The Murder of Emani Moss
01:01:05 Share

It's summertime and it is officially self-care season. How are you taking care of yourself? Are you working out? Are you eating healthy using that sunscreen that you're supposed to use? Well, whether you're off to the pool, hiking, or traveling this summer, you can bring your microbiomes with you too. That's right.

Seeds DS01 Daily Symbiotic benefits your gut, skin, and heart health with just two capsules a day. I've been really trying to figure out my health journey. I've been telling you guys about this, especially since I'm 30. And one thing I've noticed is that my gut...

I have to make sure that this is all the way together. And Seeds DS01 Daily Symbiotic has been so great for me. Your body is an entire ecosystem and your gut is the central hub for various pathways through your body. And a healthy gut microbiome means benefits for digestion, skin health, heart health and immune system and so much more. And trust me, this is backed by science. A lot of science.

So support your gut this summer with Seeds DS01 Daily Symbiotic. Go to seed.com slash sisters and use code 25sisters to get 25% off your first month. That's 25% off your first month of Seeds DS01 Daily Symbiotic at seed.com slash sisters. Code 25sisters. I love being outside. And when I mean being outside, I mean going to events.

concerts, baseball games, basketball games, anything that you can think of. I love being just in the mix. My family has a tradition of going to the Braves game every single year and I haven't missed a year yet. And this year buying tickets is going to be easier than ever with the Game Time app. I'm using the Game Time app to buy Father's Day Braves tickets for my cousin and for the rest of my family and we'll all get together. And the deals that I see for these seats are a

So much cheaper than they would have been going through any other app or the team website. I can customize my spot. They've got flash deals. And I am so excited about all the MLB games that I will be able to see this year because finally there's something in my budget. You can save up to 60% off when buying last minute tickets for sports, concerts,

comedy theaters, anything that you can get a ticket for. And trust me, it is the lowest price guaranteed. And you know that means a lot to me. And if you find a price that's lower, don't you worry your pretty little head. Game Time will credit you 110% of the difference. Now that is a guarantee that I can work for.

So take the guesswork of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code SISTAS to get $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem with the code SISTAS to get $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed.

What's going on everybody? My name is Marah. And I'm Tazzy. And welcome back to Sisters Who Kill. How are you, friend? I'm doing well. I am doing well. It has been a long week. I can't believe we came out with an episode. Listen, I felt pressured after the response from this first one. I'm like, I hope they love the second one as much. I was doing really good on this episode. Make sure I research it just as well. I'm prepared. Yeah, I think that this episode is...

Really great to follow up on. Just please note that today's episode deals with horrible crimes against minors dealing in death and a system that failed to protect this young black girl. And also we use a lot of foul language. So let's get into the players. Okay, so let's start with our victim. Our victim is Imani Moss. Her father was Iman Moss. Her grandmother was on her dad's side. Iman's mom was Robin Moss. And her aunt on that side was Sharonise Moss.

On the opposite side, her stepmom, she was not raised by her mom, she was raised by her dad and her stepmom, is named Tiffany Moss. This is Moss' wife. And then we have her mother, Pearlie Bashir, who is Imani's stepgrandmother. In like a brief moment, you might hear about Brittany, who is just Tiffany's sister.

We'll tell you when we get there. Right. In the early hours of November 2nd, 2013, the police get a phone call. The frantic phone call, it's a man on the other end, and he is calling saying, I'm about to kill myself. So the police are headed towards, they're thinking they're going to a suicide call. The man on the other end of the phone identifies himself as 30-year-old Iman Moss. So as the 911 call continues, 911 officials, when they're testifying, he says, okay, so...

I'm going to this call thinking that it's a suicide attempt. And then while I'm on the call and he's on nine, he's at nine one one, I'm headed towards the call. They're like, okay, there might be somebody already dead there. So I'm headed towards the call. I'm headed towards the apartment complex. And then it's like, okay, there may be a minor there. And it's like, I'm headed towards the apartment and it's like, okay, there may be a minor dead there. And he's arriving. He's like, okay, what is happening? Right. I wish I could get that nine one one call, but it has to be released. And Amon hasn't signed that out.

He's headed over there and he finds Iman. He's, I guess, crying or whatever and upset. And the police ask him, where's the minor child? And with a shaky finger, he points across the street to this grassy area where there is a trash can and two trash bags. And there, police find the body of 10-year-old Imani Moss.

Now, Imani Moss was born April 23rd, 2003, and she was born already addicted to drugs. Her mom lost custody of her, and so all rights, all custody was with her dad, Iman Moss. Seeing from jump, mom's not in a position to do this. Right. She kind of just is relying on dad. It's just them two sticking it out for a couple of years. In 2007, Iman and Imani meet Tiffany at church, and everybody seemed to get along nice or whatever. Yeah.

They took it slow. They started off as friends. And they turned into lovers. As they do. In church. So July comes around 2009. And they get married. They're hitched. Iman says at this point, Tiffany and Iman had never had any issues with each other. Right. There never seemed to be any problems. And at this time, they don't even have a place of their own. They stay in with Iman's homeboy. It's Iman, Imani, and Tiffany. But Tiffany finds out that she's pregnant.

It's a baby. So they had kids pretty quickly and back to back. So they ended up having two, a son, Tristan, and later a daughter, Emma. Let's move on to March 2010. So right now they're all living together. Imani gets a report card that is about to go home saying that she got a bad grade or whatever.

