Main: Julie A. Miller during her Feb. 25 sentencing hearing in West Virginia (WSAZ). Inset: Kyneddi Miller (WCHS).
A 51-year-old mom in West Virginia will spend more than a decade behind bars for fatally starving and neglecting her 14-year-old daughter, who authorities said had been dead for days when they found her in an "emaciated" and "skeletal state" inside the family's home.
Boone County Circuit Judge Stacy Nowicki-Eldridge on Wednesday ordered Julie Miller to serve 15 years to life in a state correctional facility for her role in the torturous 2024 death of Kyneddi Miller.
The judge handed down the maximum sentence after Miller in November reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of death of a child caused by a parent, guardian, or custodian.
While Miller may be eligible for parole after 15 years, she would be required to serve an additional 50 years of supervised release.
The victim's grandparents, Jerry Stone and Donna Stone, also lived in the house with Miller and the victim. They were charged with one count each of felony neglect by a parent or guardian. A judge found Jerry Stone incompetent to stand trial, but his wife's trial is scheduled to begin next month.
"This child literally starved to death," Nowicki-Eldridge said during the sentencing, according to a report from The Associated Press. "No child should ever have to go through that."
The state also emphasized the nature of Kyneddi's death, with Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Holstein saying it was unlike any case he had ever worked on previously.
"I was an assistant prosecutor in Kanawha County and saw a lot of shootings, a lot of killings, and a lot of graphic images, but seeing this was just a completely different thing," he said, according to West Virginia Metro News. "As a father with my own children, and now grandchildren, I cannot imagine how someone gets to the point that you allow your child to get like that, so emaciated, and you don't even bother to get help. You just let them die."
An emotional Miller also addressed the court, reportedly saying that she "loved every second" she had with her daughter.
As Law&Crime previously reported, deputies with the Boone County Sheriff's Office and emergency medical personnel on the morning of April 17, 2024, responded to a call about a juvenile female in cardiac arrest at a home located in the 400 block of Cameo Road in Morrisvale. The residence is about 30 miles southwest of Charleston and was shared by Kyneddi, her mother, and her grandparents.
Upon arriving at the address, first responders said they found the teen in a grisly state inside one of the bathrooms in the home, Charleston ABC and Fox affiliate WCHS reported, citing the criminal complaint.
First responders found the victim lying motionless atop a foam pad on the floor. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
During an August 2024 court hearing, Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Holstein said the child had been in the same spot where she was found for four to five days, local CBS affiliate WOWK reported.
The sheriff's office reportedly said that the victim's "appearance was shocking with an obvious emaciated, skeletal state."
In an interview with police investigators, Donna Stone reportedly confirmed that Kyneddi had not been attending school for about four or five years. Authorities also highlighted that the grandmother told them she believed Kyneddi had only left the Cameo Road home and gone outside about two times in the last four years.
Investigators said Miller began homeschooling her daughter in February 2021, supposedly for medical reasons. An email obtained by WCHS reportedly showed that Miller told officials with the Boone County School District that, because they lived with Kyneddi's elderly grandparents, they were concerned about the child contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to Donna and Jerry Stone.
Donna Stone further told investigators that Kyneddi had an eating disorder, stating that the juvenile was not capable of functioning on her own for several days before her death, MetroNews reported. The grandmother also said she did not believe Kyneddi had seen a doctor in about four or five years.
Donna Stone is currently scheduled to go to trial on March 17.