5-year-old found dead in TV cabinet 37 years ago, GA cops say. Now, mom convicted

The body of a 5-year-old girl was found in a TV cabinet encased in concrete in the woods in 1988, but her identity, as well as that of her accused killer, was unknown for decades, Georgia authorities said.

DNA technology and a tip eventually led to the identity of the girl and the prosecution of her mother and her then-boyfriend, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Now, 58-year-old Zmecca Luciana, also known as Evelyn Odom, has been convicted of felony murder, cruelty to children, conspiracy to conceal the death of another and concealing the death of another, the bureau announced Sept. 5.

Luciana’s live-in boyfriend at the time, Ulyster Sanders, now 63, previously pleaded guilty to concealing the death of another and false statements, investigators said.

Sanders didn’t have attorney information available in court records.

Luciana’s lead defense attorney, Gary Lamar, told McClatchy News on Sept. 9 they’re planning to file appeals to try to get Luciana a new trial.

Lamar said his client has maintained her innocence throughout the trial and said Luciana told investigators that when she was young, she gave her daughter to another person to raise.

The couple is accused of going to great lengths to conceal the death of 5-year-old Kenyatta “KeKe” Odom.

Prosecutors described the events leading up to the girl’s death during the trial, broadcast by WJXT. District Attorney Greg Edwards said the girl had soiled herself, so her mom took her into the bathroom, filled the tub with “scalding hot water,” and placed KeKe in it.

Luciana is then accused of leaving the child in bed for several days with burn injuries until she died, then the couple disposed of her body 100 miles away in Ware County, according to prosecutors.

A medical examiner could not determine the child’s cause of death, investigators said.

Lamar said Luciana denies involvement in any sort of burning and added the story about the burns came from Luciana’s co-defendant.

Special Agent in Charge Jason Seacrist said during a news conference about the solving of the case in November 2023 that authorities received a report on Dec. 21, 1988, that human remains had been discovered at a dump site in Millwood.

“She was inside of an old TV cabinet, wrapped up in a blanket, inside of a duffel bag, inside of a trunk that had been encased in concrete,” Seacrist said.

A newspaper found at the dump site pointed to a connection to Albany, Georgia, according to the GBI.

Investigators said they looked through records of missing children in the area to help identify the child, but the case eventually went cold.

In 2019, agents began the process of using DNA genome sequencing to identify the child through possible relatives and turned to a private lab for help, according to the GBI.

The process yielded a possible a family tree, but it wasn’t enough to definitively identify the girl until 2022, when investigators put out a news release on the anniversary of the child’s discovery, and a tipster saw the story, authorities said.

“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 there had been a child that had gone missing and that her mother said that the child had gone to live with her father. This person never really believed that story.”

Investigators looked into the lead and the family tree, and they identified the girl as 5-year-old Kenyatta Odom.

A grand jury indicted Luciana and Sanders, and they were both arrested in November 2023, authorities said.

The case was prosecuted in Dougherty County, where investigators believe the child was killed.

This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 10:05 AM with the headline "5-year-old found dead in TV cabinet 37 years ago, GA cops say. Now, mom convicted."