Mom admits to neglecting 5-year-old daughter, locking her in closet
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The mother accused of neglecting her 5-year-old daughter to death is now charged with murder.
Court documents show that 29-year-old Toni McClure admitted to police that for several months she had been keeping her daughter Kinsleigh Welty locked in a closet in her mobile home. Doctors say the girl weighed more at 2½ years old than she did when she died.
McClure told police she knew her daughter needed help, but did nothing because she was afraid of losing her other children.
“Starvation and dehydration,” said Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears as he described the conditions that led to Kinsleigh death.
McClure told police she had only been feeding her one small meal a day.
Detectives say the closet Kinsleigh was being kept in smelled like urine and feces.
A sibling of Kinsleigh described the closet as a cage when interviewed by detectives.
Kinsleigh was covered in feces and lice the day she died. Mears said, “We believe that this is one of those cases that warrants one of the most severe punishments under the law. That is a life-without-parole sentence.”
Mears characterized the abuse to Kinsleigh by her mother and others as “torture.” He said, “When you see everything that this child went through it didn’t have to happen.”
McClure is not the only one accused of wrongdoing in this case.
Her boyfriend, 27-year-old Ryan Smith is being charged with three counts of neglect, and one count of criminal confinement.
McClure’s mom, Tammy Halsey, has also been arrested and will face charges.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is also going to be investigating what the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) knew about what was going on.
“DCS was at the house the day this child died and certainly that’s something that we want to learn a lot more about in terms of what took place, what they knew, what they should have known. What was the follow-up? What did that look like? Those are all things that we are definitely going to be focusing in on, zeroing in on over the next couple of weeks,” the prosecutor said.
Child Services had previously taken McClure’s children from her when she pleaded guilty to neglecting Kinsleigh back in late 2018 in Morgan County. She served 21 days in jail for the offense.
Mears was asked if his office knew how McClure regained custody of her children after the Morgan County offense. “We don’t. I think that’s one of the things we’re trying to gather up, all that information in terms of procedurally ‘How did we get here?’ and ‘What were the intervention points that failed?’”
Because of computer issues, the initial hearing for McClure and Smith was rescheduled from Monday and will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
