Crimeatorium - The State of Georgia vs Tiffany Moss | The Sad Case of Emani Moss

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

Twenty nine year old Tiffany Moss stood trial on April 15, 2019 for the 2013 death of her 10 year old stepdaughter, Emani Moss. Emani’s father, Eman Moss, did nothing while Tiffany systematically starved, neglected, and abused his daughter, and later helped to cover up the murder. Emani was described as a precious and happy child who always had a smile on her face, by everyone that knew and loved her. At age three, she studied ballet and when she was 5 years old, she took guitar lessons. She did everything in her power to escape her abusive situation and was removed at one time, but was returned time and time again.The details of this case are disturbing and graphic and involves heinous crimes against a child. Discretion is advised.Music:CO.AG Music https://www.youtube.com/@co.agmusic1823If you have a case suggestion for Crimeatorium, please send it to [e-mail].

Welcome to True Crime Stories with Crime-a-Trorian. 29-year-old Tiffany Moss stood trial on April 15, 2019 for the 2013 death of her 10-year-old stepdaughter, Imani Moss. Imani's father, Iman Moss, did nothing while Tiffany systematically starved, neglected and abused his daughter and later helped to cover up the murder. Eventually, he would call the police, after which Tiffany hid Imani's body in a trash can in a grassy area at the apartment and fled. Police arrived at the apartment where they were told by Imani that Imani ingested chemicals which caused her death.

He pleaded guilty in 2015 and is serving life without parole in exchange for his testimony against Tiffany. Tiffany Moss rejected a plea deal and chose to represent herself at her trial, despite the judge and others' efforts to persuade her otherwise. Tiffany presented no defense, didn't call any witnesses, cross-examine any witnesses, nor did she give an opening or closing statement. In August of 2019, she agreed to accept representation for an appeal and is hoping for a new trial. Her defense team claims that she should not have been permitted to represent herself in the trial due to brain damage to areas of her brain that control decision-making and impulse control. Imani was described as a precious and happy child who always had a smile on her face by everyone that knew and loved her. At age three, she studied ballet, and when she was five years old, she took guitar lessons.

She did everything in her power to escape her abusive situation and was removed at one time, but was returned time and time again. The details of this case are disturbing and graphic and involve heinous crimes against a child. Discretion is advised. On November 2, 2013, at approximately 4 o'clock in the morning, the Gwinnett County Police received a call. At first, they thought that it was a suicide call. There was a male threatening to commit suicide, but he also said he was there with the body of his dead daughter. When the police arrived, they discovered Iman Moss, the husband of this defendant. You'll hear from Iman Moss, you'll hear that he's already taken responsibility for his part in this case, and that he's currently serving a life sentence in prison.

But what they learned immediately from Iman Moss was that there was a trash can across the parking lot, sitting in the grass, the apartment complex that they lived in. When the officers went to the trash can and they opened the trash can, the words of the officer were, I saw the burned body of a little person. What was later discovered at autopsy is that it was the body of Imani Moss. She was 11 years old. She weighed 32 pounds. She had been wrapped in a comforter and then put in a trash bag and stuffed head down into a galvanized trash can and set on fire. And that's where this case began its investigation.

but Amani's misery really started a long time ago, much longer, three years before that date in November. Because at that time, Aman was at work. There were two other children. There was Tristan and Emma. And in 2010, they were little. They were babies. So this defendant stayed at home and took care of the babies and watched Imani and was responsible for the discipline of Imani.

And in 2010, in March, she beat the lights out of that child. She used a belt. She used a buckle end of the belt. and the next day when Imani went to school the teachers noticed that there were bruises all over and they reported it because they're required to and it's the right thing to do they they reported it and there was a police investigation and this defendant was eventually charged with cruelty to the child in the first degree and pled guilty to that charge and was sentenced and that changed the entire dynamic of this family because you'll learn that this defendant

has a background in early childhood education that for a while she worked as a teacher you know in a pre-k but with that conviction she couldn't do it she couldn't have her job she couldn't have what she was trained to do and she was at home two little babies and a 10 year old girl it wasn't hers Imani was only six at that time so she was at home with a six-year-old who wasn't hers over the next few months and few years Imani tried to run away in June of 2012 Gwinnett County Police responded to an apartment

where Imani and Tristan and Emma and Iman and the defendant lived all together and she had gone up to the apartment office manager and said I want to run away from home

I don't want to go home that the defendant tied me up with belts and put me in a cold shower. The police responded. They didn't observe any injuries on the child. They went back. The defendant said the child wasn't telling the truth. And what they did is they returned her to her stepmother and her father because there was no evidence, charge anyway.

Even though the defendant at that time was on probation for child cruelty, a report was made to the Department of Family and Children's Services and was investigated by the Department of Family and Children's Services. But Imani remained in the custody of her father and her stepmother. In July, this defendant called the police in the evening of July the 26th and reported that Imani had run away again. the officers responded and in the early morning hours of the 27th they found her asleep in the bushes up by the gate of the apartment and when they asked her why she was there she said she didn't want to go home the defendant was mean to her and she wanted to run away but again there was no evidence there was no evidence of abuse there was no evidence of injury and Imani was returned to her father and her sister.

The school year, on the other hand, was going pretty well. You'll hear from Imani's teachers that she was a healthy, happy child. She was little, but she was really friendly, and everybody liked her. She even tried to befriend the bully of the class Because she felt sorry for the bully And she was a little skinny thing And we'll show you pictures She's no giant

But she was healthy And she's smiling And I'll show you pictures from a field day Where she was running And where she was enjoying the field day activities And then on Mother's Day in 2000, and that, of course, year went into 2013, and on Mother's Day of 2013, she had a chance to meet with her family, particularly Iman's mother and his sister. And the first thing that Imani's mother noticed is that her long hair had been clipped down, like mine. And Imani's grandmother said, what happened to your hair?

And this defendant said, if you don't act pretty, you don't look pretty. And she admitted that she'd cut off all of Imani's hair. That was really the last time that any of Iman's family saw Imani. Because in the summer of 2013, they moved into an apartment here in the Lawrenceville area. It was 1100 Veranda Place. They rented an apartment there that they actually had one before and then they moved into the apartment where the body was found.

And for all intents and purposes, Imani vanished from the face of the earth. They filed a notice with the state that they were going to homeschool their children. You'll hear testimony from neighbors in the apartment complex that said they knew this couple had two children. They never saw the third. Were never aware that that child would even exist. They saw instances where Ahmaud and the defendant and Tristan and Emma would go out. They said, we never saw the third child.

And that's what began a period of isolation. It's hard to even find a word to describe it. Because imagine what her life must have been like. There were two little ones. They weren't in school. By this time, Amman was working two jobs to try and keep afloat. He worked from early in the morning until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. And then he would come home for a short period of time,

and then he would leave to go to work again at 6 in the evening and work until 10, 30, or 11 at night. He had to drive an hour or 45 minutes to each job. So essentially, he was sleeping and eating at his house, but was at work the rest of the time, because that's how the bills had to be paid. So the defendant is there with a stepdaughter she hates, two children of her own. And in the fateful week of Halloween of 2013, right before the body was discovered, we're going to show you a series of events. Halloween was on a Thursday, but according to the statement of Iman, it really began on October the 24th. On the 24th, he came home from work and found Imani unresponsive in a bathtub.