And Imani then is crying to her teacher. She said, I don't want to take home this bad report card because I'm going to get in a lot of trouble. I'm going to get in a lot of trouble. So if you're a teacher, I teach everybody. If a kid says something like that to you, if they say something close to like that to you,

you are a mandatory reporter. You have to say something. So the teacher takes her to the school nurse, you know, just to make sure everything okay because the kid has made a serious accusation. There's welts and scratches and bruises all over her body. So then D-Fax is called by the school nurse that checks Imani's body. Right. So then she says, my stepmom, Tiffany, beat me. Tiffany gets arrested. Dad has to leave work and come see what the hell is happening at the police station. Niggas hate to leave work. And Tiffany pleads guilty

to simple matter but she told police that she only whipped Imani three times the school nurse wrote down that there were cuts and marks all over her body and some of them weren't fresh like she got a whooping that day like Tiffany was claiming

So Tiffany pleads guilty and she gets five years probation. During that time, Imani goes over to grandma immediately after the report. Imani stays with grandma for about six months. Grandma says she thrived. There's actually a recording of grandma saying that like she came over there and she was very scared. She said she dropped the glass in the kitchen and Imani ran and cried. And grandma was like, this is grandma Robin, by the way, Imani's mom. She was like, it's okay.

You dropped glass. We just gonna sweep it up. We'll buy a new glass tomorrow. Just put some shoes on your feet. You know how they do. That's such a grandma thing. She said, go put your shoes on your feet in case I miss something. But it's okay. That's replaceable. And she's like, I just like had to show her. Like, she didn't have to be afraid of everything. She said I could tell that she was hurt. And I didn't want her to leave me. I knew that she was better off with me. Ugh.

So even her grades got better there. Not that she was doing bad in school, but, you know, she was struggling with at-home responsibilities. And things were just a lot better at Grandma's house. But Iman and Tiffany took parent... Tiffany had to do anger management. Right. Iman said he, on his own, decided to take a parenting class. And he said, I learned there was other ways to punish a kid besides hitting them. But my thing is, like, you weren't the one disciplining your child. Someone else was. You know... I mean...

I'm black. I got a spanking. But there's also a line, and you know that line, but also you put that line on somebody else to discipline your child. I don't have to say stepmom, but that's not your mama. Right. Y'all have to have, like, a real serious, like, serious I'm calling you mom vibe for you to be able to do that. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. That was your responsibility all the way through, disciplining your own child.

Tiffany, it just so happens, worked as a preschool teacher. When she got this situation with defects, she could no longer teach. Right. She can't work with kids. This was the last time she worked. She, from here on out, decided that she was going to be a housewife. Right. So this is fall 2010, and she got five years probation. So she pled guilty. First offenders, she would have been off probation in fall of 2010.

2015 and could have just got a fresh start and went back to you this was the last time sis worked which ultimately meant that all the financial responsibility was on my mind so at this point you know he was back and forth living with pearly who is tiffany's mom staying with whoever then moving into his own apartment and then staying with whoever and moving into his own apartment

And Tiffany don't want to get pregnant again. Yep. Gets pregnant with their second child. It's, it's set and sewn. He's got to work these two jobs. And so like when he talks about his work schedule, you see that he's spending a good three hours a day awake at the house. And it's so funny. The white lawyer was like, so what are you doing between? He was like, sleep. Sleep.

the fuck would you do with your free time and the only time my mom was with the kids was on the weekends when he would let Tiffany go hang out with her mama and him July 25th Imani runs away Tiffany says that the door opens and she hears the door she texts Imani she calls Imani she's like look I'm not dealing with this today she ran away so even though she ran away at 9 30 the police weren't called until 11 30 but

because that's the time that he got home and she wasn't finna call. It wasn't until 1245 that she was found sleeping in the bushes outside of her apartment on a rainy night. There's no pussy that good to let somebody be doing your child like this. He came home. His child had already been run away for two hours. So what? She's like eight at the time? I teach eight-year-olds. Eight, nine, ten. They know right from wrong. They know.

know a lie from the truth. They know what's good and bad. They know that stuff and they know how to get out of situations if they think something is bad for them. They're not babies. They have some sense. And if this little baby is running away to sleep in a bush on a rainy night, I would try to run away from home. And I didn't get past the front door.

But the police officer, instead of taking her away from the situation, brings her right on back and he charges Imani with runaway and curfew violations. And he says in court that he just did this so that she would be able to be in front of a judge. She gets handed right back into the hands. Because she gets in front of a judge and she says, nothing, your honor, which she's fucking scared. Right. She's just, ugh.

But I will say, he didn't just send it to the judge. He also sent it to defects. Right. The teacher or the nurse called defects. So, like, that's what we say is call defects. They're doing that. So, their child, this is a literal child screaming and running for help. And then later she says that during that incident, Tiffany would tie her up with belts and then put her into a cold shower. And Tiffany, of course, like, that's not true. Kids. Kids these days, what are you going to do? You know what she said? She said, what?

That girl just went already last week because I told her she couldn't spend the night at her friend's house. She just do this all the time. I would want to spend the night at my friend's house if I wasn't eating at home. Which brings us to Mother's Day 2013. Now, this is where everybody is already like, what the fuck is happening in this house? What the fuck is happening with Imani? Imani's family is like, we already don't fuck with that bitch, Tiffany. Like, what the fuck is happening? They haven't seen her because they moving around wherever. And they go on a visit family with grandma and auntie Moss.

So they get over there. Robin, who is the grandma, she's commenting on Imani's appearance. And she's like, she lost weight. She's asking Imani, can I have custody of her? She better off living with me. Imani said in his heart, he knew it would have been the best place. But his pride wouldn't let him. Niggas in a pride. They don't have shit else but pride and audacity.

So, Grandma Robin says, you know, it's not just weight that this baby is losing. What happened to her hair? Now, if you look at pictures of Imani, she used to rock these pigtails that reach her shoulders. Y'all know the twist with the bobos at the end? When we in the shoulders, we know we got hang. You can't tell us shit. Okay.

You know, this guy. An uneven fro. So they're like, you know, what happened? Iman says he wasn't there when it happened, but Tiffany told him that she did it herself. He said he asked Imani and she gave the same story. Oh, I did it myself. He says, I didn't completely believe her.

