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Family told little girl's school they were taking trip to Disney World so they could keep her home and kill her slowly: DA

 
Inset: Jor'Dynn Duncan (GoFundMe). Background: The Walt Disney World castle in Orlando, Fla. (WKMG/YouTube).

Inset: Jor'Dynn Duncan (GoFundMe). Background: The Walt Disney World castle in Orlando, Fla. (WKMG/YouTube).

A "sadistic" family in New York told a little girl's school they were taking a trip to Walt Disney World so they could keep her home and torture her, prosecutors say.

Jor'Dynn Duncan, age 7, never got to go to "The Most Magical Place on Earth," according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. Instead, her guardians allegedly kept her home and brutalized the youngster until she eventually died from a "massive untreated infection" stemming from sharp force injuries.

"The Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office documented approximately 90 injuries on her body at the time of the victim's death," a press release from the DA's office says.

District Attorney Raymond Tierney describes Jor'Dynn's slaying as a cruel and "brutal" murder of a "defenseless, innocent child" who was placed in the care of Emily Kelly, 50, her mother Barbara Renner, 75, and Kelly's biological daughter, Elyssa Seymore.

Tierney says the family was granted full custody of Jor'Dynn — as Kelly is the fiancee of her father — in April 2025 by Suffolk County Child Protective Services. They allegedly spent almost a year torturing, imprisoning and abusing her until she died in late December 2025.

"This was not an alleged single act of violence," Tierney explains. "It was months of alleged systematic cruelty and sadistic abuse, meticulously documented. The child was allegedly left to die while these defendants watched her deteriorate."

According to the DA's office, Jor'Dynn missed school at least 40 times between January 2025 and June 2025. "Kelly allegedly provided fabricated excuses involving different illnesses, deaths in the family, and a trip to Disney World — all of which were allegedly used to conceal the abuse," Tierney says.

Kelly called 911 on the morning of Dec. 29, 2025, to report that Jor'Dynn was "in cardiac arrest," according to the DA's office. Paramedics and authorities arrived to the scene to find the child unconscious. She was transported to NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk, where she was pronounced dead.

"No child should ever endure such horror," Tierney says. "We will seek justice for Jor'Dynn."

Kelly, Renner and Seymore were all arrested and charged Wednesday.

Kelly faces charges of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment, unlawful imprisonment and child endangerment; Renner is charged with second-degree manslaughter and child endangerment; Seymore is charged with unlawful imprisonment and child endangerment. They're all due back in court on June 23.

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