She couldn't speak Her eyes rolled back and forth But she couldn't communicate And Iman picked her up And put her into bed And she never left that bed Because either on the 28th Or more likely the 30th

She died The defendant was home when she died And in fact called May have called Iman at work And said Imani's past. But certainly, when Imani came home from his first job,

on the 30th, he discovered Imani dead. The defendant was in the room when he discovered her dead and said, we have to hide the body. I can't go to jail. I don't want to lose my other children. So Imani went to work

for his second job, and after that job, he went to Walmart and he bought a trash can. You'll see that trash can. We'll bring it to you to look at, but it's a galvanized trash can. And we know at that point from his own statement that he took Imani out of her bed, a bed that we'll show was soiled with human waste. And they flipped the mattress, and the next day, this defendant went to Anna's Lennons

and bought a new coverall and new sheets, and they flipped the mattress, stripped the bed, put the new cover on it, and the whole plan was, we're going to get rid of the body. We have to get rid of the body. Those are the words of the defendant, and we'll report her as a runaway. Halloween came, and Tristan and Emma were dressed up for trick-or-treat. We'll show you pictures of that. But keep in mind, during the time that those pictures were taken, and those two smiling children were in their costume,

Imani's laying dead because her body had been moved into a computer room that was part of the apartment. While Tiffany was texting with her sister about bags of candy, Imani was laying in the computer room dead. On the 31st, sometime on the 31st, they decided they had to move the body and they were going to take it out and burn it. This defendant urged Imani to do that. Imani, by this time, was starting to say, this is messed up. That's not the words he used.

But he said, this is messed up. We need to call the police. the defendant continued to insist we can't call the police i can't go to prison i'm on probation we have to get rid of the body so they took her out of the computer room by that time rigor mortis had set in her body was stiff her limbs were stiff but they bent her and they broke her and then Iman said that he couldn't he couldn't put her in a trash can that way and he covered her with a with a comforter and they stuffed it all in a trash bag and carried it down from the apartment

and put Imani in the trash can in the truck in their truck which was a trailblazer that night early in the morning of november the first of 2013 they decided to take the two small children with them and go and burn the body at first this defendant was suggesting that they burn the body and get rid of it in bethesda park which was near where they lived but that didn't work so they drove around with Imani's body in a trash can in the back of a trailblazer and eventually they went up satellite boulevard and Imani noticed a place that he could pull off the road they both took the trash can out of the truck we'll prove that to you by the fingerprints of this defendant on the trash can they poured charcoal briquettes into the bottom

of the trash bag, they doused her with lighter fluid and they set her on fire. And both of them stood there and watched her burn. Iman realized she wasn't going to burn. She wasn't going to burn down to ash. So the fire was put out and the body was loaded back into the truck and this defendant, her two children and Iman drove back to the apartment. The next day

Iman drove the truck to work with the body in the back of the truck. He worked a regular shift but when he came home he couldn't take it anymore. He called one of his friends who urged him to call the police.

He thought about it he went to work his second job but when he got home he couldn't take it anymore he told this defendant i'm calling the police i can't do this this is screwed up what did this defendant do she took her two children she jumped in the trailblazer and she split And that's how the police got that 3 o'clock in the morning call on November the 2nd. Because Amman, who was hysterical and distraught, thought he wanted to kill himself.

And he called the police. The defendant is gone. Now eventually she turned herself in to a Roswell police officer and made some statements to that officer, which you'll hear. But that's how this case came to this courtroom, and we intend to prove everything I've told you. And like I said, earlier today, you swore an oath to reach a verdict that speaks the truth. The truth in this case is this defendant, based on the medical evidence and the evidence that we're going to put together, intentionally starved this child, not by accident, not because she wouldn't eat.

she refused as she got sicker and sicker to give her medical treatment and then tried to dispose of the body so that they could tell the story thank you very much i'd like to call your attention to um march the night or march the 18th and 19th of 2010 okay um i noticed that you have your your a copy of your report there and feel free to use that to refresh your memory if you if you need to okay um what was your assignment then i was in the special victims unit as a detective and as part of part of your duties as a special victims investigator did you um receive a referral regarding a possible cruelty case where the victim was Imani Moss yes i did right and can you describe for the jury how did that how did

that referral come in and from whom? Well, it came in from Officer Everett, who is a police officer with our department as well. He was called out to Cooper Elementary by administrators there with respect to a crime against a child. All right. And are teachers and administrators in schools mandated reporters? Are they required to report child abuse? Yes, they are. All right. As a result of the information you received from Officer Everett, did you go to Cooper Elementary? No, I requested Officer Everett transport Imani to police headquarters so I can conduct an interview of her. Well, I guess I want to ask, as part of your investigation, did you also take statements from the administrators who had made the report? I did not. Officer Everett might have. I believe

he spoke with them on scene. So Imani was transported to the police department, is that right? Yes. Tell the jury, there are special techniques and special training that you had regarding the interview of children. First of all, can you tell the jury what your training is and give them some idea of the challenges that is involved in interviewing a child? One of the most important things to do when interviewing a child is not to lead them and to ask open-ended questions. Basically, a yes or a no answer is what you're looking for. We try not to put any ideas in their heads, so we qualify them. So we ask questions such as spatial recognition, if something is over something or under something,

whether or not they know the difference between a truth or a lie, if telling the truth is good, telling a lie is bad, questions like that. We ask them all different types of colors to make sure they're at the appropriate level to be interviewed. And Imani was six at this time. Yes, she was. How did you find her in terms of, first of all, her demeanor and then her response to your questions? She had good spatial recognition. She knew all of her colors. She was able to differentiate between telling the truth and telling a lie.

She was not able to tell me her full address. at the time but she was able to tell me her full name and her birthday okay um and so did you where did the interview take place it took place at police headquarters is there a special room for interviewing children or did you do it in a standard interview room we have a victim interview room up in detectives and and that's is that where the interview took place yes so once you established her her ability i guess is the best way to put it um what did she tell you it happened she told me she got in trouble by her stepmom tiffany moss for not doing her homework the previous night and she was spanked with a brown leather belt um did she tell you how many

times she'd been struck um she's several times she had bruises and welts all over her body to include her arms, chest, back, and legs. Did you document those injuries? Yes, I did. Your Honor, may I approach? Yes, sir. Your Honor, I've shown the photographs that I intend

to introduce to the defendant, and she is reviewing them prior to my tender of those exhibits. Thank you, sir. Are you done, Ms. Moss? May I approach the window? Yes, sir.

Sergeant King, I have a series of photographs here. If you could, what I'd like you to do first is go through and identify those photographs and reference them by their exhibit number, which begins with PS. Yes. And if you could describe what the photograph is, and then I'll ask you if those are accurate representations. We'll go through all the photographs if you'll describe them each to the jury. Okay. Now, when you interviewed Imani, did she say anything about that she tried to get away or that she tried to run away? Yes, she did. She said she tried getting away from Tiffany.

And did she ever inform you whether or not the defendant stopped hitting her when she tried to run away? She said she was just hit all over, and she tried getting away. She was still being struck. Did she indicate to you that she was struck with the buckle portion of the belt? Or based on your experience in looking at the injuries, did you reach a conclusion as to whether or not she'd been struck with the buckle edge of the belt? I cannot definitively answer that. But she did say that Tiffany folded the belt when she struck her.

So which in the marks are indicative of a belt wrapping around her. At this time, we would move to tender and evidence. Yes, sir. Tender and evidence state exhibit PS1 through PS20, which have been identified by as photographs. That were taken at her direction in the investigation of the 2010 case of cruelty. Any objection? States PS1 through 20 are each admitted without objection.

That is PS1. Can you tell us what that is? That's a close-up headshot of Imani Moss. PS2. Can you describe what that is? The full-body shot of Imani. Three. Full body shot of Imani facing to her left. And the clothing that she's wearing, are those the clothes that she was wearing at school? Yes.

