The family wants justice for the 5-year-old girl who was beaten to death. Prosecutors say a 10-year-old boy did it

Authorities made two arrests during a month-long WRAL Inquiry into the death of a 5-year-old girl in Wake County.

Investigators say a 10-year-old boy beat the girl to death at the Raleigh home of her half-grandmother, Shirletta Yolando Moore. Investigators said it happened while Moore was at work.

Moore, 58, was charged with one count of negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury and three misdemeanors of child abuse. Her brother Anthony Darrell Moses, 62, faces three misdemeanors for failing to report crimes against a minor.

The charges all revolve around the death of 5-year-old Tymani Oden and three other children left in the home in July 2022.

Kaiolonniee Oden is Tymani’s relative on the father’s side of the family.

“Tymani is a princess in every way. Beautiful. It’s funny,” Oden told WRAL Investigates.

The little girl’s grandmother, Ketha Oden, was in pain.

“I want justice for Tymani,” Ketha Oden said. “I want to know why they did this to my grandson.

“She’s a sweet kid and enjoys life and she would never do anything to hurt anyone.”

At the time of Tymani’s death, her mother Kayakenee Oliver was in prison on dozens of drug and felony weapons charges. Oliver’s mother, who controls custody, takes Tymani and his 2-year-old half-sister Kalia to a house on Agawam Court in Raleigh. It is owned by Shirletta Moore, Kalia’s paternal grandmother.

Although Moses now faces charges in the case, he spoke to WRAL Investigators when we visited the home in September. He told WRAL Investigates his sister was gone. did and was gone when Tymani was beaten.

“They were alone for about an hour,” Moses said.

Moses admitted his sister left the two girls alone on the night of July 11 with two other children, the oldest being a 10-year-old boy. He said Moore works three jobs to help support her family. However, within an hour, emergency crews arrived to find Tymani with serious head injuries.

“Why would you leave a 10-year-old and small kids in the house with a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old?”, Ketha Oden said. “[There] should be the adult in the house. You must not leave the children alone in the house. “

Tymani’s Beaufort family rushed to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill to find her nearly dead.

Kaiolonniee Oden said: “I looked at my 5-year-old cousin, who I saw a week before the birthday celebration. “She looks like an alien.”

According to an autopsy report obtained by WRAL Investigates, the child appeared to have been assaulted by a 10-year-old boy that left her with severe bruising accompanied by severe head trauma and a torn liver.

“They told us she was beaten with a belt and they told us she was hit with a broom,” her cousin, Kaiolonniee Oden, said.

“She was beaten to death as a hate crime,” Ketha Oden said.

Moses said his family saw no sign the boy could commit such behaviour, but believe he may have been jealous of the attention on Tymani’s birthday and sought revenge after she told him. with you earlier about what you did.

The murder only deepened the rift between the families of Tymani’s mother and her father, Tyquan Oden. He told WRAL Investigates that all of this is avoidable.

“Why drive three hours to people she’s not related to?” Tyquan Oden said. “If she had been with us, this would never have happened.”

The father’s family also blamed social services for putting Tymani in jeopardy. They feel the system has failed little girl.

Kaiolonniee Oden said: “She was supposed to be given to her father, but she was left with her grandmother and that was good for social services.

Three months after the incident, prosecutors finally took action, less than 24 hours before the WRAL Investigates story aired. They accused Moore and Moses.

The news was welcomed to the girl’s disappointed family from her father’s side.

Kaiolonniee Oden said: “If a 10-year-old child beats this child to death, then the adult needs to be held accountable for that action of the 10-year-old.