But I didn't look into it either. You know, I just left it at that. He says how he asked her. He says, like, Tiffany said you did this to your hair. Is that what happened? Of course she's scared. She's scared of Tiffany. Yeah. He says he doesn't believe it. So they leave the house. And you know, it's once you leave and you get on the phone, you get that private line when you start saying how you really feel. So his good sis, Sharonice, calls.

calls him on the phone and she is very upset and she said how come when mama asked tiffany what happened to her hair why was tiffany's response if you act ugly you look ugly i i have always gotten to saying god don't like ugly you could like make her wear ugly outfit to the store you know but you act ugly you look ugly so what we gonna do about you tiffany shit

So after that situation, Grandma and Auntie file reports with DFACS. Imani tries to run away from the home multiple times after being returned, and she's always returned to her dad. She runs away, returned to her dad. You know, despite having these issues at home, Imani thrived at school. Right. Her teacher, Ms. Nils, you know, she taught her through the 12-2013 school year. She tested. She was precious. It was a blessing to have her in my classroom. The only outburst that I ever had was...

She cried because we had these behavior sheets that we had to write on just to keep a record. And I was going to write down that she didn't complete her homework. And she cried and cried. And I told her it would be okay. Yeah, she completed all her projects. And she was a wonderful friend.

to every student, even a bully, that she tried so hard to be friends with on a daily basis. At the end of her fourth grade year, Imani was removed from public school and began being homeschooled. So, you know, I looked into it and said, what do you have to show that you can homeschool? You know what you need? What? A declaration saying I'm homeschooling this kid. That's it. It is a statistical fact.

fact a lot of kids their only safe place is school and that's why COVID hit people so hard because like abused women you are now in the house all the time with your abuser abused children you are now trapped in the house all the time with your abuser like the rates have gone so far up with COVID so knowing this why is there not a procedure and a place to decide is this a good fit for the child to be homeschooled

Because Tiffany can't even teach in public. She is currently on probation for beating this child. Now she is homeschooling. Now she is with this child 24-7. No one looked into that. Move on up to October 24, 2013. Now, Imani is already being homeschooled at this point. They had just moved into this apartment September. I don't even know their address. She said, I don't even know how to reach them. And didn't know where they lived.

So, Amon comes home from his first job and experiencing car trouble. This is October 24th, 2013. He usually would grab a nap at this time, but he had to run to an auto parts store. He's trying to fix his car before his next job. He stops by the house. He puts on his uniform. He heads back out. His boss is at his second job. Hears of his car trouble. He says, take the rest of the day off. Fix your shit. Amon returns home and he stays outside till the late hours. About 10.30, work on his car because he said if he don't go to the car fair...

face he can't go to work if he can't go to work can't provide for his family so he gotta go to work okay so he goes inside and so he claims that he did not go inside from the time that he arrived to the time early from work until about 10 30 at night so tiffany messaged him saying she done fed all the kids so he assumes everybody's sleep when he walks in tiffany began speaking about this new dish she made look babe i cooked

He leaves out the kitchen and Tiffany calls for him to come to the bathroom because something's wrong with Imani. Imani is in the tub having a seizure. Imani could barely speak. Her eyes are shifting left and right. And Imani should just go into the hospital. But Tiffany said she couldn't. And she didn't give an explanation of why. She was like, nah. And he just left it at that. So instead, they took her to her bedroom and they put her in bed. Over the next few days, Imani never got out of this bed.

Well, when she did get out of bed, it was more so crawling to a section of her room just to use the bathroom so that she didn't have to go into bed. And that was when she had enough energy to do so. A lot of the time, she ended up just going in the bed. Mm-hmm.

So, Amon says at this point he begins trying to spoon feed her infamil. And he said, is this one working? Like, what do you mean it didn't work? He says, beyond repair. Beyond repair. Your child is so malnourished that she's past the point. And how he said it in court, it's... How did it get that bad in the first place? And y'all know what the craziest part about this story is? Is that there are two other kids in the household and there is no sign of abuse.

And I just feel like even if Tiffany hated this girl, there's no reason. Even if that dad was at the house three hours a day, you put eyes on her and you saw that she was not right. So that's on October 24th. And then on October 28th, Tiffany...

Tiffany says once again hey babe I cook and sends him a nice little pizza a little lasagna and shit she getting experimental and she's cooking and she sends that around 11 a.m. now mind you that means that Iman is about to get off in about two hours from his overnight job but before that happens Tiffany calls Iman at work and lets him know Iman is dead no nothing no sad just she gone did Iman leave work you ask

No, the fuck he didn't. He finished his shift. And then he headed home. When he got home, though, he goes home. Baby's in the pack and play. Two-year-old is running around. Tiffany watching TV. Where's Imani, you ask? Upstairs. Laid out. On the floor. So when Imani's like, all right, it's time to call the police. Tiffany says, no, I'm on probation. Can't have that. Can't have that. What about our other two, you know? Don't want to lose them. So what does Imani do? He says...

And he gets his shit, puts on his uniform, and goes to his second job. Then he goes to his next job on the 29th. Where's Imani, you ask? Moved from her room to the computer room so that Tiffany could wash up the mattress, buy new sheets so that they can keep that bed. Imani is saying that he's grieving. He comes home. He sits with Imani. He grieves. Whatever the fuck that is. He's at work. He's out of it. And he goes and he speaks to Tiffany. And she said, listen, we can't just keep the body. We're going to have to hide it on some criminal minds type stuff.

They said, did she say Criminal Minds? He said, yeah. So let's go to October 30th. And he goes to Walmart. Now y'all know that Walmart is the top flight security of the world. Okay, especially in Atlanta. But what does he do? In his green Echo Red, he's buying charcoal, a tin trash can, and lawn trash bags. Because it's his plan. He says, okay, I gotta figure out Criminal Minds type shit. I'm gonna cremate the body. Like the fucking dumbass that he is. Got it. Cool.

And he brings inside the trash bags. Halloween, guys. October 31st. Back to work because the bill is due on the 1st. Imani is still in the computer room. Tiffany is also following her normal routine of feeding only her children and watching TV. She also made sure to log in to Imani's

online homeschool Connect Academy to do her work so that she would not appear missing. Criminal minds type shit. Let me tell you their criminal minds type plan, all right? They're going to get rid of her and then they're going to say that she ran away. Mm-hmm. Because Imani has a history of running away and they were going to be grieving parents. And it's a lot of cases where it starts off with grieving parents and we find out that they actually did it. Right. So that was what Tiffany's master plan was. So remember, it's still Halloween. Mm-hmm.