And she was transported to the Gwinnett County Police Department? Yes, sir. Again, that's PS4. Can you identify that for the jury? Yes, that's a full body shot of Imani facing to the right. And PS5. Full body shot of Imani facing away from the camera. Right. It's not clear from these particular photographs, but when you interviewed Imani, were the injuries to her visible to your naked eye?

Were you able to observe them despite her clothing? Yes, I was. Click to the next photograph. Can you take a look at PS7 and identify that? It looks to be a shoulder area of one of her arms, Imani's arms, with bruising on it. And obviously, they're using the measuring tool. Can we move to the next? Can you identify PS8?

Yes. With the measuring tool, they're showing the bruising to the upper left back of Imani in the shoulder area. And then moving to PS9. It's Imani's lower back. They're showing it with a measuring tool. I believe that's her right side going towards her midsection. And moving to PS10. Same side of the body.

That's Imani's lower right back going towards the midsection with the measuring tool. And then moving to PS11. With the measuring tool, they're showing the marks on Imani's right back. And then moving to PS-12. That is the right side of Imani's body. They're showing with the measuring tool right in there are the marks and bruises on her right side underneath her arm. Those are marks. They're using a measuring tool, and those are marks on her upper chest just underneath her neck on the front side of her.

Moving to PS14 Yes, that's with a measuring tool They're showing the bruising on Imani's right leg Her right upper thigh And using a measuring tool They're showing marks on one of Imani's legs This is PS15, correct? Yes, I'm sorry

No, I got distracted. All right, if we can move to 16. I believe that is Imani's right lower arm. They're showing, using the measuring tool, they're showing the bruising and the marks on her lower arm. And then moving on to 17. That is, I believe that's one of Imani's legs. I believe that's her left thigh, and they're using a measuring tool there to show the bruising and marks. And then if we can move to 18.

That would be one of Imani's arms. They're using the measuring tool to show the bruising that's wrapped around her arm. And is it your testimony that these were wrapped around her body or her arm or her leg? Yes. And is that consistent with a belt based on your experience as an SDU investigator? Yes, it is. this is state's exhibit ps number 19 can you identify that it appears to be Imani's right lower arm with the marks going up and down her arms and bruising at the lower using the measuring

tool and then finally states states ps number 20 can you look at that and identify that It's one of Imani's lower arms. It's under area of the wrist using the measuring tool. Now, Sergeant King, once you got the statement from Imani, did you interview any other witnesses? Yes, I did. And what witnesses did you interview? Imani's father, Iman Moss, her grandmother, Robin Moss, and then her stepmother, Tiffany Moss. All right. Now, was Tiffany Moss there at the same time that Iman Moss and his mother were there?

No, she showed up sometime later. Did you have to look for her? We were trying to get a hold of her for quite some time, and no one could reach her. And finally, Mr. Moss said she was having car trouble, so she showed up about 6 p.m. that evening at police headquarters with her mother. Okay, just so I understand, when was the report brought in in your interview with Imani? When did that take place? Towards the end of the school day, so around 3 in the afternoon. So three hours or so later, the defendant came in for an interview.

Yes. Did you advise her over Miranda warnings? Yes, I did. And did that interview take place in an interview room at the Gwinnett County Police Department? Yes, it did. Did you use any force or threats against her to get her to speak to you at all? No, not at all. And did she speak to you?

Yes, she did. What did she tell you? She admitted to striking Imani with a brown leather belt, as Imani described it, for not doing her homework. Did she describe to you how many times she thought she had struck Imani? She said she thought it was only three times. Is that consistent with the injuries that you observed? Not at all. and based on did she did she make any other statements to you um forgive me while i look at my

yeah she said um she had given amani five minutes to complete her homework sent her to her room and when the five minutes was up and amani had not completed her homework that morning that's when she struck her with the belt um she said amani tried getting away from her and she actually physically demonstrated Imani covering her face like that to avoid being struck with the belt and based on the evidence that you gathered in this case what did you do I secured a warrant for Tiffany's arrest for cruelty to children in the first and arrested her thank you that's all the questions I have you could state your name for the court and for the jury please Robin McArthur Moss and Miss Moss how do you know how did you know Imani Moss

She was my granddaughter. And she was the daughter of one of your children, obviously. And which child was that? That was my oldest son, my first grandchild. Let's go back. When Imani was first born, did she and Imani live with you at a period of time in her early days? Yes, she did. And if you could tell the jury in the court, when was Imani born?

She was born April 23rd, 2003, and yesterday was her birthday. Okay. And if she was born in 2003, would she have turned 16 years old yesterday? The calculation would be exactly about 15 or 16. 16. Okay. And it was 2003, is that right? 2003.

Yes, ma'am. when she you said that she and your son aman lived there initially how long did they live with you after amani was first born um since imani well since she was eight years old then she went to live with her father and you said until she was about eight yeah she was eight years old so over the first several years of her life did she stay with you yes she did right and then she and Iman they relocated did they still stay here in the Atlanta area at that time they did and ultimately um he uh your son Iman uh married the defendant in this case Tiffany Moss is that right correct did Imani live with both uh your son Iman and the defendant Tiffany for

some period of time. Yes. When we go to, let's go to an incident that happened in 2010. Did you receive a phone call about an incident that had happened with Imani and the defendant regarding a beating? Yes, I did. Where did you respond with regard to that news when you were called? They told me to come to the police station, and I think it was in Laithonia. Not Laithonia. I'm sorry. In Lawrenceville. In Lawrenceville. That's all right.

In Lawrenceville. And I got a call while I was at work, an emergency call at work. So I left work and went straight down to the police station. Once you arrived at the police station, did you meet with the detective, Detective King? Yes. Did she get a little bit of background from you about your relationship with Imani and Iman and Tiffany? Yes. Based on that, was Imani removed from living with Iman and Tiffany at that particular point?

Yes, she was. Where did Imani go and live after that? She lived with me. So that would have been in March of 2013 when that happened. how long did Imani live there with you then for six months and I'm apologized 2010 I said 2013 we have to get our dates right I apologize so in March of 2010 probably why you looked at me funny but you can correct me all right March of 2010 was when she came to live with you is that correct right okay and you said for about six months and so where

did you live at that time i lived at 900 legacy park apartments that's preserved in lawrenceville did amani go to school while she was there staying with you yes i took her to school every day picked her up every day did she remain at the same school that she had begun the school year out and then finished it out while she was there with you she did um how was amani doing in school at that particular time well was she was with me her everything was approving her grades her action and um even she was just doing awesome a lot better than she was because they said she was closed in and she started having tantrums and screaming so I don't know what was going on before then but I know when she came back with me everything calmed back down in her life

and she stayed there with you then um through the spring and the summer did she begin her school year still living with you um there in 2010 um she she was with me until school was over and then after that she was back with her father you said so she stayed about six months so the beginning of the 2010 school year then was she placed back with amman and the defendant in this case. Yes. With regard to that, did you want, without going into a lot of detail, but did you want Imani to still remain with you and live with you at that time? Yes, I did. I went and fought it. When you say you went and fought it, was that a decision that was made by the Department of Family and Children's Services? Yes, it was. That, was it their decision to place Imani back

with the defendant, Tiffany Moss, and her dad, Iman Moss? Yes, it was. You indicated you did object to that. Is that right? Correct. But ultimately, she did not stay living with you. She went back with the defendant and her dad. Yes.

After that time in 2010, were you able to see Imani very often? No. Did you make efforts to try to see her from that fall of 2010 until ultimately she died? Yes, I did. What type of efforts did you make in order to try to talk to her or see her? I called my son, and he would just say. You can't tell me a lot about what Iman said, okay? But were you allowed to see her?

I was not allowed to see her. All right. but did you make more than one call yes was it something that you did repeatedly in order to see your granddaughter yes i did and when i couldn't see her i called dfax did you make reports to dfax based on that um how many times would you say that you um saw amani between the time that she left your house when she lived with you in the fall of 2010 until she died in November of 2013 one and when was that time that you actually got to see your granddaughter Imani well it was twice one at Tristan's birthday party it was twice and one was at Tristan's

birthday party. And who is Tristan? Tristan is Tiffany's son. Was that, was he a child that Tiffany, the defendant, and your son Iman had once they were married? Correct. Where was that birthday party that you saw Imani? At Tiffany's mother's house. Were there several family members at that birthday party? Yes, it was. And when you say at the birthday party, do you remember what year that was? Not exactly. When you saw her there, did you get to speak to Imani at the birthday party? Yes, I did.

And that was the first time you had seen her, or was that the first time you'd seen her, since she had moved out from your house? That was the first time I've seen her. at that time at Tristan's birthday party um did was her outward appearance the same to you or similar to you just obviously older um than when she had left you in other words her hair her physical appearance she didn't look well she looked very thin very thin and how did Imani typically wear her hair she usually wear her two ponytails or three two on the side and one in the back are just two.

Was that a typical hairstyle that she liked and the way she liked to wear her hair? That's what she used to tell me to call me that way. Okay. And I'm going to show you what had been previously marked and placed into evidence as safety exhibit number PS1.

It's already been entered in evidence. I'm going to show you a picture of that if I'm not a picture on it. You may. I know that she was a little younger there, but that was um is that how she typically would wear her hair yes all right when you saw her at tristan's birthday party she still she still had her hair like this all right yes when you saw her at that particular um family event you said you didn't think she

looked well um but at that point was she still living with your son and the defendant right and um did you were you able to keep up with where they were residing when you were trying to get to see Imani um from the fall of 2010 until the birthday party for Tristan no I wasn't able I was looking for but I couldn't find did your son and the defendant live in some different apartments and with different individuals during that time frame? I believe they did. I'm not sure. I just never could find them. They kept moving. But you, in fact, did you make efforts to try to speak with Imani or be able to see her? Yes. After you said that you saw her at Tristan's birthday party, when was the next

time? Because you said there were two times. When was the next time that you saw your granddaughter It was Mother's Day. And when you say Mother's Day, was that Mother's Day of 2013? No, yes, because she, yes, it was. Was it the May before she passed in November? Yes. Yes, okay. Where did you see her on Mother's Day?

I was at my daughter's house, living with my daughter, staying with my daughter for a while. and um my son and tiffany came to the house and imani and imani was with them when they came um so there were several family members there at your daughter's house yes us my daughter and aman and his family so my daughter her family and aman and me and tell me um what's your daughter's name sharonise so you're at sharonise's house um And how did Imani appear to you then? She was so thin, so thin. She had this shirt on, and you can see the bones protruding out of her shoulders.

And in her arms, she was so skinny. I wasn't used to that. How was her hair? Cut off. All of it. It's cut. I'm going to show you a photograph. You may.

I'm going to show you what's been marked for identification as States Exhibit PS21 and PS22. And ask you, let's just do 21 first, ask you if you recognize what is depicted in that particular photograph. Her hair and the bones protruding out of her shoulder. Who is that person in the photograph? That's Imani. And is this State's Exhibit PS21, is that an accurate depiction of the way Imani looked to you in May of 2013? How about State's Exhibit PS22, is that also an accurate depiction of Imani in May of 2013? Does that also show how her hairstyle was at that time?

You said that you noticed her hair on Mother's Day, and why was it so different to you? Because Imani had long hair, and it shouldn't have been cut. Did you ask about how her hairstyle came to be like that? Yes, I did. I said, why is her hair cut off? And who did you ask that to? I asked Tiffany that. And what was the response? If you act ugly, you should look ugly.

At any time, did Imani tell you that she had cut her own hair? No, she did not. When you saw her that day, did you get to spend some time with Imani, your granddaughter, that day? I did. I did. And at that particular time, your son, Iman, and the defendant, in this case, Tiffany, they had two additional children. Is that right? Did they have Tristan and Emma? Right.

And so were all, that entire family, were all of those people present there for Mother's Day? Correct. Did Imani leave? You were staying there at Sharon Neeson's house, is that right? Okay. And then I'm assuming, obviously, everyone left, ultimately, after the festivities were done that day? Correct. And did you say goodbye to Imani that day?

Yes, I did. And were you, after that, did you try to see her anymore after you saw her on that Mother's Day? Yes, but I didn't have a number anywhere to reach her or know where they were. I'm sorry? I didn't know where they were or a number to reach him. And would, did you ever, at any time, ever try to communicate with the defendant to try to have contact with Imani, with Tiffany? No, just my son. And after that Mother's Day, would your son, Iman Moss, would he respond to you or grant your request to see Imani?

He said he had called me and said that he would bring her by. Did that ever happen? No. Ms. Moss, was Mother's Day of 2013 the last time then that you saw your granddaughter alive? Yes, it was. i know we've referred to her as tiffany but do you see the person that you have referred to as tiffany moss um your daughter-in-law uh sitting in the courtroom today yes i do and where is that person right there okay i know you've pointed can you just tell me um what color shirt she may be

wearing so it can be reflected for the record are you blue you're on i'd ask that the record reflects she has identified the defendant in this case small says are all the questions that i have for you thank you ma'am um could you state your name please um and can you spell both your first and your middle name for the court reporter um first name is giovanni g i o v a n m i and how How old are you, Mr. Maltz? 35 of age. All right. How long, where do you currently reside?

Smith State Prison. All right. And are you currently serving a sentence at Smith State? Yes, sir. What sentence are you currently serving? Life without. Life without what? Rule.

All right. And is that because of a guilty plea that you entered in regard to the case you're in court here today on? Yes, sir. And what did you plead guilty to? Threatening of child cruelty and considering death. All right. And who was the victim in those cases? My daughter.

And then Gabrielle Moss. And do you remember when you actually took that, when you actually entered that plea guilty? uh i'm not familiar with the i know in the middle of august 2015 i know that much i can't remember the day that's close enough and so since august of 2015 you've been serving the sentence on that case yes sir during the times that you were at work would you get calls from tiffany during the day yes um did they ever talk about Imani a lot of time they were text messages and what was he what were the types of text messages you would get um one incident said Imani um boo-boos and put it on the wall

got another call I got another call to take me to Imani boo again and put it in an oatmeal in a food I get

just going down the list different things Imani tried to run away would it be fair to say that a lot of the text that you got had to do with Tiffany claiming

that Imani was misbehaving. Yes. So you're her father. What did you do about that? I didn't do absolutely nothing. Did you believe your wife when she told you that?

I did. Why? I don't know. I had questions, but I did. Did you ever seek out more family counseling for your child? i didn't did you ever take her to a doctor to see if she was sick i did one time it was in um

we were staying with uh my mother-in-law but i didn't stick to the appointment so you really didn't take her to i didn't really i went to one thing um and when you say that tiffany was telling you that amani boo-booed that means she went the bathroom right yes he's defecating and did you ever see evidence of feces on the wall of your apartment um did you ever see a bowl with oatmeal and feces in it in the sink no let's go to to the week approximately the week of october the 24th of 2013 at that point had you noticed

that Imani was sick yes tell me what tell me what you mean what I mean by sick or what you mean by sick well we moved to

Veranda Chase she had a growth spurt but she was thin but she started to get thinner and we moved to Veranda Chase. Whose responsibility did you feel at that point was to feed your child? During the weekday, Tiffany. And mostly on the weekend, it was me.

