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Insets: Mandie Miller and Aleksander Kurmoyarov (Davison County Sheriff”s Office). Background: Meela Miller (KREM).
In a harrowing case that has shocked the community, a 36-year-old woman from Washington state and her boyfriend have been found guilty of horrific abuse that led to the tragic death of her adopted daughter, who was also her biological niece. The young girl, just 8 years old, suffered unimaginable cruelty at the hands of Mandie Miller and her 31-year-old partner, Aleksander Kurmoyarov. Among the heinous acts they inflicted, they used zip ties to restrain the child and a hammer to crush her toes as punishment for misbehavior. The abuse and starvation eventually claimed the girl’s life, leaving her weighing a mere 26 pounds at the time of her death.
Following the child’s death in September 2022, the couple lived with her body for three months. They claimed they wanted to “spend more time with her.” In December 2022, they transported her remains in a coffin inside a rented U-Haul, traveling over 1,100 miles from Spokane to Mitchell, South Dakota. Their journey ended at a funeral home, where they sought to arrange a burial. However, when asked for documentation of the child’s death, the couple could not provide any, prompting funeral home staff to alert the authorities.
The couple was initially charged in South Dakota for failing to report the child’s death, before being returned to Washington to face more severe charges. This past Friday, Mandie Miller was sentenced to 32 years in prison. The Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirmed her guilty plea to charges of homicide by abuse, child assault, and two counts of unlawful imprisonment. Meanwhile, Kurmoyarov has also pleaded guilty to murder, assault, and unlawful imprisonment, with his sentencing scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday.
During the sentencing, Spokane County deputy prosecutor Emily Sullivan described the extent of the abuse. She revealed that unbeknownst to the couple, their home security cameras captured the harrowing acts of violence and abuse they inflicted on Meela. “The facts before this court are undisputed,” Sullivan stated, as reported by CBS affiliate KREM. “They did assault her, they did starve her, they did restrain her, they did torture her, and they did kill her.”
“She restrained her for hours upon hours, day after day. Unbeknownst to them, their home camera system recorded them assaulting Meela, and unbeknownst to them, their home camera system recorded them tying her to a car seat with zip ties to restrain her,” Spokane County deputy prosecutor Emily Sullivan said at sentencing, according to a courtroom report from local CBS affiliate KREM. “The facts before this court are undisputed. They did assault her, they did starve her, they did restrain her, they did torture her, and they did kill her.”
Meela’s biological mother Andrea Miller addressed her sister at sentencing.
“You did this with no remorse, murdering my third child, my beautiful daughter, Meela Rose Miller,” Andrea Miller told her sister. “Named after our sister, Amelia Rose Miller, my best friend, my sister and auntie to my children, a Marine who died in 2013 at 23.”
Despite the horrible death her daughter suffered, Andrea Miller said she forgave her sister.
Judge Rachelle Anderson admonished the defendant before sentencing her to two years above what prosecutors had recommended.
“We’re here because a little girl was tortured, she was starved, her interests were not protected,” Anderson reportedly said. “And as a parent, this is the worst crime a person can commit against their own child, their adopted child, their own family member.”
Mandie Miller reportedly told the court about her rough childhood in foster care and only briefly addressed her terrible misdeeds.
“My daughter did not deserve any abuse or neglect from me,” she said, per KREM. “She most definitely didn’t deserve any abuse from Alex.”