So she got her kids dressed up and they went trick-or-treating. They took pictures. So they still went trick-or-treating. She went over to her sister Brittany's house and they was taking pictures. Like, oh girl, you cute. Yeah, you cute. Send that to me. They have all the pictures in there of them just having a good old time. And Amon says, Tiffany's pushing him to get rid of this body, but he just doesn't want to do it. He really does not want to do it.

We're going to move on to the next day. And finally, he got to nerve to get rid of the body. After work, of course. Getting off of his second job, he goes to the computer room and Tiffany comes in to help him. He moved her to the room, unwrapped her, and Rick and Mortis had already started to set in. Rick and Mortis sets in on the first day.

So he says, "Vicamortis had already set in and the body was hard to bend, so they had to duct tape her together. So together they forced her legs folded and they forced her arms by her side and duct taped them down. They put her in a lawn bag. The trash can was still in the car. Imani was in one trash bag and her soil bed spread and her clothes were in another.

He puts both of the bags in the back of the trailblazer with Iman and Tiffany and they two kids. This is like a toddler and a baby, y'all. Puts both of them in the back of the car and drive around looking for a place to drop the body off.

Tiffany is like, okay, we need to hurry up and find us a place to take the body. They drive around and they end up in rural-ass Suwannee by some wildlife place. He decides that he's going to try to cremate the body, so he puts down the coal, puts on the lighter fluid. After five minutes, he realized that it wasn't going to work because bones don't burn like that. You cremate a body at 1,800 degrees Celsius?

So puts the lid on top of it to smother the fire. Has to wait. So he burned the body for five minutes, then has to wait 15 minutes for the can to cool because it's a metal can. So clearly these aren't smart people that we're talking about. They're not the brightest. All of the times to call the police. I mean, you know, it's fuck 12 over here. Right. But out of all the times. This is the time. This is the time. So Tiffany couldn't bear to see it. Uh-huh. That bitch couldn't bear to see it. Turns her back. They smother the fire. Has to put the trash can back into the trailblazer. Put it back in the trailblazer and then they go back.

home they go back home tiffany gets the kids out and then amon heads you guessed it to work he heads to work and where is amani on this day she's still in the back of the trailblazer in the trash can amon is feeling it's finally after days and days has finally gotten to him he says his supervisor pulled him over and was like what's wrong with you he said i almost told her everything after work he hits up his cousin rudy he was like look cousin rudy

Rudy is the realest nigga in this story. He calls up Cousin Rudy and he's like, hey man, meet me at the quick trip. It's some shit going the fuck down. I need somebody to talk to. So he goes and he talks to Rudy. Well, Rudy gets in the car and he just blinks it out. Imani's dead. She in the backseat. Rudy said, uh-uh, nigga, get me out this car. Rudy had the most sense out of everybody in this fucking story. At that point, I pulled the car over and let Rudy out the car.

the car so he gets out of the car he tells rudy he was like i did something stupid man i don't know what to do rudy said call 9-1-1 that's what the fuck you should do yep so amanda goes home and he says tiffany baby i'm sorry but we're gonna have to call the cop and she's like no you're gonna get me in trouble i'm on probation we can't have that he said i have to i have

have to and I mean it this time Tiffany said alright bet let me change clothes let me put some clothes on the baby let me pack some things I'm about to go to my mama house and you go ahead and you call the motherfucking police and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take Imani's body and all her trash bags and the trash cans out of the car take the trailblazer and I'm out of here and that brings us to our 911 call on November 2nd Imani obviously was arrested on the spot pretty much they found Tiffany the next day Tiffany girl

girl, what the fuck kind of escape plan did you think that you was going to motherfucking do? Because what she does is she goes to her mama house, drops off the kids. She says, look, it's like three, four o'clock in the morning. Bangs on door, says, mama, you got to take these kids. Don't let them take my kids. Like, okay. Goes into her sister room, wakes her sister up and says, no questions asked. I need you to take me somewhere.

And so you have a tricky deal to be put in. I'm the only child, but you got sisters. Like if your sister came in and banged on her and said, hey, I need you to take me somewhere. No questions asked. I feel like I don't have any sisters, but honestly, it depends on what sister you're talking about.

And that's just real shit. That's your only sister. I think this is her only sister. There was no others. See, I have four to choose from. Well, her sister says, all right, no questions asked, gets in the car, drives her somewhere, drops her off, doesn't know where the fuck she is. According to the sister, she knows nothing. And as soon as she pulls back up at her mama house where she is staying, the police are there. They got the kids. They're like, oh, glad you're here. We want to speak to you. Amon pleads guilty and he gets life without parole.

A condition of this plea deal is he has to testify against Tiffany. Which is very weird. I guess if he was truly remorseful, this would be the thing to do. Yeah, I guess this was his redemption thing.

If you're listening to this, you probably already know what I'm about to say. That today is the day for you to start your podcast. You have everything that you need. Your computer, a little microphone, and Spotify for podcasters. It is the all-in-one platform where you can host, edit, and record your podcast and distribute it everywhere. Where you're listening right now, you can have your podcast there. I promise. For real. And it's free. And you can make some money off of your podcast. For free. For free.

