MORRISVALE, WV – A West Virginia mother received a life sentence after pleading guilty to charges related to the starvation death of her 14-year-old daughter, who weighed just 58 pounds when her emaciated body was discovered at their home.
Julie Miller, 51, pleaded guilty in November to death of a child by parent, guardian or custodian in connection with the April 2024 death of her daughter Kyneddi Miller. Miller will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years, according to court records.
“This child literally starved to death,” Boone County Circuit Judge Stacy Nowicki-Eldridge said during the sentencing. “No child should ever have to go through that.”
According to Boone County Prosecutor Dan Holstein, Kyneddi Miller spent the last several days of her life alone on a bathroom floor. A criminal complaint alleged that Julie Miller knew her teenage daughter had an eating disorder and failed to seek medical treatment for her in at least four years.
The case has exposed significant failures in West Virginia’s child welfare system. State police were summoned to check on the girl in March 2023 but found no indication of abuse, according to Brian Abraham, former chief of staff for then-Governor Jim Justice. A trooper made an informal suggestion to the local human services office that the girl might have needed mental health resources, but no follow-up checks were made.
The trooper reported that the girl appeared healthy but said anxiety about being around people due to COVID-19 caused her not to want to leave her home. Kyneddi Miller last attended public school in 2021 and was being homeschooled at the time of her death.
State records indicate Julie Miller never submitted required academic assessments for her homeschooled daughter, according to local media reports. Under state code, parents of homeschooled students must conduct annual academic assessments and submit them to the state after the third, fifth, eighth and eleventh grades.
Two of Kyneddi’s grandparents also lived at the Morrisvale home. Jerry Stone was found incompetent to stand trial due to declining cognitive ability, while Donna Stone faces trial next month on a charge of child neglect resulting in death.
A federal audit released in November and prompted by Kyneddi’s death found that West Virginia failed to comply with requirements for responding to reports of child abuse and neglect. The audit revealed the state failed in most cases to interview children or adults or assess immediate safety risks.
The death prompted systemic changes, with the state Department of Human Services now requiring potential abuse and neglect cases to be referred to an intake telephone number for formal documentation. Several bills have been introduced during the current legislative session aimed at improving the state’s child welfare system, and Governor Patrick Morrisey has vowed to release results of child welfare investigations that were previously withheld from the public.