And on the weekends when you were with Imani, did she eat? Yes, she would try to eat a lot. Actually, on the weekends, she would try to gouge. You mean gorge? I don't mean to correct you I don't want to change your word but that's what you meant to say and that was during

basically the summer of 2013 right well I'm sorry almost going into the fall of September you moved into the apartment in September so it would have been in the fall of 2013 right

did Imani get thinner? Yes. And did she seem like she had lost her ability to be active? Yes.

On the 24th, was there an occasion where you came home and Imani was in a bathtub? Yes. Going to the bathroom, she's in the tub and And she's shaking like she's having a seizure.

So what did you do? I didn't go with my first mind. I said we need to go take a 911. I'll take her to the hospital. Did Tiffany have anything to say about when you said that? Said we can't. Did she explain to you why you couldn't take your daughter to the hospital? She was a real, real thing.

Yeah, but did Tiffany tell you why you couldn't take your daughter to the hospital? No, she didn't give me why. Now, let's stop there and go back four or five days into October. At some point, did you come home and discover Imani had been burned? Yes. Tell the jury about that. Matter of fact, I think I got a phone call at work that she was cooking.

Something with a pot, and she spilled the water on her stomach. Imani was cooking? Imani, yeah. Tiffany said Imani was cooking. And that she spilled the pot? Yeah. Did Tiffany tell you what was in the pot? No, she said hot water. So when you went home, did you look at your daughter?

Yeah. What did you see? She had a skull on her stomach. like a round little skull part on the stomach and it don't hurt did you say we ought to take her to the doctor

yeah but we didn't I didn't do it so on the 24th you found her in the bathtub and did it look to you like Imani was having a seizure that's to my knowledge yes I know you're not a doctor but what did she look like

She was shaking, like, you know. Could she speak? She was trying to say something. She wasn't speaking much. She was, you know. Were her eyes moving at all? They were going from left to right. So, after Tiffany said we can't call the doctor,

we can't take her to the hospital, what did you do with her? Kept her in the room. Which room? The other room. I mean, did you put her on the floor, or where did you put her? On a mattress and on the floor. Iman, did she ever get up out of that bed? No, she didn't after the seizure thing.

No, she didn't. Did you go in and check on her in the days that followed? Yes. Um, I was trying to, excuse me, sorry about that. Yes, I did. And I was trying to feed her through a spoon with infamil. What were you trying to feed her? Infamil, like a liquid diet, whatever, wasn't working.

What do you mean it wasn't working? It wasn't working. Well, I mean, did she spit it back up, or did she not be able to swallow it, or did it spill on the bed? And when you say not working... What I'm talking about, I'm talking about her weight. Okay. As far as, you know, she was swallowed, but it wasn't, you know, as far as... What I'm saying, it was beyond repair.

At that time, was she able to get up herself and go to the bathroom? No, sir. Was she going to the bathroom in the bed? Yes, sir. Did you ever see any sores or anything like that on her? Like bed sores or just sores? Just sores around her bottom or sores from laying in the bed, anything like that? Uh, she had, she had five, uh, when she got scalded, it was, um, healing around her stomach, five of that, the scab.

Could she talk to you at that point? She wasn't talking. Um, would you agree that she was in pretty bad shape at that time? She was in bad, she was in bad state. Amon, did you take her to the doctor then? I did not take her to the doctor, sir. Why not? I really can't explain it.

I was trying to fix something, like I said. You know, I'm not God, but I'm trying to fix something irreversible or beyond repair. What I should have did. Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead. Finish your sentence. What I should have did was when I said, when the incident happened, to call 911 and when I didn't it was I put myself in bad by sir what was Tiffany telling you about

what you needed to do at that point um she was saying that we can't go we can't call 911 we can't do that um we got to hide the body well what's that why did she why did she tell you that we can't call 911. I mean, you're this child's father. Because he said, I'm on probation. I don't want to go to jail. Did she say anything about losing your other children? Yes.

I want to go now. So from the 24th you put Imani in bed. Yeah. On the 28th of October of 2013, did Tiffany notify you somehow

that Imani had died? Yes, she called me at work. Did you actually speak to Tiffany or did you just get a text? um i think i talked to her on the phone and what did she tell you uh she said uh she's gone she didn't say too much she said she's gone so when i came home i go in the room and from that time you know i usually take a nap i was in the room with um

all right let me ask you did you do anything to confirm that she had died she was dead How could you tell? I've been in a lot of funerals, and I can tell, you know. She was cold. Her essence was there. Her eyes, she was gone. Where was Tiffany when you came in the house? When I walked in, the other two kids,

I mean, Tristan was running around playing. He came in. I'm really messed up at the time. He said, Daddy, Daddy, I walked past him, and we were in the pack and play, and she was watching TV. Did you have any conversation with her when you walked by her watching TV? No, not at that moment. And after you went into the room and saw that Imani was dead, did you go out and talk to Tiffin? Yes, that was after I came from in there.

yeah what did y'all talk about talking about concealing her death making it like since she had a history of running away make it seem like she ran away but Amon let me let me ask you when you discovered

your daughter dead what did you want to do 9-1-1 what did Tiffany want to do she wanted to hide it the body was inside the the trash can with the feet pointing up the body was wrapped in a trash bag that covered the entire body except for the feet the feet were sticking out a little

bit there was also a strong odor of charcoal lighter fluid and part of the body had been burned once you made those observations do you as a medical examiner do you also photograph and document those types of things yes is that one of the first things that you do before you make any changes to the body or how it has been presented to you yes a photograph or photographs are generally taken of my first view of the body so receiving the trash can opening the lid and the the body inside the trash can once you observe the body inside the trash can trash can did you then begin to remove it and the contents of the trash can yes and how did you or what did you do when you did that what did you observe i should say the body was removed from the trash can and

it was wrapped in a trash bag as i said with the feet exposed inside the trash can left inside were some partially burnt charcoal briquettes that remained at the bottom of the the can at that point more photographs were taken of the body and we could see that there was burning on the outside of the bag part of it was melted the the feet and one of the hands were burnt and so we started to remove the plastic to observe the body inside the bag Okay. Were you able to then, ultimately you said you started to remove the plastic. I'm assuming, do you take all of those extra external items off in order to get a better view of the body? Yes. And when you ultimately removed the bag, was there, you said there was a bag,

was there any other items, clothing items or anything around the body? Yes. She had a folded up comforter or blanket made out of quilt squares that was folded up and in the top of the bag near her head. She was wearing some white and pink socks she had on a pair of white underpants and a blue shirt and those items were charred where they had been in contact with heat once you had were able to examine that do you then what is the next step in your examination process once again photographing the body we remove the clothes and get some photographs in this case in addition to the clothing she also had some duct tape wrapped around her in order to keep her legs and arms in a flexed position and so the duct tape was removed and all of those

items from outside the body were transferred to the police department for further examination until all we had left was the body for examination. Do you then begin your process with a complete external examination of a body yes uh that the the next step is to perform an external examination we obtain x-rays um and so forth um anything preliminary uh is part of the external examination with return with regard to the x-rays that you did um did you determine whether there were any type of fractures or anything that you noticed in the x-rays there's no evidence of any acute fractures in other words at or around the time of death there's no evidence of healing fractures that i could see on the x-rays when you observe this body i know in your report you talk about

