI sent the case to a jury in Dougherty County, which led to the defendants’ arrests.
Finally, after almost 35 years, not only were we able to identify Baby Jane Doe, but we are able to make an arrest for those responsible for her death,” Seacrist said.
“I would like to remind everywhere that where cold cases are concerned, investigators are always working on these cases, even though the public can’t see any progress for months or even years.”
[Feature Photo: 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, to announce a break in an unsolved child death that stumped investigators for nearly 35 years. Authorities said they have identified a girl whose body was found encased in concrete in December 1988 as 5-year-old Kenyatta Odom. The girl’s mother and a then-boyfriend have been charged with the child’s murder and other crimes (AP)]
