In West Virginia, Julie Miller was sentenced to up to life in prison on Wednesday for the April 2024 death of her teenage daughter, Kyneddi Miller, whose severely emaciated body was found at their home and whose case prompted scrutiny of how the state’s child welfare system responds to allegations of abuse and neglect. Miller will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years, according to the sentencing proceedings.
Prosecutors said Kyneddi Miller, 14, had an eating disorder and that her mother did not seek medical care for her daughter for at least four years. Boone County Prosecutor Dan Holstein said in court that Kyneddi Miller spent the last several days of her life alone on a bathroom floor and weighed 58 pounds (26 kilograms).
Judge Stacy Nowicki-Eldridge delivered the sentencing remarks in the case, and said, “This child literally starved to death,” adding, “No child should ever have to go through that.” Miller, 51, pleaded guilty in November to death of a child by parent, guardian or custodian.
The case also expanded beyond the sentencing as attention turned to other adults living at the home in Morrisvale. Two grandparents, Jerry Stone and Donna Stone, lived there; the court found Jerry Stone incompetent to stand trial due to declining cognitive ability, while Donna Stone is scheduled to face trial next month on a charge of child neglect resulting in death.
A federal audit released in November, prompted by the girl’s death, found that West Virginia did not comply with requirements for responding to reports of child abuse and neglect. The audit concluded the state fell short in most cases, including by failing to interview children or adults and by not assessing immediate safety risks.
The death led to a separate state investigation into whether law enforcement and child protective services could have intervened earlier. The West Virginia Department of Human Services later required that potential abuse and neglect cases be referred to an intake telephone number so they can be formally documented.
In June 2024, Brian Abraham, chief of staff for then-Republican Gov. Jim Justice, said state police were summoned to check on the girl in March 2023 but found no indication she had been abused. Abraham said a trooper then made an informal suggestion to the local human services office that the girl might have needed mental health resources, according to the account of what happened afterward.
Abraham said there were no follow-up checks. He also said the trooper indicated the girl appeared healthy, but that the girl told him she had anxiety about being around people due to COVID-19 and did not want to leave her home. The case notes that Kyneddi Miller last attended public school in 2021 and was being homeschooled at the time of her death.
The criminal case review intersects with homeschooling rules in West Virginia. Under state code, parents of homeschooled students are required to conduct annual academic assessments but submit them to the state after the third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades, and failure to report assessments can lead to termination from the homeschool program and county truancy action. State records cited by local media indicated Miller never turned in the required assessments for her daughter.
At the state level, West Virginia lawmakers introduced bills during the current legislative session aimed at improving the child welfare system. Gov. Patrick Morrisey vowed last year to release results of child welfare investigations that previously were withheld from the public.