MADISON, W.Va. – Julie Miller, the mother of Kyneddi Miller, the 14-year-old Boone County girl who was found dead in an emaciated state in 2024, could spend the rest of her life in prison.
Boone County Circuit Judge Stacy Nowicki-Eldridge sentenced Julie Miller to 15 years to life in prison for death resulting from child abuse by a parent or guardian. Miller pleaded guilty to the charge last year and would serve 50 years of supervised release if ever granted parole.
Judge Nowicki-Eldridge rendered the maximum sentence possible for the crime.
“There are no words that I am capable of expressing adequately to convey my sorrow for the circumstances of the situation and the loss of this child who did not deserve what happened to her, and I’m very, very sorry,” she said.
Kynnedi Miller was found dead on the bathroom floor of her home in Morrisvale by Boone County Sheriff’s Deputies in April 2024 in what investigators described as an “emaciated to skeletal state.” Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Holstein said it’s unlike any case he’s prosecuted.
“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.
During the hearing, Julie Miller spoke for herself, stating that she misses her daughter every day. Kyneddi’s older sister delivered an emotional impact statement, describing a childhood in which she cared for her sister and the sorrow that came with her death.
When the time came for Judge Nowicki-Eldridge to deliver the sentence, she castigated Miller for the neglect that led to Kynnedi’s death.
“At some point, inaction becomes intentional non-action. That is exactly what happened here,” she said.
Investigators said family told them Kynnedi has an eating disorder and has not been eating for several months leading up to her death. Her physical condition deteriorated to the point that she could not function on her own in her final four or five days.
“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,” Holstein said.
Kynnedi Miller’s grandparents, Donna and Jerry Stone, have also been charged with child neglect resulting in death. Donna Stone is scheduled to go on trial on March 17.