post-mortem changes what do those what types of things do you look for in that when i'm looking for post-mortem changes i'm looking for any evidence of the passage of time after death there are certain changes that happen more or less sequentially one of those is the formation of rigor mortis where the body will become stiff and generally the limbs become stiff and you can't really move them and it'll stay that way for a period of time and then it'll start to pass um i look for color changes um as the body starts to decompose it'll start to darken and turn green and red um i look for lividity um lividity just means that once the blood is not circulating anymore all of the red cells in the body sink to the lowest part um and if it's been only a few

hours since death you can move the body and the lividity will shift around to the next lowest part but if enough time passes you can't shift it anymore it'll be fixed so all of these things would be something i would examine as part of my external exam what type of any what type of changes like that if any did you observe in Imani Moss in this case there was fixed lividity which indicates that the passage of at least several hours has taken place there was no fixed rigor it had already passed so that would indicate to me that at least a day or two had passed she was starting to turn green and and red and developing develop marbling changes and there was starting to be a strong odor to the body which also indicates the passage of time of at

least a day or two. Once you have done that do you take body measurements of when you're conducting an autopsy? Yes we measure what I refer to as the length because we can't measure it while they're standing it's not really a height but I measured the length of the body and we get a weight on a body scale. In this particular case what was the height or the length I should say as you said it's not truly a height but what was the length of amani moss her body was 50 inches in length and do you also when you do that do you calculate a percentile especially for a child um in what percentile they would be in in comparative to other children yes i compare that to a standard growth chart and for a 10 year old girl that length falls in the fifth percentile meaning

that approximately 95 percent of girls are the same height or taller and five percent of 10 year old girls are shorter than that with regard to weight were you able to weigh Imani Moss yes and what was her weight 32 pounds and what percentile did you also do a comparison into a percentile for that yes according to the standard growth charts a 10 year old girl should weigh somewhere between 54 and 103 pounds so this is at less than the fifth percentile were you able i know that you um then continue your external examination what is the next step that you do uh continuing the external exam we look at for evidence of injury of uh evidence of injury um so in this case uh there was the acute burning of her feet and one of her hands and the

right side of her body that happened at or around the time of death actually most likely after death it appeared to be a post-mortem damage to the body as opposed to an injury did you notice any type of marking or burn that was and what you attributed to have been in a healing state yes She also had a marking on her abdomen that looked similar to a burn in the healing stages. The skin was depigmented. It was lighter than the rest of her skin. And there were little dots on it where the skin pores would be, where the hair roots and the sweat glands would have been preserved. So this was a partial thickness burn. It didn't completely destroy all of the skin requiring a skin graft, but it at least took off the surface layers of the skin, which can regenerate from those hair follicles.

and with regard to that um we'll come back to that in a second because you're still doing your external external examination once you made note of that potential recent injury um do you then continue um and look at her head and other parts of her body yes was there anything of note that you noticed um when observing Imani at that time no there were no other um significant injuries that I could identify that would have directly caused her death. And when you say directly caused her death, are those the type of things that you're looking for in that external examination? Yes.

During the external exam, I look for evidence of blunt injuries, defects in the skin, other types of trauma, broken bones, and so forth, that would indicate some sort of trauma happening around the time of death. With regard, you said that there was some discoloration, the green or red had come there. Did you notice anything about her skin that would indicate how long she had been deceased? The color changes and the odor are generally associated with the passage of one to three days after death. Did she have what you would refer to as skin slippage? Yes, she did. Some areas of her body were starting to show some skin slippage. It's one of the changes that happens as decomposition starts to set in.

Before you did your internal examination, did you notice if there was any type of, and I think you might term it a defect or something, on her buttocks area? Yes, she actually had an area on her left buttock where the skin was worn away through the epidermis and through whatever small amount of fat was left on her buttocks. And so this was on the opposite side from where the burning was. So to me, this looked like something that may have been there before she died. Because of its location and because of the nature of the skin defect, it resembled to me a decubitus ulcer or a bed sore. Did you then move to an internal examination of Imani? Yes. What do you begin with, doctor? What is the first organ?

It's listed in my report as beginning with the heart. I don't always examine them in the order they're listed in my report. But her heart was roughly the normal size for her age. There were no anatomic changes to her heart that looked like she had heart disease. It looked like a normal heart. Tell me what other, and you can go in the order in which you examined or the order of your report, whatever is easiest for you. Tell me what you would do. All right.

Going on from there, her lungs, just with the naked eye, look to be normal size and weight. I also took some sections of the lungs to look at under the microscope, and we can talk more about that in a minute. I generally go on to the gastrointestinal tract. tract in this case in her stomach she had about a tablespoon of nondescript tan fluid it really didn't look like anything resembling food but just some non-specific fluid in her stomach nothing else abnormal about her gastrointestinal tract moving on to the liver her liver weighed 340 grams and ordinarily for a 10 year old girl it should weigh between 724 and 967 grams so her liver was less than half of what a normal liver should weigh

her kidneys were also small for her age they were below the normal the lower cutoff for normal weight. Everything else was appropriate size and configuration, the uterus and fallopian tubes. Her spleen only weighed 30 grams. The normal weight for a spleen in a 10-year-old girl is 60 to 119 grams. There were no fractures of her musculoskeletal system, but her skeletal muscles were extremely atrophied she looked very thin and had lost a lot of fat and muscle tissue so that she was more or less skin and bones her endocrine system looked normal there were no injuries of the neck her brain was about at the lower limit of weight for a brain but still within the normal range um so her the the brain weight was relatively preserved um although several of

her other organs were not preserved in weight and let's go back and talk about those because you said um you noted that the liver and the spleen specifically um were smaller than what you would have expected um let's talk about the liver first um dr softenberg what are some reasons for why um amani's liver could have been that size generally when a person um has been starved the organs and tissues that show the changes first are the ones where there's a lot of energy storage so fat is going to go early on muscle is going to go early on and the liver is going to go because it's a storage site for glycogen and so once all of the other sources of fuel in the body are used up then the liver starts to shrink as the body uses that for fuel as well you indicated

that you felt like the spleen was of a little bit smaller than normal size is that correct That's correct. With regard to that, the brain, you did indicate that the brain, what was indicative of the fact that the spleen was smaller? That goes along with all of the other findings in the organs. Generally, in starvation, the brain size is relatively preserved, whereas all of the other organs in the body will be smaller than expected. now um and i'm sorry did you answer let's turn to the brain the size of her brain um you said that did appear to be normal size or around this what should have been a normal size for a 10 year old is that correct that's correct and what if anything um did that indicate to you uh it's it's

a natural response during starvation that the body will try and preserve the brain at all costs So all resources available go towards the brain at the expense of other parts of the body. Now let's turn for a moment. You said you went through those. Let's talk about just very briefly, you said you found about a tablespoon of nonspecific fluid in her stomach. And when you say nonspecific, what could that fluid have been in her stomach at that point? Well, it wasn't recognizable as food, so it could have been something that was thoroughly digested, or it could have been a digestive fluid that had been secreted into the stomach. But there was really nothing that I could see in the stomach contents that resembled food.