Free money. Free money is out there. Just go get it by starting your podcast today. Streaming October 6th on Paramount+. First place I learned about death was the Pet Sematary. Dead things buried in that land would come back. There's something else. Something's wrong with Timmy. He needs time to adjust. That's not Timmy. Something's fucking driven him.

sometimes dead is better pet cemetery bloodlines rated r streaming only on paramount plus let's jump to the pre-trial hearing we have judge george hutchinson for this this is a white man tiffany initially she has two capital defense attorneys they are from the state capital defender's office which had not had a client sentenced to death in over four years decided that she wanted to defend herself her lawyers urged her to take a

plea deal for life without parole this is the same plea deal that amon got and the judge asked why do you want to represent yourself and just said i already expressed that i did not wish to plead guilty which led me to further come to the conclusion that it would be my best interest to represent myself so basically those lawyers weren't saying what the fuck she wanted them to say so she said bet i'm gonna do it myself there are two people that i know that have represented themselves in court

Ted Bundy. And then a successful one was Afani Shakur. She won that one. The judge urged her to reconsider representing herself. He even told her, he's like, "Listen, my daughter has a traffic ticket and I got her a lawyer because I think it's important that somebody who knows the law handle this case as opposed to you handling this case. That was a traffic ticket. You're facing the death penalty. You're playing with your life." She says, "I'm confident in my decision and I'm standing by it. I wish to represent myself."

He said, have you been preparing for this case? And she said, basically was doing nothing. She had not been to a law library. She had not went through discovery.

She didn't even make a list of witnesses. She did nothing. She said she was preparing more in a spiritual sense. Okay, girl. She was going to leave it in God's hands. Okay, girl. Famous last words. You remember that. The judge was like, I mean, I guess I'm going to allow her to represent herself, but I don't know if I should allow her to represent herself. So he sent her to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said, she's of sound body and mind. It is her right to represent herself. If you are

legally seen as sane, you are able to do it. It is your right. America, like, this is what the white man fought for because this is what white men love. She has the right to do that. This ain't no, like, a village raise a child where somebody steps in and says, oh no,

no, no, this ain't right. She decided she wants to do it. Famous last words, motherfucker. And that is, that is what you get. So I was having trouble like, you know, understanding this right until they put it into the perspective of just the same way somebody has the right to refuse treatment. There are plenty of people who know if they don't get treatment, they are going to die, but that is their wish. And I fully respect that. Right. So in this same sense,

She is facing the possibility of death, but it's her full-on right to refuse counsel. Some people even speculated. They was like, is this a drawn-out suicide attempt? Maybe. Maybe she enjoys the torture, but she basically just lays herself at the foot of the law and says, this is what it is. She didn't know much law to lay herself at the foot of it.

He says, I'll allow you to represent yourself, but you will have two backup counselors. That will be Brad Gardner and Emily Gilkert. They're sitting like two rows back. Tag me in, coach, please. Like, they are ready. So finally, the judge is like, okay, can I get you anything? Is there anything that you need? Please. And is there anything that you need to assist you in the preparation for your trial? She says, you know what? Pencils would be great. And he's like, uh, she's like, yes, please.

y'all seen like Orange is the New Black or like Wentworth any basic prison show you can't have pencils you could kill yourself or somebody else or put somebody's life in danger you are a high profile maximum security prisoner you are not allowed to have number two motherfucking pencils you lost that right when you decided to torture a

Innocent poor little girl. Let's go to April 15th, 2019. It took six years to go to trial. We start off with opening statements. It's the first day. Prosecution presents the case as a Cinderella story going worse. It is though.

It is. She had the evil stepmother. She had the two of us. She cared about her kids. Didn't care about Cinderella. And it also says that Imani, like, loved her little brother. Adored them. Loved those kids, but she was just treated like shit by this evil stepmother. And it's the saddest thing ever.

Also on day one, they put Robin on the stand. Robin talks about Mother's Day 2013. Says that's the last time she saw her granddaughter alive. Talked to Imani's fourth grade teacher, who was Lisa Neal. And she describes Imani as precious, precious, precious, precious. Everybody. Some little kids, they are just emotional. It seems like at that time, obviously, Imani wasn't saying like, I'm abused. Right, like she was earlier. At that point, she had been like,

trained how to cover up this abuse because it had been happening to her for years. And she was still stuck in the situation. And she was stuck in the situation. Even when she did say something, nothing was done. Nothing happened. When other people said something, nothing was done. Nothing was done. And it probably wasn't even that nothing was done. Nothing was done with defects. She probably went home and still got in trouble for the shit that she was saying. Of course, she may have cried maybe because she was having a moment that day, but she also wasn't saying, like, I'm being hit at home because she knew what the outcome was going to be. And the outcome was going to be nothing. Nothing.

or getting hit more, or being withheld from food more. So the damage had already been done. The training, like kids are, it's very easy to manipulate a child's mind and let them know what is right and what is wrong and what to say and what not to say. That's the formative years. Right. And so by this time, this had been happening for, I'm guessing five years at this point, but on record, three years. So she knew. She knew. So I think at this time, Tiffany's getting smarter and she knows how to abuse it. People won't.

Because she's still not speaking outwards again. Everybody's saying, I don't see any signs of abuse. But I think there is a history of abuse and that should be enough. Right. And you are now allowing her. Remember at this point, you guys, she is at home homeschooled.

By Tiffany. So she doesn't even have the teachers to run to. So day two, husband testifies, which is basically where we got the story from because, let me tell y'all, Tiffany, we are past opening statements. They said, would you like to give an opening statement? No, Your Honor. They said, would you like to cross-examine his witness? No, Your Honor. She has not said a word since day three comes. First, we hear from the medical examiner, Michelle Stauffenberg.

At this point, Tiffany is looking down the entire time. Basically has not participated. But she looks attentive. What she does is she does gel pen. She writes. She looks up. She looks down. She writes hand to chin. Looks up. Looks down. Writes again. And when we get to the medical examiner, and so the medical examiner basically takes us through the process.

process or the stages in which she examined the body. So she says, first I do an external examination. It says she was emaciated. She was quite literally skin and bone. It was very evident that this child was starved. Her face was sunken in and it looked like skin over a skull. Also, you have to realize that at the time that the medical examiner is doing this, she had been dead for almost five days. Average 10 year old weighs between 54 and 110 pounds. Imani weighed 35.

There were no signs of broken bones or healing bones, but she did have bed sores on her butt. She had a burn on her stomach and it was a burn that was healing so it happened while she was alive. There were no signs of injury that would have directly caused her death like blunt force trauma or anything like that.

