Mother charged with murdering five-year-old daughter was previously charged with neglect after cops found kids in ‘repulsive living conditions’ – as heartbroken family slam Indiana child services

An Indianapolis woman with a history of abuse, her boyfriend and her mother have all been arrested in connection with the “horrific” death of the woman’s 5-year-old daughter.

On Tuesday, the police received a report of an unconscious child around 5:15 p.m.

Authorities say they found five-year-old Kinsleigh Welty looking malnourished and thin, with sunken eyes and feces on her feet and in her hair when she was found.

They took her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The hospital she was taken to said she weighed more at age two and a half than she did at age five.

Her death was investigated by local child abuse investigators and Indiana Department of Child Services officials

The girl’s mother, 29-year-old Toni McClure, and her live-in boyfriend, 27-year-old Ryan Smith, were both arrested for child neglect resulting in death, with McClure charged with murder.

On Friday, 53-year-old Tammy Halsey – Kinsleigh’s grandmother – was taken into custody for neglect of a dependent.

IMPD Chief Chris Bailey called the death “horrifying” as court documents show McClure has had problems in the past.

In December 2018, McClure had gone to the hospital with a medical problem when police in Mooresville were called to a home where she lived with several children.

A one-year-old child and a baby just three weeks old were discovered with their diapers completely full, as the children ran and crawled across a floor littered with trash, dirt and cigarette butts. The toilet contained feces that had never been cleaned.

The babies also played with old potatoes near a “filthy couch, dirty mattress and full ashtray,” police said Fox 59.

Worse, they were well within reach of expired, moldy food and sharp objects.

“It appeared the trash was never taken out,” an officer reported. “Nats flew around the kitchen and living room.”

The girl’s mother, 29-year-old Toni McClure, has been arrested and charged with murder and neglect

McClure’s live-in boyfriend, 27-year-old Ryan Smith, was also arrested and charged with neglect

Authorities say they found five-year-old Kinsleigh Welty looking malnourished and thin, with sunken eyes and feces on her feet and in her hair when she was found.

When officers found them, they called the house ‘one of the worst living conditions’ [they’d] ever seen’ and a ‘repulsive sight.’

They were “dangerous nightmares for an adult, let alone a toddler and a newborn.”

McClure was contacted at the time about the presence of DCS and he began to ‘freak out’.

Officers contacted Child Protective Services at that time to respond to the scene. When McClure was told DCS was at her home, she reportedly began to “freak out.”

The three-week-old girl, whose age is said to match that of Kinsleigh, was said to have been malnourished at the time, with dirt on her head and hands and in a state of ‘failure to flourish’, even losing weight despite being only three weeks old used to be. .

McClure was arrested over the 2018 findings and charged with four counts of neglect, alongside a man named Bradley Welty who received two charges.

She ultimately pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced to 900 days in jail.

McClure had her sentence suspended after just six weeks and was instead placed on probation for 540 days.

In a 2018 incident where McClure was accused of neglect, when officers came to her home, they stated it was “one of the worst living conditions.” [they’d] ever seen’ and a ‘repulsive sight.’

Tricia Welty (pictured right), Kinsleigh’s paternal grandmother, now feels guilty for returning the girl to McClure after living with her twice

Tricia Welty, Kinsleigh’s paternal grandmother, now feels guilty about returning the girl to McClure after living with her twice.

Welty said she begged Child Protective Services to do something about it, but her cries went unanswered and now she is demanding change.

‘We just don’t want her death to be in vain. We want change. “We don’t want more children to die because of the failure of the system,” she said.

“She was at our home and she was safe, but she was returned to her abuser and she is no longer here.”

It’s this information that has some of the girl’s relatives wondering why the state didn’t intervene when it was clear McClure wouldn’t protect her children.

“As far as I’m concerned, she wasn’t a mother, she was a monster,” Kinsleigh’s cousin Kyla Welsh said. WRTV.

“It’s unimaginable what we’re dealing with right now.” ‘

If the parents are not going to love and protect them, and the state is not going to, who is going to protect them,” Welty asked.

Tributes have been paid to Kinsleigh Welty after she was pronounced dead earlier this week

“My heart breaks knowing what Kinsleigh went through in her short life and how she left this world,” Bailey said in a statement.

“The circumstances surrounding Kinsleigh’s death are horrific and incomprehensible. No human being, let alone a child, should be treated the same as her. These alleged suspects, if convicted, should never step foot outside a prison.”

DCS is prohibited by law from commenting on these matters until the criminal investigation is completed.

Joshua Bain, an Indianapolis city councilman, is calling for a full investigation.

“It blows your mind,” Bain said Fox 59 after writing a letter to the state Department of Child Care. “It makes you feel sick.”