Father of murdered child takes stand in Tiffany Moss trial

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - The father of a murdered 10-year-old girl took the stand Thursday to give powerful testimony for the prosecution in the capital murder trial of his wife.

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Eman Moss is serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of his daughter Emani after he pleaded guilty for his role in the death in 2015.

His wife and the girl’s stepmother, Tiffany Moss, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Eman Moss testified that his wife and daughter had a “love-hate relationship and could not get along.”

Moss testified things became rough between his wife and Emani after Tiffany Moss pleaded guilty to a count of cruelty to children for spanking Emani with a belt.

After her plea, Eman Moss said he had to work two jobs to make ends meet because his wife could not work.

While at work, Moss said his wife texted him repeatedly that Emani was misbehaving at their home.

Moss testified he came home on Oct. 24, 2013 to find his 10-year-old daughter having a seizure in a bathtub, with the girl’s eyes going left to right. According to his testimony, Tiffany Moss said at that time: “We cannot take her to the doctor. She is too thin.”

Moss said he and his wife put Emani to bed on Oct. 24 after the seizure. He said that on Oct. 28, his wife called him at work to tell him that Emani had died.

Moss said he came home and saw Emani’s body. His wife and her two children were asleep at the time.

The next day, he went to work as usual.

When the prosecutor asked him why he didn’t call 911 when he realized his daughter was dead, Eman Moss told jurors, “I was trying to fix a problem that couldn’t be fixed.”

Moss said his wife told him that they had to get rid of the body. According to his testimony, Tiffany Moss said, “We have got to hide this body and use our criminal minds to get rid of it.”

Thursday’s powerful testimony follows Wednesday’s opening statements, where Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter told jurors that Tiffany Moss starved her stepdaughter while her own two children remained healthy and happy.

Investigators say Emani weighed just 32 pounds when officers found her burned body in a trash can near her family’s apartment in November 2013.

Porter told jurors that Tiffany and her husband, who is the girl’s father, burned the girl’s body after starving her.

Porter said, “They both took the trash can out of the truck. We will prove that to you by the fingerprints of this defendant on the trash can. They poured charcoal briquettes in 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.”

Tiffany Moss, who is representing herself during the trial, did not make a statement or question any witnesses on Wednesday.