Left: Kinsleigh Welty (GoFundMe); Right: Toni McClure (Marion County Jail)
Three Indiana adults are facing a litany of criminal charges related to the death of a 5-year-old girl whose final hours were spent cowering in a corner, her too-brief life was defined by abuse and squalor.
Kinsleigh Welty died the day after the Great North American Eclipse, which she did not even get to witness, according to court documents filed in the case. In a familiar cliche that intends to offer comfort, after the fact, about the most disturbing of details, Kinsleigh never had a chance.
On April 9, just after 5:15 p.m., officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrived at a residence on Denver Drive in response to a report about an unresponsive child.
The tiny girl “immediately appeared to arriving officers to be malnourished,” according to a police press release. She was covered in bite marks, had feces in her hair and on her feet, and had lice crawling on her face and head. Rushed to Riley Hospital for Children, she was, a short time later, pronounced dead from malnutrition.
At the time of her death, Kinsleigh weighed considerably less than she did when she was 2 years old, according to court documents obtained by Indianapolis-based Fox affiliate WXIN.
Kinsleigh’s mother, Toni Renee McClure, 29, stands accused of two counts of murder, and one count each of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, battery on a person less than 14 years old, and criminal confinement, Marion County jail records show. McClure’s boyfriend, Ryan Smith, 27, stands accused of three counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and one count of criminal confinement. Kinsleigh’s grandmother, Tammy Halsey, 53, stands accused of one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
“The circumstances of Kinsleigh’s death are horrific and beyond comprehension,” Indianapolis Police Chief Chris Bailey said in a statement. “No human being, let alone a child should be treated like she was. These alleged suspects, if convicted, should never step foot outside of a prison.”
Prosecutors in the case, at least so far as Kinsleigh’s mother is concerned, appear to be in agreement with the police chief.
On Monday, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said his office was seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole for McClure, a stiffer than typical punishment for murder, according to a courthouse report by The Indianapolis Star. Justifying the substantial departure, the prosecutor cited the girl’s age and the way she was allegedly confined to the same small closet for most her torture-filled life.
“This happened over a long period of time,” Mears said in comments reported by WXIN. “The mother took proactive steps to prevent this child from eating and didn’t provide proper nourishment.”
As for the closet, authorities say they discovered it covered in feces, with a dresser in the bedroom used to keep the door sealed.
“What we’re alleging is they put a dresser in front of the closet to prevent the child from leaving,” Mears added, “and all this child needed was a safe place to sleep and food.”
Authorities say Smith admitted Kinsleigh had been largely confined to the closet since Thanksgiving 2023. Since then, Smith allegedly told investigators, he realized the child had been losing weight but was afraid to do anything about the abuse because he did not want McClure, who he loves, to suffer any legal consequences.
Halsey also allegedly told police she knew about the timeline of the closet confinement regime and how the small child’s prison was littered with feces. Additionally, Kinsleigh’s grandmother said she duct-taped the girl to her bed, once or twice, when the girl stayed with her to stop Kinsleigh from getting up to eat and drink, police say. Halsey allegedly went on to say she realized her granddaughter was deteriorating and considered calling authorities but was afraid McClure would lose custody of her other children and wanted to give her daughter an opportunity to fix things. The last time the girl looked “completely normal,” Halsey allegedly said, was October 2023.
According to police, McClure admittedly kept the girl in the closet and had trouble feeding her — despite frequent complaints of hunger.
“Every single adult let that child down,” Mears told the Star.
Left: Ryan Smith; Right: Tammy Halsey (Marion County Jail)
McClure had been in trouble with the law before. She was charged with neglect in December 2018 for her treatment of Kinsleigh.
Back then, the house was in a state of filth.
“It appeared the trash had never been taken out,” one responding officer wrote in a years-old court document obtained by WXIN. “Nats (sic) were flying all over the kitchen and living room.”
Later, the girl’s mother pleaded guilty to one count of neglect and got 400 days of probation. For years, the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated the living situation, allegedly having trouble locating the mother and her now-deceased child as of late.
Kinsleigh’s paternal grandparents, Tricia Welty and Brian Welty, had custody of the girl twice before she died, according to Indianapolis-based ABC affiliate WRTV. But they couldn’t hang on to her: each time, child welfare authorities ended up ushering Kinsleigh back into McClure’s custody.
“We just don’t want her death to be in vain. We want change. We don’t want any more kids to have to die because of the failure of the system,” Tricia Welty told the outlet. “She was in our home, and she was safe, but she was handed back to her abuser and she’s not here anymore.”
For the initial neglect case, McClure served 21 days in jail. Then the mother lost custody of her child again.
“When she came to us the second time, she was bruised from head to toe,” Brian Welty told WRTV. “She had chunks of hair missing throughout her whole head and she was given back. She already tried to starve her to death when she was three weeks old and they gave her back.”
A GoFundMe was started by Kinsleigh’s great aunt for funeral expenses. The fundraiser takes stock of the girl’s long and frustrating journey through the system that apparently landed her back in the death embrace of her mother’s arms.
“She was murdered by a monster who was her so called mother Toni McClure and her boyfriend,” Carrie Hogan writes. “The abuse started the day she was born. At three weeks old she and her siblings were removed by DCS and put into foster care and also the care of family. She was malnourished and they were living in horrific conditions. However, due to a failed DCS system she was placed back into her mothers care. And then was removed once again at a later time and sent back into foster care. 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. Since October of 2023 people called DCS to report abuse but nothing was done.”
On the day of the eclipse that transfixed the country — the last one many Americans will ever see in their lifetimes — Kinsleigh was allegedly forced to stare at a wall, shamed for purportedly misbehaving while the adults in her life watched the light drain from the sky.
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