Adoptive mom who abused 7-year-old to death learns fate
Share this @internewscast.com

Gina Emmanuel appearing in court during her April 2025 murder trial in Miami, Florida (WTVJ).

A 56-year-old former registered nurse and adoptive mother in Florida has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her adoptive 7-year-old daughter. The woman severely beat, starved, and tortured the child, and nearly subjected her other adopted children to the same fate.

On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda sentenced Gina Emmanuel to life in prison without parole for the brutal killing of Samayah Emmanuel in 2018, as reported by Law&Crime.

Earlier this month, a Miami jury found Emmanuel guilty of first-degree premeditated murder for Samayah’s death. She was also convicted on two counts of aggravated child abuse due to her cruel treatment of Samayah’s siblings, who were 5 and 12 years old at that time.

Thursday’s sentencing hearing was attended by several of the victims’ family members, including Emmanuel’s oldest adopted daughter, Ayanna Gordon, who is now 18 years old. Gordon spoke during the hearing, addressing Emmanuel directly.

“Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. I’m letting God take this wheel. With that now said, I wish you well in hell,” she said, apparently quoting rapper Cardi B, according to a report from Miami CBS affiliate WFOR.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the atrocities Emmanuel inflicted upon her children included forcing them to eat human feces, intentionally burning them on the stove, chaining them to chairs, physically abusing them, and withholding food and water, among other forms of torture.

Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.

Gordon also provided critical testimony against her mother during the trial, speaking about the horrors she and her sisters endured at the hands of their mother during the three-day trial, Miami NBC affiliate WTVJ reported.

“She would chain us, she would have us lay down, she would chain us and lock us until she got back,” the daughter reportedly told jurors.

During the trial, prosecutors said that Emmanuel, who fostered the children before adopting them, was fixated on being in control of every aspect of her daughters’ lives and enforced her rules through heinous abuse, Miami ABC affiliate WPLG reported.

“You will learn through this trial about the defendant’s control,” prosecutors reportedly said during opening statements. “You’ll hear she kept her refrigerator chained. These three girls were forced to urinate and defecate in a bucket. They were malnourished, whipped and didn’t see a pediatrician. What else was going to happen as a result of the choices she made?”

Emmanuel’s defense attorney reportedly claimed that the registered nurse engaged in “reasonable corporal punishment” that did not amount to child abuse, asserting that Samaya’s death was mostly attributable to untreated diabetes.

“Should she have taken the child to the hospital? Yes, absolutely, but it wasn’t murder. It was not child abuse,” her attorney reportedly told jurors.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle lauded the result after jurors convicted Emmanuel for her daughter’s murder.

“The guilty verdict in Gina Emmanuel’s first-degree murder and child abuse trial brought to the light of day the horrors 7-year-old Samaya so tragically suffered before her death,”Rundle said in a statement after jurors found Emmanuel guilty. “No one could ever imagine that a trained nurse would beat, torture, and starve Samaya and her two adopted sisters as a means of instilling the defendant’s vision of discipline. The jury fully understood that she ultimately ignored the suffering of young Samaya which led to this child’s death.”

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like

Tragic Hit-and-Run at Fireworks Show Claims Life of 3-Year-Old Boy

Background: The location of the accident at Lyndon Street and Merriman Road…

Gainesville Resident Accused of Assaulting 14-Year-Old Runaway

Staff report GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A 26-year-old named McNish Mathis Tuzon Hampton…

Philadelphia Bar Shooting: 2 Critically Injured, 6 Others Hurt

Eight people were injured during a mass shooting at a bar in…

Deputies Report Woman Accused of Killing Roommate and Attempting to Poison Neighbors

Context: Kore Bommeli Adams in a court appearance in Dane County, Wisconsin…

Prisoner Accused of Fatally Shooting Guard with Guard’s Gun at Clinic

Left: Kelvin Simmons (Buncombe County Sheriff”s Office) Right: Francisco Flattes (Cherokee County…

Elderly Florida Woman, 80, Accused of Slapping Fellow Driver

Inset: Linda Frenier (Orange County Jail). Background: A Walmart in Apopka, Fla.…

Diddy Faced a Different Controversy Long Before His Sex Trafficking Trial

On the day Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted on charges of transportation…

Teen Arrested in Connection with Fatal Stabbing of Western Australia Father

Tawhai Walker Loughlin turned 18 just two months ago but could now…

Alachua Resident Charged with Sexual Assault on Homeless Woman

Staff report ALACHUA, Fla. – Taverous Tywon Lorenza Williams, aged 47, residing…

Mothers Call for Halt on Enforcement of Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order

President Donald Trump addresses a joint press conference with Elon Musk in…

Trump’s Attempt to Cut Science Research Funding Fails

President Donald Trump participates in a meeting with the Fraternal Order of…

Intoxicated Driver in Michigan Hits Family Departing Festival, Resulting in the Death of a 3-Year-Old and Injuries to Twin Sister: Police Report

A woman from Michigan, who was driving on a suspended license, reportedly…