Johnathan Walker:Mom arrested 35 years after 5-year-old Georgia girl found encased in concrete

The Johnathan Walkerremains of a 5-year-old girl encased in concrete over 30 years ago in a small Georgia town were recently identified and her mother was among those charged with her murder.

Kenyatta “KeKe” Odom was the young girl Ware County Sheriff’s Office detectives found inside an old TV cabinet wrapped in a blanket, inside of a duffel bag, inside of a trunk encased in concrete on the afternoon of Dec. 21, 1988, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed Monday.

KeKe was found off Dunkin Bridge Road in Millwood, a small rural community over 200 miles south of Atlanta. 

Authorities received a tip last December, after years of investigating, that connected a then-unidentified KeKe to the Albany, Georgia area. The woman told officers she believed she knew who the missing girl was, that she knew a child who had gone missing in the area around that time. 

They were able to locate KeKe's mother, 56-year-old Evelyn Odom, also known as Zmecca Luciana, and the mother’s live-in boyfriend at the time, 61-year-old Ulyster Sanders, as a result of investigative efforts. 

The pair was arrested Thursday and face charges in connection to KeKe’s death. 

"We were able to identify the remains of baby Jane Doe and arrest those who we believe were responsible almost 35 years" later as a result of this investigation, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Jason Seacrist said in a press conference Monday. 

“This is a momentous day in Ware county for a case that has long gone unsolved … That baby Jane Doe is no longer unnamed and is no longer unknown. The baby that was thrown out into a trash pile has been identified and we are working on bringing justice to her,” Seacrist said. 

Here’s what we know.

How was Kenyatta “KeKe” Odom identified?

The case has always been of special interest to Ware County Sheriff Carl James, who was one of the responding detectives. He had received a call over the radio around 12 p.m. for reports of a death investigation Dunkin Bridge Road, where KeKe was found. 

“Upon my arrival, I was really not prepared for what we were about to find. That is the body of a little girl, we now know as Kenyatta Odom had been discovered in a wooded area, a short distance from the roadway,” James said at the press conference. 

KeKe’s remains were dumped in an area where miscellaneous items like a desk and old trash were thrown out. An Albany Herald newspaper, located at the scene, led investigators to believe there may have been a connection to Albany, a city located nearly 100 miles northwest of Millwood.

The connection to Albany was not made until 2022, after the tipster came forward. 

The hundreds of tips that came into the Sheriff’s Office from that day forward were all investigated and followed up by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation detectives, who were asked to assist in the investigation after KeKe’s remains were found. 

Numerous attempts were made to identify the child over the over the years by investigating authorities who combed missing children reports, checked with social service agencies, checked message boards and issued media releases, Seacrist said. 

It wasn’t until 2019 that the GBI Region 4 Office identified DNA genome sequencing as a possible avenue for identifying baby Jane Doe. By 2022, investigators used the information they collected from the DNA to confirm there was a family connection in Albany, Seacrist said. 

Investigators began comparing DNA from the sample that pointed detectives to Albany with KeKe's DNA for a potential match. They were assisted by the tipster later that same year, who came forward to say the missing child’s mother had told people that the child had gone to live with the father. 

This person never really believed that story, Seacrist said. 

Authorities were able to verify that KeKe was the unidentified Jane Doe as a result of the tip and DNA evidence in June of 2023. They continued to work on cracking the cause of death, which was ruled a homicide, according to a GBI press release.

The cause of death could not be determined, but outlets have reported that KeKe’s mother and boyfriend held the girl’s legs and feet in hot water causing severe disfigurement and did not seek medical care for her.

What happens next? 

Odom and Sanders each face five charges, including felony murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated battery – family violence, concealing the death of another person and conspiracy to conceal the death of another person, according to the GBI. 

Both Odom and Sanders remained in jail on Monday, but it was unknown whether either of them had an attorney who could speak on their behalf, according to reporting by the Associated Press. 

Seacrist confirmed that KeKe’s death occurred in the Albany area but declined to formally comment on how the girl died.

“We believe that there is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that will lead to justice being found for Kenyatta,” District Attorney Greg Edwards of the Albany-based Dougherty Judicial Circuit said at the conference. 

More:Missing Colorado hiker's dog found alive, waiting by owner's body after months in wilderness