| Killing of Kenyatta Odom | |
| Location: | Killing: Near Albany, Georgia, U.S. Discovery of body: Millwood, Georgia, U.S. |
| Date: | (discovery of body) |
| Type: | Child homicide |
| Victim: | Kenyatta Odom, aged 5 |
| Accused: | Evelyn Odom Ulyster Sanders Sr. |
| Motive: | Unknown |
| Charges: |
|
Kenyatta "KeKe" Odom (1982 - 1988), formerly known as Christmas Doe and Ware County Jane Doe, was a formerly unidentified murder victim whose decomposed remains were found in Millwood, Georgia on December 21, 1988. Her body was discovered inside a suitcase filled with cement that was placed inside of a television console and discarded on the side of a road. She was unidentified for 34 years until she was identified in November 2023.
Following Kenyatta Odom's identification, her mother and her mother's at-the-time boyfriend were arrested and charged with murder, child cruelty, and covering up Kenyatta's death. If convicted of murder, they face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
On December 21, 1988, a truck driver who was driving in Millwood, Georgia spotted an old television console off Duncan Bridge Road. He pulled over to inspect the television console, and discovered inside a black suitcase sloppily sealed with cement. The trucker broke it open, and found a gym bag, with the decomposing body of a young black girl. After the find, the trucker went back to his truck and called police.
At the time, it was determined that the girl had been deceased for one to two months, that she was around the age of 3, that she was 2-foot-9, and that she weighed around 30 pounds. Her death was ruled as a homicide by undetermined means, with shooting and stabbing being ruled out. She was nicknamed "Christmas Doe" due to the date of the discovery being so close to the holiday.[1]
Following the discovery of the girl's body, investigators interviewed locals door-to-door, but turned up no leads. Investigators searched databases across the country for a missing child matching the victim's description, but did not turn up any matches. In the 2010s and 2020s, authorities increasingly made pleads to the public for leads in the case.[2] [3]
In 2019, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation began to work with Othram, a genealogy company, in an attempt to identify the victim through genetic genealogy. They were able to determine that she was likely from the area of Albany, Georgia. After a 2022 news report for the anniversary of the discovery of the victim, a member of the public contacted the GBI, stating that she recognized the girl from when she was a child. The GBI investigated the lead, and determined that the tipster's intuitions were correct and that the victim was 5-year old Kenyatta Odom of Albany, Georgia.
Following the identification of Kenyatta, authorities believed that Evelyn Odom, Kenyatta's mother, and Ulyster Sanders, Evelyn's at-the-time boyfriend were responsible for Kenyatta's death. On November 1, 2023, a Dougherty County grand jury indicted now-56-year-old Evelyn and now-61-year-old Sanders on the charges of the felony murder of Kenyatta, first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated battery, concealing the death of Kenyatta, and conspiring to conceal her death. They were arrested on November 9, 2023.
According to the indictment, Evelyn and Sanders submerged Kenyatta in hot water, seriously disfiguring her legs and feet, which caused her death. They then allegedly encased her body in concrete and put her in the large television console that was dumped in the woods. According to the tipster who lead to the suspects' arrests, she had been told as a child that the reason she no longer saw Kenyatta was because Kenyatta went to live with her father, but that she "never really believed that story". It has been confirmed that Sanders is not Kenyatta's father, and authorities are working to identify her father. If convicted of the murder of Kenyatta, the suspects would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.[4] [5] [6]