WOMAN ARRESTED WITH BOYFRIEND FOR ALLEGEDLY KILLING HER DAUGHTER; FAMILY BLAMES CHILD CARE SERVICES
A 29-year-old woman Toni McClure, has been taken into custody alongside her boyfriend Ryan Smith, 27, for allegedly killing a child in their care, as per PEOPLE. The matter came to light when the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was tipped off about an unresponsive child and quickly reached the location. As per a statement released by the department, 5-year-old Kinsleigh Welty was found in circumstances that were “horrific and beyond comprehension.” Kinsleigh was McClure's daughter and the woman had physical custody at the time. She was "malnourished" and had lice all over her face with feces plastered on her hair and feet, as per WRTV. The girl was immediately taken to hospital for medical assistance where she was declared dead.
McClure has been charged with murder, criminal confinement resulting in serious bodily injury, and battery on a person under 14 while Smith has been booked with three child neglect offenses. After conducting further investigation, the authorities also arrested Kinsleigh's 53-year-old grandmother Tammy Halsey for neglecting the child. She is accused of being privy to the circumstances in which the girl was kept by her mother, while close relatives of the family have blamed Child Care Services for Kinsleigh's death.
Kinsleigh’s great aunt Carrie Hogan has set up a GoFundMe for the girl's funeral and has mentioned how the DCS was notified about the gross conditions in which Kinsleigh was living, but to no avail. The girl was removed twice from the household but "due to DCS not presenting the case properly along with evidence, the courts had no choice but to give her back to her mother again and to dismiss the case." In her opinion, if the DCS had done their duties diligently, then things would have been different.
Indianapolis City-County Councilor Joshua Bain in his interview with Fox 59, gave his take on the situation and the mistakes done by DCS. “It boggles your mind,” Bain said about what happened to the little girl. “It makes you sick to your stomach.” As the representative of the area where Kinsleigh was found, Bain is demanding a probe into the mistakes that were made in the safeguarding of the little girl. “People clearly need to be held accountable,” he said. “They need to figure out where they dropped the ball, and it seems like the ball was dropped many times.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.