So the second part of her investigation is an internal examination. So she looks at the heart and the lungs. She says they look fine. You know, it's the regular size. You know, nothing was punctured or anything like that. She looks into the stomach. The stomach has about one tablespoon of nondescript fluid. Meaning it doesn't necessarily resemble food. But you remember the dad said he was trying to spoon feed her infamil. That is not a lot of food. Your stomach always has something in it. Always. Even when like...

You know, like, even if you're, like, hungry for a while, even if, like, you went a day and you ain't ate all goddamn day, you still have something in your stomach. You know what I'm saying? And having...

absolutely nothing or a tablespoon, which is pretty much absolutely nothing. Officially by the coroner, her cause of death was starvation and the manner of death was homicide. Her liver and spleen were about half the size of its normal weight. Now, when you're starving, your body goes for those fatty places, the energy places. So like they also, the whole time we were researching the case, I was like, Tazzy, give me the toxicology report.

Because let's back up. When she was having that seizure on October the 24th before she actually died on the 28th, Tiffany said she drank some household chemical and she had a seizure and that's what made her sick. But now officially... Contents of her stomach. You did the drug screen paneling and looking for other things of that nature. Did you notice anything indicative of Imani Moss ingesting any type of poison or chemical in any way? No. No.

Were there any signs that that had occurred, either corrosive materials on her esophagus or her throat or anything of that nature? No. The cause of death was starvation and the manner of death was homicide. So it was hard to tell exactly how long she was starving, but it was said to be long and painful. Do you know and can you describe for the jury 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 apathy, fatigue, not able to do her usual activities. And from there, she would become more and more listless, eventually lethargic and mental status changes.

She would not feel like moving around much. She wouldn't have much energy. There would be extreme weight loss that would be visible. And then finally, death. So after listening to what the medical examiner said, it really disturbed the court. Two jurors were seen crying, men were putting their hands in their faces like they couldn't watch anything.

This is when it really started to hit the cures, like how much suffering the girl was going through. Right, this wasn't a one-time thing.

Something happened to her. She was poisoned. She was treated badly on this one day. This is a long time coming. And we see when the dad is on the stand, he's like, you know, on the weekends, I didn't know what, I wasn't here during the weekday. I'm at work on the weekends. I'm with the kids. Let Tiffany go. But like, yeah, I guess she was eating a lot on the weekends. Like she was, when she was with me, she was trying to eat a lot, but yeah, you're there two days out of five. That means for months,

That baby was eating two days out of five for a week, four months. Right. That is a long time of suffering. Because, you know, niggas like that love to pick up overtime. Yep. That is a long, long time of suffering for this little baby girl. So next we hear from computer forensic examiner, investigator Chris Ford.

So basically, he reads text messages from the phone. He extracts them. He reads them in court. So if you guys want to play a fun little drinking game, I suggest you look up this click. You take a shot every time this nigga says sexy wifey. Because he literally has to read the text messages between Tiffany and Iman in court. And Tiffany's name and Iman's phone is sexy wifey. So he's like, they're like, who is it received from? Sexy wifey.

So, you know, for a bit of a little boost in his case, that's a fun game to play. So the message is basically where Imani...

the ones that they brought to our attention the ones of tiffany complaining about amani talking about she's wiping her shit on computers they actually start going in order of dates october 10th amani dropped tub water on her leg she said she wanted to see what would happen so this is that same tub water burn that we saw in the medical examiner's office right when amon spoke

he said that she was reaching, he came home and Tiffany, first she sends him this message that she dropped the tub water, but when he came home, she says that she was reaching over the stove for food. A whole bunch of text messages. She picked her ass, not to mention her face. She boo-booed on the rug. She feces on the wall. She shitting her oatmeal. And so they ask him on the stand, did you ever come home and...

When Sisters Who Kill began, an online store was the furthest thing from our minds. I mean, we didn't even know if this podcast was good or not. Now we're selling hats, we're selling sweatshirts, we're selling t-shirts, we're selling rolling papers, and it is so easy. All because we at ShopSistersWhoKill.com use Shopify. Shopify.

Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your store online stage to the first real life store stage, all the way to did we just hit a million dollars stage? Shopify is there to help you grow. So whether you're selling sleuthing supplies or marketing mystery merch,

Shopify helps you sell everywhere from their all-in-one e-commerce platform to their in-person POS system. Wherever or whatever you're selling, Shopify has got you covered. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with its internet's best converting checkout up to 36% better compared to other leading commerce platforms. And now you can sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify Magic, your AI-powered platform.

all-star one thing that we really love about shopify is that the analytics are absolutely amazing we love looking at the numbers love seeing who's coming to our page love to see who's purchasing and it just makes us feel like we're really growing as a brand and shopify has everything that we need so that we can make it to the next level shopify powers 10 of all e-commerce in the u.s

and Shopify is the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries.

Plus, Shopify's extensive help resources are there to support your success every step of the way. Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash sistas, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash sistas now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash sistas.

If it is one thing that I really love, it is shopping for jewelry. If I'm buying jewelry for myself or if I'm buying jewelry as a gift for somebody else, I really enjoy the process. But sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. You don't know the cut, the style, and buying jewelry is a very serious purchase. That's why I love shopping with BlueNile.com.

Blue Nile offers thousands of independently graded diamonds and fine jewelry at prices significantly lower than retail. So whether you like a classic bracelet or need a new earring to make your outfit pop, you should try BlueNile.com. And if you have any questions about anything that they have on their website, Blue Nile's jewelry experts are on hand 24-7. They're available via phone and via chat. So if you have technical questions,

questions about the jewelry if you're trying to figure out something within your budget you can know that somebody is on your side to answer everything making the process easy and enjoyable so experience the ease and convenience of shopping blue nile the original online jeweler go to bluenile.com today that's bluenile.com

Now that I'm a real adult, I've been really thinking about getting myself together financially. I have subscribed myself to a lot of things, started subscriptions on a free trial, and then I just started paying for things that I haven't been using. I found myself paying for subscriptions sometimes twice, and I've been

And I didn't know any of this until I downloaded Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel unwanted subscriptions. It monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. I love Rocket Money because I can see all my subscriptions in one place. And if I see something that I don't want to see, I can get Rocket Money to help me cancel it with just a few clicks.

Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved members a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions. That's up to $740 per year when using all of the app's features. Stop wasting your money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash sistas. That's rocketmoney.com slash s-i-s-t-a-s rocketmoney.

rocketmoney.com slash sisters see boo-boo on the wall did you ever come home and if she said she was gonna let you deal with it did you ever come home and see boo-boo with oatmeal in the sink did you ever come home and see Imani covered in feces he's like no I ain't ask about it

How are you that neglectful of your child while she is in the care of somebody that, you know, the government knows defects also knows everybody knows that she has been charged for hurting her. Also that because of this little girl, she has no job anymore and you left her in her care and you're like, she said this happened, but I ain't see it. So I just, I let it go. But you know, Tiffany texts real cute cause she gonna text him and she's like,

I'm sorry babe. I told you I wouldn't text or call you at work with Imani's BS. I was just so frustrated.

Shaking my head. My bad, though. I hate stressing you at work. Won't happen again. And also from on November 1st. My bad, babe. I was on the phone with Imani teacher. Imani won't even talk to her. Shaking my head. That was on November 1st. Imani had her seizure on the 24th and was pronounced dead by Tiffany on the 28th. And so on November 1st, she's not responding to her teachers.

And then even still, you have, like, other conversation. Oh, I'm craving chocolate. I'm craving cookies. Acting like absolutely nothing is going on while you have this poor baby. Can you fix the blu-ray for Tristan? Right. While you have this poor baby sitting in your house, literally rotting away. The investigator on scene who first responded, he also testifies his name is Colin Flynn. They...

Go through that, and after the autopsy, he's basically getting the truth. You know, he's getting the real story of what happened. I guess Amon sees that he has no way out. He goes ahead and he gets his little plea deal. The officer also interviews the rest of the family. He finds out that there's a history of abuse. Defects, although the media portrays it as two significant times, there were episodes

at least eight reports to DFAX about this situation. He talks to the Moss family who says they tried to report it. He talks to Tiffany's side of the family and they say they didn't notice anything and they didn't see anything wrong. Tiffany, at the end of this day, they

They've had these cross-examination things. Let me tell y'all. Tiffany went. It was like, would you like to cross-examine her? At what point she scoots that seat back. We're like, oh, is she going to speak? She says, no, your honor. Then at the end of this day, she says, I'd like to speak to you ex parte. So if you want to know what ex parte means, it means she would like to speak to the judge without the prosecution being able to hear. Right, right. So she gets to speak to the judge in private. In private. And he's like, uh.

Why? He says, you can't just throw out a law term, think that I'm going to do that. But my thing is, also, she literally hasn't said shit. So he says, are you going to tell me? She's like, no. Her backup lawyer is finally speaking. They're like, hey, hey. Listen, listen. She can say it. And the judge is like, yo, are you talking to me?

Or is she talking to me? Like, who's representing who here? It doesn't matter. She's allowed to have ex parte. Because, like, he tries to get it out of her in court. He's like, well, tell me why you want to talk to me ex parte. But she also has. Like, it's supposed to be ex parte. And you're making her tell you in front of the court. So he compromises. He says, write it down. I'll decide if I want to speak with you ex parte based on what you say. And they speak. We don't know what was said on that. The next time they're in court, they're giving closing statements.

And prosecution gets up here and she said to Tiffany, this was a family of four. It was Tristan, Emma, Iman, and her. Imani didn't exist in this family. Right. She said while she was dead in the house, she was sending pictures back and forth to her sister of them hanging out and having a good time, taking the kids, trick-or-treating. They said she talks about this burn. Was it bath water that she poured on her leg? Or was it her reaching for leftovers on the stove? Like, she...

All the text messages about Imani were describing her as a nuisance. Her kids were well cared for. There were no signs of abuse. Nothing whatsoever. They were not starved. They were not beat. Nothing was wrong with them. She said she knew how to be a good mother. She just chose not to to Imani. And it is not right. They say, Tiffany, would you like to give closing statements? No, Your Honor.

So at this point, it's time for the jury to deliberate. Tiffany is facing six charges. One count of murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, one count of concealing the death of another. The backup counselor at this point is saying, Your Honor, when you sentence her, please let us be her full counselor because, like, it's really important at that point that she does not, you know, that we defend her right not to get the death penalty. And prosecution is arguing she had no counsel at all.

up until this point so why the fuck should he counsel now jury goes out and they deliberate it takes them a total of three hours she was found guilty on all of her counts so then when you're found guilty then you have to wait okay I'm guilty now I need to figure out what my sentence is gonna be so it's usually a you know you get a little break of just feeling like damn I'm guilty I hope they don't sentence me to death because Georgia has the death penalty some states don't we're talking about Georgia and Georgia definitely does

By Georgia law, your death date must be within 30 to 60 days of your trial. Also by Georgia law, the death penalty is automatically appealed. So she has a chance to appeal, but we're not there. So finally, they're like, okay, am I going to get life with parole, without parole, or death? And it's on the jury to decide. It's on the jury to decide because you are represented by a jury of your peers. And she was an active role in choosing that jury pool. But here's the thing. The prosecutor, they actually got nervous for that phase of time because they were like, all you need is one.