With regard to that fluid, was there anything about that fluid that gave you pause as to whether that had anything to do with her cause of death? Not really. Moving on, when you do the examination of those, some other procedures that you do, do you typically test those potential gastric contents or any of her blood for any other unknown substances? yes we generally draw blood samples during an autopsy and test those for drugs and alcohol in this case we tested for blood alcohol which was negative barbiturates cannabinoids benzodiazepines cocaine and opioids and those were all negative we also tested for ethylene glycol which is antifreeze and that was negative as well in addition to the other specific drugs

of abuse i mentioned before a comprehensive drug panel was also negative so there were no prescription drugs or anything else found in her blood let me see if we can move on you also i think submitted an additional fluid sample is it vitreous is that how you say that word yes vitreous fluid that's the fluid that's in the eye we sent some vitreous fluid off to the shepherd center laboratory for electrolyte testing and specifically we had it tested for sodium chloride and urea nitrogen and generally in the case of dehydration all of those tests should be higher than normal in this with with regard to this case that's exactly what i was going to ask you next what type of results did you find in that regard

in this case we found that the sodium and chloride were more or less normal but the urea nitrogen is very high so either this is a case of dehydration where the sodium and chloride I haven't read the charts, and they're not elevated like the urea nitrogen is, or it's evidence of kidney failure or renal failure. And when you say kidney failure, what exactly happens in kidney failure? Well, the kidneys are supposed to filter the blood and take the wastes out and excrete them in urine. but if the kidneys are not working then they're not going to remove wastes instead the wastes will build up inside the blood and it can cause illness and death. Dr. Stauffenberg you obviously conducted the internal as well as the external examination I want to get to some of your findings

and then go back and kind of discuss some effects of that what do you then in your procedure make a summary of all of the findings that you find based on your internal and external examination yes i generally summarize all of my findings in an outline form and bullet points at the end of my exam and with regard to that what was one of the things that obviously you noticed about the physical appearance of Imani Moss well she was extremely thin and emaciated she had a starved And based on her weight and the loss of muscle mass and the fact that her organs were so small compared to the normal charts, I was able to conclude from that that she had died from starvation. and in your capacity as a medical examiner you rule a cause of death do you also rule a manner of death yes and what was the manner of death that you determine in this case with regards to

Imani Moss the manner of death is homicide with regard to that um let's go back and look at some of the the findings that you did have you mentioned um in fact the burn that was in the healing state let's talk about that for a moment um and where you saw that um you said that was located on her stomach area can you describe for the jury the size of that burn yes it was eight by eight and a half inches okay and you said it was in a healing state could you tell by the the type of burn that it was in that healing state are you able to determine what degree of burn it would have been it would be something that would um be called a partial thickness burn that's generally a first or second degree probably second degree because it looks like some of the surface skin

was lost but it's only a partial thickness meaning it's not a third degree burn because there are still sweat glands and hair follicles left for the skin to regenerate from if it's a third degree burn would that typically require skin grafting yes with a first or a second degree burn if you could in your expert opinion um is that still would that still be very painful um and open to infection yes with with the type of burn that you observed um would that be the type of burn where medical attention should be sought i would expect that um it should at least be looked at by a doctor um it's fairly extensive um i mean eight by eight inches is a fairly large area on the body of a child and it would be very painful i would think that um uh the the first reaction

when that happens would be to get medical attention right away you talked about um that you examined um the contents of her stomach you did the the drug screen paneling and looking for other things of that nature did you notice anything indicative of um amani moss ingesting any type of poison or chemical in any way no were there any signs that that had occurred either corrosive materials on her esophagus or her throat or anything of that nature no um if you look then moving to um let's talk about the starvation um you ruled this starvation um in your opinion do you know and can you describe for the jury um kind of the order or what would happen when somebody is being starved well the first thing that would happen in the early stages

they would experience hunger pangs she would probably feel hungry she would be asking for food looking for food craving food following that the next step would be um apathy um fatigue not able to do her usual activities and from there she would become more and more listless uh eventually lethargic and mental status changes uh she would not feel like moving around much she wouldn't have much energy um there would be extreme weight loss uh that would be visible and then finally death is your immune system in any way compromised when you are not obviously when you're starving or you're not eating eventually the immune system is going to be affected there's less ability to fight off infections in the later stages and i know you

cannot put a number of days i'm assuming you weren't able to put a number of days that amani may have gone without food. But have you, in your experience, known of studies with individuals that potentially are without water or food? Yes, there have been some studies done, mainly observatory or retrospective studies, where they look at people who have been deprived of food and water and this is these studies are generally done in adults where an adult has survived anywhere from 8 to 21 days when they're deprived of food and water when they're allowed fluids but not food they may survive for up to two months in a study of 10 hunger strikers who were all roughly in their 20s they found that they lasted anywhere from 53 to 73 days before death

and you said those were all studies that you are aware of that were done on adults are you aware of any studies that have been done on a child no when you talked about the different stages of starvation and ultimately the fatigue lethargy things of that kind of nature would that affect an individual's ability to walk or to get around yes she would have less and less energy less ability to walk around even if she was able she would be weak and probably unwilling Even if you are not ingesting food, are you still, as a human body, would you still be creating waste? Would you still need to urinate or defecate? Yes.

There's fluid that gets secreted into the stomach, and it's going to go through the GI tract just like food would. Any blood that's in the body is still going to get filtered through the kidneys. And so as long as the kidneys are able, they're going to keep making urine. i'm going to um show you some photographs i know you said that you documented your work in the autopsy that you did in just a moment i'm going to show them that is um dr sorenberg that is states ps107 and i believe you described is that's uh what is what is that this is a photograph of the body once it was removed from the trash can it's still wrapped in the garbage bag what we can see on the right side of the photograph is her two feet and you

can see that they're they're both very charred but there's still some remnants of her sock on the right foot and looking at state's exhibit ps 108 what is depicted in that it's a little closer view but it's also turned a little bit to the side but we can see in this photograph the body still inside the trash bag you can see a little bit of melting of the plastic on the side that's towards us her feet once again over at the right side of the photo and there's a defect towards the left side where you can see a little bit of the yellow fabric that's in that comforter i'm going to show you what's been admitted to evidence as ps112 and what is depicted in state's exhibit ps112 all right in this photograph the body is still partially inside the trash bag but the legs have

been partially exposed so you can see both of her feet showing there a little bit of the pink and white sock on the right foot the left sock is a little more charred you can see the duct tape around the knees and you can see a little bit of the comforter showing on the right side of her body and looking at state's exhibit ps109 when you look at this this is a little bit closer view but a different angle what is what do you see and what is highlighted in the in the photograph that you took here in this photograph we're looking at the left side of the body and you can see the duct tape around the knees and connecting to the rest of the body to hold her in that flexed position. The garbage bag is still in place. Once again, you can see the comforter up above her

knees. You indicated that ultimately you did, in fact, once you opened the bag and I think removed Imani from the bag I'm going to skip ahead to state's exhibit PS 113 and is this after Imani had been removed from the trash can and the bag and comforter yes in this picture the garbage bag has been removed she's been removed from the trash can and the comforter has been moved out of the way so what we can see here is her body with clothing and the duct tape around her legs and around her body and you had previously mentioned something about um the look that she had i know this photo is graphic but um does it depict the way her face um appeared to you at that particular time yes um her face looked um uh very thin to me it's what uh doctors describe as cachectic

um it's an appearance where the eyes get sunken into the sockets and um the normal fat that's in their cheeks is gone and it sinks in so that it just looks like skin over a skull i'm going to show you um what was previously marked and admitted into evidence it states that p116 the the measuring part of this tool is five centimeters and that's roughly two inches In this case, we can see that her arm is probably more like four centimeters in width. So, you know, picture how much that would be, and it just is an indicator that her arm is very thin. We can also, in this picture, see where the duct tape was removed across the outside of her left arm. and ultimately obviously to complete your examination you have to remove

the clothing from the body and also you ultimately removed all the duct tape is that correct that's correct and i'm going to show you what's been marked as state's exhibit ps 117 all right and what um is the injury that you previously talked about the injury in the healing state. Is that depicted in this particular photograph? Yes, that's on the abdomen. You can see where some of the pigment on the skin has been lost. That's part of this injury. It goes almost up to her ribs and all the way down to the groin areas on both sides. So even though eight by eight doesn't sound like, well, eight by eight and one half inches doesn't sound like a large size it actually is quite large on the body of a child so this area had been depigmented

