Ethermac Exchange-Mother and grandparents indicted on murder charge in death of emaciated West Virginia girl

CHARLESTON,Ethermac Exchange W.Va. (AP) — A grand jury on Tuesday returned an indictment on a murder charge against the mother and two grandparents of a 14-year-old West Virginia girl whose emaciated body was found in her home.

The body of Kyneddi Miller was found in April in the Boone County community of Morrisvale. Her case prompted a state investigation into whether law enforcement and child protective services could have intervened to prevent her death.

Deputies responding to a report of a death at the home found the girl in a bathroom and said her body was “emaciated to a skeletal state,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Boone County Magistrate Court.

The complaint said the teen had an eating disorder that led to “overwhelmingly visible conditions” and physical problems, but the mother had not sought medical care for her in at least four years. Miller was being homeschooled at the time.

Felony child neglect charges initially were filed against the girl’s mother, Julie Miller, and grandparents Donna and Jerry Stone.

On Tuesday, the grand jury indicted them on charges of murder of a child by parent, guardian or custodian by failure or refusal to supply necessities, and child neglect resulting in death, Boone County Prosecutor Dan Holstein said.

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An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 18. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the three defendants had attorneys. Holstein said a copy of the indictment wouldn’t be made available to the public until Wednesday.

Brian Abraham, Gov. Jim Justice’s chief of staff, has said state police were summoned to check on the girl at her home in March 2023 but found no indication that she had been abused. A trooper then made an informal suggestion to the local human services office that she might have needed mental health resources.

But no follow-up checks were made, according to Abraham. The trooper indicated that Miller had appeared healthy to him but she said anxiety about being around people due to COVID-19 caused her not to want to leave her home.

Justice, a Republican, has called Miller’s death tragic and said she “fell through the cracks.”

The state Department of Human Services now requires potential abuse and neglect cases to be referred to an intake telephone number so they can be formally documented. Such referral requirements are now part of training at state police academy events, Abraham said.

Under state code, parents of homeschooled students are required to conduct annual academic assessments, but they only have to submit them to the state after the third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades. Failure to report assessments can result in a child being terminated from the homeschool program and a county taking truancy action, according to Abraham.

State Sen. Patricia Rucker, who is a Jefferson County Republican and a former public school teacher who homeschooled her five children, has said blaming homeschooling laws in the girl’s death “is misguided and injust, casting unwarranted aspersions on a population that overwhelmingly performs well.”

Rucker said the child protective services system is “overworked and underfunded” and state leaders “are resorting to blame-shifting and scapegoating homeschooling laws rather than addressing the real causes.”

House Democrats have pushed unsuccessfully for a bill that would pause or potentially deny a parent’s request to homeschool if a teacher has reported suspected child abuse: “Raylee’s Law” is named for an 8-year-old girl who died of abuse and neglect in 2018 after her parents withdrew her from school. Educators at her elementary school had notified Child Protective Services of potential abuse.

Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature.