Locked in a closet, rarely fed: The weeks before girl's death revealed in court docs

Update: Tammy Halsey, 53, was arrested and is facing a neglect of a dependent charge in connection with Kinsleigh Welty's death, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department announced April 14, 2024. Halsey was Welty's grandmother.

Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of child abuse. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the Indiana Department of Child Services' Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

INDIANAPOLIS — For months Kinsleigh Welty, 5, was locked inside a closet of a trailer home. Her short hair was matted, and her body was covered in lice. Small handprints marked with fecal matter were found inside the closet door.

Those are just a few of the "horrifying" details outlined in the arrest affidavit for one of the people accused of neglecting the child so severely she died Tuesday.

Kinsleigh Welty's mother, Toni McClure, 29, was arrested Wednesday and faces preliminary charges of murder and child neglect resulting in death. McClure's boyfriend, Ryan Smith, 27, was preliminarily charged with child neglect resulting in death.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded alongside EMS after McClure called 911 when her daughter collapsed and began "gurgling." Welty, who weighed only 21 pounds, was taken to Riley Hospital for Children where she died.

A detective who went to the hospital observed that Welty was "severely malnourished," "thin" and "her eyes were sunken." The detective also noted Kinsleigh had matted hair and "fecal matter on various parts of her body" including her feet. Lice were crawling on her head and face and doctors found bites and unknown sores on her skin.

Kinsleigh also suffered bruising around her right eye and cheekbone.

McClure, according to court documents, originally blamed her ex-husband and Kinsleigh's father for the abuse. But when pressed, she gave a different statement to detectives.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Kinsleigh had been repeatedly confined inside a closet blocked by a large dresser since November 2023.

McClure said she fed the 5-year-old one meal each day. Detectives found three empty bottles of Ensure and a hard, uneaten peanut butter sandwich inside the closet. Kinsleigh often told her mother she was hungry or thirsty, McClure told police.

In interviews outlined in the affidavit, McClure said she understood the way she was treating Kinsleigh, who she said was diagnosed with a mild form of dwarfism, "was likely to lead to her death" but said she was "in denial" that would happen.

"(The mother) stated she did the bare minimum for Kinsleigh and she expressed the desire for (her daughter) to be out of her life," according to the affidavit.

When questioned by officers, Smith, the boyfriend, told them he and McClure had put Kinsleigh inside the closet around Thanksgiving and that she had been out of the closet around 10 times since. McClure told police Kinsleigh was allowed out of the closet every day.

Smith told detectives he never called authorities because he loved McClure but had told the mother she needed to get Kinsleigh help because she "had lost too much weight."

Detectives also spoke with three other children in the home, who "directly corroborated various portions of what had occurred with Kinsleigh."

Several neighbors in the trailer park said they had rarely seen the family leave the home.

After an autopsy, the Marion County Coroner's Office said malnourishment and neglect were the main causes of Kinsleigh's death.

Indianapolis police chief Chris Bailey said Kinsleigh's death was "horrible and beyond comprehension" in a statement Wednesday evening.

"No human being, let alone a child should be treated like she was," he said.

McClure's history with the Department of Child Services

Earlier on Tuesday, McClure had told a Department of Child Services caseworker that Kinsleigh was with her grandparents. McClure told detectives a caseworker visited the home because her newborn had tested positive for THC, the chief intoxicant in marijuana.

A case manager told detectives that there were "multiple DCS reports" for "various incidents of neglect that involved Kinsleigh and/or (her mother)."

According to the affidavit, DCS case workers had trouble locating Kinsleigh in recent investigations.

McClure pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent in May 2020 and served 42 days in jail before being released on probation, which she violated in 2021.

That case stems from an incident in December 2018 while McClure and her children lived in Mooresville. Officers responding to a medical call involving McClure found the home to be “one of the worst living conditions [they’d] ever seen” and a “repulsive sight," Fox59 reported, citing court documents.

In response to IndyStar, a DCS spokesperson stated they could not comment due to privacy restrictions.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Kinsleigh Welty, 5, was 'severely malnourished'. Mom charged in her death