and the skin has started to grow back so it's all covered over now but it hasn't completely healed in that the pigment has not returned and with regard to these markings here where you see that and you see that although those are discolorations what are the what was actually caused that discoloration that's from where the duct tape was placed um so she had duct tape around um her thigh and the lower leg to hold her knee flexed what is um what is this type of discoloration what what is that and maybe some of these injuries it appears to be injuries but you as a doctor can explain what those are um there are actually some larger areas um like on the end of the knee and underneath where the duct tape was where there's some white areas that's

areas of skin slippage and so that would be evidence of decomposition so once the body starts to decompose the skin will slide off and since all the pigment is in the epidermis once the skin slides off all the color is gone too and it just looks white underneath i'm going to show you what's been admitted as dating to the ps118 and is this a photograph in which you indicated that the decubitus ulcer that you notice on her left buttocks is visible yes it's that yellow area you can see part of it on the side of her left buttock so it's very dry but it's not really burnt the burning is on the right side of her body but the burning or there isn't really that much burning on the left side this is something that

was there before she was she was burnt in this picture you can also see burning of her left hand you can see a little bit of her feet there step down if you'd like to dr softenberg if you don't mind that would so that they know exactly and the ulcer that you were referring to if you could point that out. I'll point to that. This is part of the ulcer. It's on the side here, and it goes across the back as well. I was also pointing out that the hand here, the left hand, is charred just about down to the bone. The soles of the feet are charred, and also you'll notice how thin her legs are. We saw that her arm was very thin before, but you can see what her legs look like, and that her ribs are very prominent in this picture as well.

All of those factors that you just pointed out are those indicators of the cause of death that you determined to be starvation? Yes. Looking at State's exhibit PS120, I think you talked about the back of Amani was where you noticed the charring. Is that what you were referring to in what is depicted in this particular photograph? Yes. Let me point this out to you here. Right here on the left buttock, this is part of the decubitus ulcer.

So you can see we have skin, skin, skin, and then there's just this fat. But this appearance here is different from this appearance where we have all of this dark black charred injury. So the decubitus ulcer on the left side where there is the burning, And then the burning here on the left hip and side of the back. You indicated the charring, and I think there was one additional photograph, and then I think we're finished. This is stated that he has 119. You noticed extensive charring on the child's foot, on Imani's foot.

Is that correct? Yes. And was that, were the feet upward, did you say, or were they downward? The feet were up in the can. She was head first into the can. And with regard to the burning, I think you did say that there was, that you did, was there any indicating, any indicators that Imani was alive when the burning occurred? No. And based on your findings, was that a post-mortem infliction?

Yes, the burning is all post-mortem. You indicated previously that the manner of death was homicide. What are the factors, Dr. Stauffenberg, that led you to believe that in this particular case? The reason this was called a homicide is because she's a juvenile. And if a child has basic needs, they need to be met by somebody else who is caring for them. If they have a need for food, then the need should be supplied by a caregiver. if they have an injury or an illness the caregiver has a responsibility to take them to the doctor for care so in this case the fact that she

lost so much apparent weight without being either adequately fed or taken to the doctor to see why she's not um maintaining her weight then that would indicate a level of neglect on the part of the caregiver with regard to um your final examination and your conclusions was there anything were there any other um medical issues um any other trauma anything that you noted that could have caused her death other than starvation no that's all the questions i believe i have your honor cross-examination may this witness be excused she may your honor excuse me thank you for coming thank you your honor we're returning to 18b 1541-1 state of georgia versus tiffany nicole moss the defendant's

president along with standby council states council's president as well i am informed we have a verdict and i'll be bringing the jury in here momentarily just a note to our various observers. I have no idea what it is that the verdict might be. You might be happy with it. You might be unhappy with it. But whatever your reaction to the verdict is, don't react out where the jury can see it. Keep your feelings about the verdict to yourself. If you don't believe that you'll be able to do that, please step outside at this point in time. Please bring our jury. you can be seated thank you very much welcome back ladies and gentlemen i am informed you have a verdict is that correct yes your honor we do is it unanimous yes has it been signed

by your foreperson it has please give it to the bailiff this is the jury's verdict in case 18b 1541-1 this is the state of georgia versus tiffany nicole moss verdict count one murder we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder count two felony murder we the jury find the defendant guilty of felony murder count three felony murder we the jury find the defendant guilty of felony murder count four cruelty to children in the first degree we the jury find the defendant guilty of cruelty to children first degree count five cruelty to children first degree we the jury find the defendant guilty of cruelty to children first degree count six concealing the death of another

we the jury find the defendant guilty of concealing the death of another signed and dated by the floor person. Please give it to counsel and the defendant for their review is to form. Any exceptions to the form of the verdict by the state? No, we don't. Any exceptions to the form of the verdict by the defense? No. Does the state wish a poll of the jury? Does the defense wish a poll of the jury?

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, there are some matters that we need to take up outside of your presence. If you'll please remember the instructions I gave you previously and go out with our bailiffs. Thank you. We're returning to 18B-1541-1, State of Georgia v. Tiffany Nicole Moss. The defendant's present along with standby counsel, state's counsel's present as well. I am informed that we have a verdict. Please bring our jury.

Yes, sir. You can be seated. Thank you very much. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm informed you have a verdict. Is that correct? Correct. Is it unanimous?

Yes, it is, Your Honor. Has it been signed by your foreperson? It has. Please give it to the bailiff. This is the jury's verdict in Case 18B-1541-1, State of Georgia v. Tiffany, Nicole Moss, Count 1, Findings of Jury as to Alleged Statutory Aggravating Circumstances. We, the jury, find beyond a reasonable doubt that the offense of murder as alleged in Count 1 was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman in that it involved torture of the victim before death. We, the jury, find beyond a reasonable doubt that the offense of murder, as alleged in Count 1, was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman in that it involved depravity of mind of the defendant, signed and dated by the foreperson. Verdict as to penalty, Count 1, murder, we, the jury, recommend and fix the penalty as death, signed and dated by the foreperson.

Please give it to counsel for their review, Mr. Foreman. Any exceptions to the form of the verdict by the state? None from the state. Any exceptions to the form of the verdict by the defense? our jury's been excused we'll proceed immediately to sentencing is there anything that the state would like to say before i impose sentence on the defendant no your honor the jury's spoken miss moss if you'd stand up for me please ma'am is there anything that you'd like to say before i

impose sentence ma'am ma'am with respect to count one the jury has found you guilty of murder and other counts contained in the indictment against you, they have considered the circumstances surrounding that murder and found that aggravating circumstances exist. With respect to count one, ma'am, I impose a sentence of death. Counts two and three are vacated by operation of law. They're felony murder charges. Counts four and five, the cruelty charges, of course, merge. With respect to count six, I impose a 20-year sentence to be served in confinement, ma'am. With respect to things that you should also be considering, ma'am. You should understand that the law requires that the date of execution be scheduled by the court at this time. OCGA section 17-10-34 requires that

the court set the date of execution not less than 20 days or more than 60 days from today's date, and there's a seven-day window within which the execution is to take place. I fix the date of your execution, ma'am, as the seven-day interval between noon on June the 7th, 2019 and noon on June the 14th, 2019. Ma'am, do you understand the sentence that I've imposed in this case? All right, ma'am. That concludes our proceedings. You may go with the deputies.

Thank you. That concludes our proceedings.