A West Virginia mother has been sentenced to fifteen years to life in prison for the horrific starvation death of her fourteen-year-old daughter, a case that has sent shockwaves through the community and exposed critical failures in the state's child protection services.
Maximum Penalty for Unimaginable Neglect
Julie Miller sobbed in Boone County Circuit Court as Judge Stacy Nowicki-Eldridge delivered the maximum possible sentence on Wednesday for the April 2024 death of Kyneddi Miller. The judge issued a blistering rebuke during the emotional sentencing hearing, stating unequivocally that "this child literally starved to death" and emphasizing that "no child should ever have to go through that."
Miller had pleaded guilty in November to death of a child by a parent through child abuse. Under the sentencing terms, she will become eligible for parole after serving fifteen years, but if released, she will face an additional fifty years of supervised release.
A Skeletal Discovery
Investigators described finding Kyneddi "emaciated to a skeletal state" lying on the bathroom floor of the family's Boone County home. During an August 2024 court hearing, Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Holstein revealed the teenager had been lying in the same position for between four and five days before her discovery.
The forensic details paint a devastating picture of prolonged neglect. Kyneddi stood five feet three inches tall but weighed just fifty-eight pounds at her death, with a body mass index of 7.1—far below the healthy range of 18.5 to 24.9. Authorities confirmed she had become so malnourished that she could no longer move independently and had been deteriorating for months before her final collapse.
Family Statements and Systemic Failures
Speaking tearfully before her sentencing, Miller insisted she loved her daughter, saying "I miss her every second of every day" and describing Kyneddi as "my world and the best little girl since day one." Kyneddi's older sister offered a poignant tribute in court, stating that "a piece of sunlight was ripped out of the Earth the day that she died" and that "it'll never come back."
Prosecutor Holstein noted that Kyneddi had an undiagnosed eating disorder and had expressed wanting to die in her final forty-eight hours, but emphasized that her death resulted from "sheer selfishness" through "daily letting them waste away into nothing."
Broader Family Responsibility and Legal Proceedings
Court documents allege that Miller and her parents, Jerry and Donna Stone—who shared the home—collectively failed to provide Kyneddi with adequate food or medical care for months. Jerry Stone has been deemed unfit to stand trial due to cognitive decline, while Donna Stone faces a child neglect charge with her trial scheduled for next month.
Triggering Systemic Scrutiny
The teenager's death has served as a devastating turning point in West Virginia, prompting renewed examination of the state's troubled child welfare system. Documents obtained by local media prompted a state investigation into whether law enforcement and child protective services missed opportunities to intervene.
In June 2024, Brian Abraham, then chief of staff to Governor Jim Justice, revealed that state police conducted a welfare check on Kyneddi in March 2023 but reported no immediate signs of abuse. A trooper informally suggested mental health services to a local human services office, but no follow-up visits occurred. The officer noted Kyneddi appeared healthy but struggled with social anxiety following the coronavirus pandemic and resisted leaving home.
Educational Oversights and Systemic Reforms
Kyneddi last attended public school in 2021 and was being homeschooled at her death. While West Virginia law requires yearly academic assessments for homeschooled children, submissions are only mandatory after the third, fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades. Local media reported that Miller failed to submit required assessments, which could have triggered truancy reviews or removal from the homeschool program.
A federal audit released in November following Kyneddi's death found that West Virginia failed to complete ninety-one percent of required investigative steps in child abuse and neglect cases over a one-year period. The tragedy has triggered a comprehensive state review of missed opportunities by police and child protective services.
Implementing Protective Changes
Officials have since mandated that all potential abuse or neglect reports be routed through a centralized intake phone line to ensure formal documentation. West Virginia's Department of Human Services, now under Secretary Alex Mayer in Governor Patrick Morrisey's administration, has pledged to overhaul the system and address the profound failures exposed by this heartbreaking case.
