Georgia Woman Sentenced to Death for Starving Stepdaughter, 10, and Burning Her Body in Trash Can

A Georgia woman who was found guilty Monday of starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter down to 32 pounds and setting fire to her emaciated b...

A Georgia woman who was found guilty Monday of starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter down to 32 pounds and setting fire to her emaciated body in a trash can has been sentenced to death.

On Monday, a jury in Gwinnett Countyconvicted Tiffany Moss, 36, of killing her stepdaughter Emani Moss in 2013, multiple outlets including ABC affiliate WSB-TV, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Fox 5 Atlanta report.

Tiffany Moss, 36, of Georgia | Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

She was found guilty on all 8 counts, including murder, malice murder, cruelty to children and trying to conceal a death, ABC affiliate WSB-TV, the AJC, and Fox 5 Atlanta report.

On Tuesday morning, the jury recommended the death penalty for her, WSB-TV and other outlets report.

Moss sat stone-faced when she learned her fate, which is how she reacted during the trial, where she represented herself and said very little, the outlets report.

She made no opening statement or closing argument and called no witnesses, the Associated Press reports.

Before the jury made its decision to sentence Moss to death, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter argued that she didn’t deserve a sentence of life with parole, the AJC reports.

“She’s shown you too much of her capacity for cruelty,” he said. “There will always be that dark side waiting to come out.” 

He added: “She’s never going to think about that child again.”

When the judge asked Moss if she wanted to say anything in her defense while discussing the possibility of the death penalty, she simply said, “No sir,” WSB-TV reports.

‘Emani Lived With the Evils of This World’

During the trial, jurors learned of the horrors the child endured during her short life and how she died alone in her room while the rest of her family carried on as usual.

“She died on Oct 29 alone in that bed, in her own filth and her own waste while her own brother ran around outside playing,” Gwinnett County Asst. District Attorney Lisa Jones said in closing arguments Monday morning, local station 11 Alive reports.

Emani Moss, 10 | Facebook

“While this defendant sat watching TV and cooking lasagna, Emani died alone in a room while all that life was going on around her,” Jones said.

“Emani Moss lived with the evils of this world,” Jones said, Fox 5 Atlanta reports. “That child was nothing to her.”

After Moss and Emani’s father, Eman Moss, 35, tried to get rid of the girl’s body by putting her in a garbage can he’d bought at Home Depot, they “set her on fire and turned their backs because they couldn’t watch what they did to this child,” Jones said, the AJC reports.

Eman Moss is serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after pleading guilty in August 2015 for his role in his daughter’s death and agreeing to testify against his wife in lieu of the state seeking the death penalty against him, the AJC reports.

In the days before the little girl died, her father said he found his daughter in the bathtub, shaking violently with her eyes rolling from side to side, the AJC reports.

He put her on a mattress on a bedroom floor — but did not call for medical help.

Asked why he didn’t call 911, he replied, “I’m not God,” the AJC reports.

Police arrested Eman Moss after finding his daughter inside the trash can near their apartment, the AJC reports.