Murder of Emani Moss

Emani Gabrielle Moss (April 23, 2003 – October 28, 2013) was a ten-year-old American girl who was starved to death by her stepmother in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in 2013, in what became a prominent case leading to reforms in Georgia's child welfare system. Tiffany Nicole Moss (born July 20, 1983) was convicted in 2019 of murdering Emani, and was subsequently sentenced to death. The murder received national as well as international attention. The attention was largely due to the crime's severe nature; Moss physically abused Emani for several years before her death.

In 2013, Moss began starving Emani. Emani's father, Eman, who was rarely home, failed to stop the abuse. Emani died of starvation on October 28, 2013. At the time of her death, she weighed , the weight of an average toddler. The murder led to several systemic changes in the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services (GDFCS). Eman pled guilty in 2015 for his role in the crime. On May 1, 2019, she was sentenced to death. was born on April 23, 2003. Shortly after Emani's birth, her mother, addicted to drugs, surrendered her parental rights, and Emani's father, Eman, gained sole custody of her. Eman was charged with and convicted of battery and second-degree child cruelty in 2004 after beating Emani's biological mother in front of her.

Prior abuse by Tiffany Moss Eman largely raised Emani and often took her to the Freedom Christian Church. There, he met Tiffany Moss, a preschool teacher. Eman and Tiffany married in July 2009 and had two children, a son and a daughter. Though there are no records indicating that Tiffany abused her biological children, she did abuse Emani. The abuse increased in March 2010 after a beating of Emani caused Moss to lose her job. Emani, then age six, told a school nurse that she feared going home with a bad report card because she worried her parents would hurt her. She also told the nurse that her stepmother had spanked her with a curtain rod. The nurse then found multiple scabs, bruises, and welts on Emani's arms, back, chest, legs, and shoulders, and Emani was taken to the police headquarters. Tiffany was arrested and charged with first-degree child cruelty. Tiffany admitted to hitting Emani three times after she failed to do her homework. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years of probation as part of Georgia's First Offender Program. The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (GDFCS) signed the plea deal.

Moss continued to abuse Emani for the next several years. In May 2013, the Mosses visited Eman's sister Sharoniece's house for Mother's Day. Sharoniece and Robin noticed that Emani's hair had been cut. When Robin confronted Moss about it, Moss reportedly said, "if you act ugly, you should look ugly." Sharoniece also noticed that Emani acted more timidly.

Starvation and murder Mother's Day (12 May) 2013 was the last time any members of Emani's family, besides her father, stepmother, and siblings, saw her alive. In the late summer of 2013, Eman, Moss, their children, and Emani moved to an apartment in Lawrenceville, Georgia. According to District Attorney Danny Porter, this was when, "for all intents and purposes, Emani vanished from the face of the earth." During this time, Eman worked two jobs, making him largely absent from Emani's life. He would leave for his first job in the early morning, briefly return in the late afternoon, and then leave for his second job around 6:00 pm before finally returning at around 10:30 pm or 11:00 pm. While Eman was at work, Moss was left to care for the children. Emani eventually became too weak to move and could not leave her bed, urinate or defecate. According to Dr. Staffenberg, the medical examiner who testified at trial, the process of starving to death would have been painful. At first, Emani would have experienced hunger pangs. She then would have become fatigued. She would continue losing energy and weight until she ultimately died. Emani died on October 28, 2013. the weight of the average three-year-old. Additionally, her organs were found at autopsy to be very small.

Cover-up and arson The Moss couple agreed to cover up Emani's death. The day after Emani's death, Moss went to Anna's Linens and bought new sheets and a new coverall, as the ones Emani had used were covered with excrement and urine. Moss suggested burying Emani and reporting her as a runaway.

Trial and death sentence Moss's trial began on April 15, 2019, and was presided over by Judge George Hutchinson. The jury consisted of six men and six women. Moss did not give an opening statement. Nor did she cross-examine any witnesses, or give a closing argument.

On April 29, Moss was convicted on all six counts, including one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of cruelty to children, and one count of concealing a death. The jury deliberated for less than three hours. During the sentencing phase, Moss declined to address the jury, present mitigating evidence, or have her relatives who had attended the trial testify on her behalf. She also refused to make a closing statement. In the state's closing argument, Porter argued that Moss did not deserve a life sentence, whether it be a life sentence with parole or a life without parole sentence. She should not be given the opportunity to be released, he argued, because she would never change. "She's shown you too much of her capacity for cruelty. There will always be that dark side waiting to come out." He also argued that for Moss, life without parole would not be a worse sentence than death because she did not regret her crimes and would never be bothered by them. Sentencing occurred on May 1. Judge Hutchinson agreed with the jury's recommendation and sentenced Moss, then age thirty-six, to death by lethal injection. Moss was the first person to be sentenced to death in Georgia in over five years. Soon after she was sentenced to death, the Georgia Capital Defender group filed a motion asking for a new trial, arguing, among other things, that Moss was not competent to act as her attorney. According to her attorneys, Moss has "neuropsychological testing data that showed the defendant to have damage to the premotor and prefrontal regions of the brain."

Aftermath Eman and Moss, who remain married, lost custody of their two children after Emani's murder. The children were sent to live with foster parents. The Moss couple, along with both Moss and Eman's mothers, tried to gain custody. In 2019, Porter told local news that the children were adopted by their foster parents. The couple's son, who was three years old when Emani was murdered, reportedly did have some memories of the crime. However, according to Porter, at the time of the interview in April 2019, the children were "doing great" and may never know what happened.

In 2018, Emani's grandmother Robin filed a lawsuit in the Gwinnett County State Court against the GDFCS, arguing that caseworkers were aware of deteriorating conditions and abuse in the Moss family and could have acted earlier. Robin is also suing the Department of Human Services. She is seeking a jury trial and "reasonable compensatory damages." According to the lawsuit, there were multiple occasions where the department could have investigated the Moss household and intervened on behalf of Emani: "As a result of the negligence of DFCS and its agents, Emani suffered constant abuse and deprivation from 2008 until her untimely death." The lawsuit also states: "As a direct and proximate result of defendant's wrongful conduct, plaintiff is entitled to recover for the wrongful death of Emani, including the full value of the economic and non-economic value of her life had she lived."