Right. All you need is one jury member to be like, um, all you need is one person on that jury pool to say, I am not so sure about this particular part of the crime. And then you have a hung jury. Then they were like, maybe her stoicness, maybe watching the thing, maybe it convinced one person, maybe her not, maybe the, when we finally came back, Tiffany Moss was and is sentenced to

to death by the state of Georgia. In order to be convicted under the death penalty, it has to be of a heinous nature. Right. It has to involve torture. It has to involve a depravity of mind and aggravated battery to the victim. So, by Georgia law, you get an automatic appeal of this sentence to death. But, you know, if it's God's will, like Tiffany said, right? If.

we're leaving getting god's hand like she said right then death penalty is what you got fucking appeal but however she decided oh i'm gonna go ahead and use these lawyers but tiffany will be back in court to appeal her death row conviction the date hasn't been set

She honestly looked like she enjoyed being her lawyer. Like, it was her bucket list. And she was like... She smirked. She smirked. She smiled. After this, grandma had not had enough. She said, D-Fax, bring that ass right over here because I call.

My daughter called. The school called. Everybody called. Even the police was forwarding their cases. Everybody was forwarding the cases to you, Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. I called. Everybody was here. Where the fuck were y'all? Why the fuck did no one step in and save my daughter?

my grandbaby's life and so very politically correct of defects they you know had a scapegoat it fired a case manager a social service administrator and a program assistant and they reportedly changed their policy so anytime that something happens they're going to make sure that they follow up anytime that and that was the issue in amani's case every case was being looked at as an individual and we're going to make sure that there's a record and we're going to make sure that all this stuff happens so this does not happen to another child in the system again but here's the

thing. On one hand, people that are overworked and underpaid. There are a lot of children that need help. Also, defects is not a good job to have, so a lot of are safe so that people can. Doctors are paid well because we need doctors. Exactly. And we need workers that are on the front line for children that are being abused. These people are taking their work home, do more, care more. This is government funding. So now we're talking about budgets and now we're talking about who's going to be elected next year. We're talking about money. But what's more important?

every case is absolutely different every just because every just like every family is absolutely different because we are living in the land of the free and the home of the brave so you are able to live your life how you please but there is also a way that you should and should not treat a child and you need to make sure that every case is taken seriously because there's the podcast do no harm it's a wandering podcast um this is not an ad but like

Right. Right.

But it seems like in those cases, you're following up. You're figuring out what's happening. There's surprise visits. Why would the... And then you look at these podcasts and these are white families that defects is like, what's happening in this house? What's going on around here? But when it comes to the life of a little black girl, where are you? Why are you not showing up? Why are you not making sure that this little black girl live and thrive while...

Of course, the case was sent. This case actually went to trial in 2019, even though the crime against the child happened for many, many years. And she actually passed away in 2013. And in that time, still nobody has taken responsibility for the fact that the system failed her. Grandma's calling. Auntie is calling. Everybody's calling. Why are so many people not calling?

making sure that this little black girl is taken care of and I just don't get it you look at this case and you're ready to point fingers and it's like okay of course the parents need to go to jail they shouldn't have treated that baby that way there were calls there were reports right I

think if defects was charged with the same neglect that they charge these parents for because that is defects job to go out and protect the welfare of a child you know what i'm saying and with not one not two not three not four but like six reports of her crying or somebody else crying out for help on behalf of this child and nothing has happened she's still in this home at what

point does it become neglect to you? It's more than just a firing. And I think if it was held that seriously, it would have been more changes. If it was a little white girl, it definitely would have been more changes. For sure. This is them all talking in 2013 and the case doesn't go to trial in 2019. Grandma's

and they say, oh, change is happening. You know, we're making sure that everything is happening. But here we have a case that they're comparing it to where a little girl in Georgia once again is being starved by her mother. There's a little girl, three-year-old Reagan Moon, who in Georgia is starved to death by her mother, Devin Moon. And this little girl once again starved. This one found alone in her closet, half the size that she's supposed to be. And

once again grandmothers are coming in and they're like hey I call defects so many times I call what is happening so when are you going to stand up and make some changes when are you going to make sure that the lives of children are being protected and so that they have a chance to thrive whether it's in the house with the people that they're supposed to be or if it is out of the house so and even still it's like it's not that

They didn't have a place for Armani and didn't want her in foster care.

Grandma Robin is saying, I am ready, I am willing, I am able to take care of this child. Put her with me. Let me care for her. She did well with me. She wants to be with me. She doesn't want to be with them. It's evident in her actions, my actions, everybody else's actions that she should not be with him. It's not that you have to place her or put her in a home. You just aren't. So I don't know what defects needs to do, but they need to get it together. Right.

For any of you that are probably asking what happened to Tristan and Emma, they were sent into foster care. They actually were adopted by their foster parents. Emma has no recollection. She was really a baby baby at the time. But Tristan is in constant therapy because he does remember some of the crimes that were happening. He was three years, two, three years old at the time.

Tiffany Moss, the date has not been set for when she will go back to trial for her appeal. And Amon Moss, of course, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. This is just tragic. It's so heartbreaking that this happened to this itty bitty baby. At this point, we would do parole or not parole.

but stay in there you did that baby wrong you did that baby wrong and i don't think i don't think you should be able to appeal because you got ready spiritually you set yourself up there you laid yourself at the foot of the law without any type of preparation that is guaranteed to you just feel that capital punishment shouldn't have been a

like in her case am i heartbroken that she got it no but in allowing it for her you also allow so many innocent victims to be put to death also i think that amman's mom puts it best when she says what she thinks that tiffany's punishment should be to live and suffer never ever ever get out because i wanted her to feel what my granddaughter felt

I wanted her to understand what she had done to a child. And even though this case was hard for us to get through, the hard part is that a little girl's life was tragically taken away from her. So if you remember nothing else about Imani Moss, remember these words. She was a wonderful friend to every student, even a bully that she tried so hard to be friends with on a daily basis.

One time she wrote a letter to me and to the bully and said, let's just be friends. Let's forget about what happened. And she said, Miss Neal, I'm sorry for the meanness that this child and I had. And, you know, we'll be nice to one another. And she just was a precious girl. Precious. Okay, we made it through. We did another episode. But honestly, I have to thank y'all because y'all have been showing up and showing out.

So make sure that if you are listening on Apple Podcasts that you are liking it. If wherever you're listening that you're subscribing to it, especially if you're on Apple Podcasts, review it. Let us read. And we'll see y'all next week.