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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - About six weeks after authorities say neglect killed a Boone County teenager, state leaders released investigative findings Thursday saying any prior contact the state had with Kyneddi Miller involved unfounded allegations or concerns that did not rise to the level of neglect as set forth in state law.

Boone County Sheriff’s deputies say they found Miller, 14, in April. They described finding her body in a skeletal state, saying she had not eaten for months. Her mother and two grandparents stand charged with child neglect resulting in death. All three have pleaded not guilty.

WSAZ Investigates | Deadly Details Denied

Gov. Jim Justice and Department of Human Services Secretary Cynthia Persily, who oversees CPS, both initially told WSAZ NewsChannel 3 that CPS did not know of the girl. Persily claimed “there was nothing with (Miller’s) name on it in (her) agency.”A whistleblower letter, along with West Virginia State Police audio and a call log, say otherwise. The letter says two prior cases, in 2009 and 2017, list Miller by name. Then, the call log and audio document a state trooper saying he filed a CPS referral related to Miller in March 2023.

The governor’s Chief of Staff, Brian Abraham, joined Persily and other leaders Thursday to address that prior history, along with questions about Miller’s time as a homeschool student and the lack of a academic assessment required by state law.

Abraham specifically addressed the whistleblower letter and State Police contact, confirming Miller’s name is listed in the CPS system in 2009 and 2017. He said both cases involved allegations that directly involved other people, going on to say state officials found the allegations unfounded both times. Then Abraham confirmed, for the first time, that a state trooper went directly from a March 2023 welfare check on Kyneddi to the local CPS office, where the trooper says he went inside and spoke with someone about a concern for Kyneddi’s mental health. He said the trooper recalls she had a fear of COVID and germs and did not want to be around people.

Persily talked about mental health resources that are available, which prompted WSAZ NewsChannel 3′s Curtis Johnson to ask why no effort was made by her staff to see that help utilized. Abraham answered the question.

”Did your staff take those resources seriously enough with regards to Kyneddi?” Johnson asked. “Should something have been referred to one of those other resources?”

”Could those DHHR, DoHS workers have said, ‘Yeah, we could look into -- we could call and give her,’” Abraham answered. " I think that was the reason he went there. I mean, that’s what he says, ‘I went down there and wanted to talk to them about it to see if they could make a phone call to her, or for her, or something.’

“And that, if you want to say that’s a miss, I think it could be a miss. That if we’re being extra protective and extra, but again within the four corners of what abuse and neglect is and what they’re supposed to do, it wouldn’t have fit within that.

“And to a reasonable person would it have at that time in their mind triggered, ‘I’ve got to make a mental health referral?” Probably not, but all of us sitting here today going, ‘Would it have been better if they’d done that?’ Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think that too,” Abraham concluded.

The Department of Human Services cited confidentiality laws in declining comment when the initial weeks, but WSAZ found those state and federal laws say in the case of a child neglect fatality, the state shall make public any history between the child and CPS.

So, WSAZ requested that information using the state’s Freedom of Information Act, but the station’s request was denied.

Then, WSAZ received the anonymous letter May 10. It details two referrals to CPS involving Kyneddi, on in 2009 and another in 2017. The letter includes intake numbers assigned to the cases, along with specific dates, times and even the names of supervisors and workers.

The letter also notes Kyneddi’s name was listed in the CPS system both times. On that same day, May 10, WSAZ obtained audio and a call log from West Virginia State Police, which references the third referral. The trooper an be heard talking with a dispatcher after a welfare check on the teen in March 2023.

”On that CAD call reference, that welfare check, I just made that CPS referral if you can just put it in the notes on it,” the radio traffic states. State Police stood by those records and provided GPS data showing the trooper went to the local child welfare office in person. But the administration’s story changed multiple times thereafter, leading to Thursday’s briefing.

Persily, on Thursday, told reporters all referrals are being directed to the state’s hotline for abuse and neglect. She said going forward, rather than screening out all calls that don’t meet that criteria, calls for mental health concerns, but no confirmed neglect, will be handled differently.

WSAZ asked how.

”There seems to be some issues here that perhaps some of our other programs can help with,” Persily answered. “So more to come on the mechanics of that, but for right now, that’s what I can tell you -- that our family support centers will become the hub for the coordination of those services, because they’re located in every community and they know the needs of the community and the resources in that community.”

Going forward, Abraham told WSAZ the state is looking to be more transparent.

”I am upset by the way it was originally handled as far as the response out from DHHR,” he said referencing the department’s former acronym, Department of Health and Human Resources. “There’s ways to to do that, and then there’s better ways to do that. That is, you know, here’s the law, but, you know, let me assure you of this, or let me tell you that ... That’s the way I think going forward, people should recognize there are sensitive cases and they need to be dealt with a little bit differently.”

He added that the administration is looking at examples from other states.

Senate President Craig Blair released the following statement:

“We’d like to thank the Governor’s Office, Department of Human Services Secretary Cynthia Persily, State Superintendent Michele Blatt, and Maj. Jim Mitchell from the West Virginia State Police for their efforts today to update the public and the media about this heartbreaking situation that occurred in Boone County.

“What has become apparent above everything else is that this child was failed by her local network of safety nets. Through a series of circumstances, she became lost in the system, and she tragically lost her life. As Legislators, we have an obligation to protect our most vulnerable citizens, especially our children.

“This case has highlighted that our current system of checks and balances has cracks. To that end, we will work with the Governor’s Office, the Department of Education, the Department of Human Services, and the State Police to discuss ways that we, legislatively, can improve our regulations related to homeschooled children to ensure that no children suffer this same outcome.

“We encourage our colleagues in the House of Delegates to sit down with us as we start working toward these plans. We must act quickly to ensure that something of this magnitude doesn’t happen again.”

The governor’s staff says the CPS worker who was in the local office the day the trooper came in doesn’t remember the interaction. So, they couldn’t comment further about why they didn’t point the trooper to those mental health resources.

We will be following up with Secretary Persily to see who and how they will be handling those calls that come into the state’s referral line that don’t meet abuse or neglect criteria but fall into the mental health concern area.

We also asked questions Thursday afternoon about whether policies for homeschooled students like Kyneddi were followed.

Officials say Kynnedi was in virtual learning during the pandemic in 2020 like everyone else, but rather than returning to in-person learning, she switched to homeschooling.

Abraham says an annual assessment for homeschooled students is required to be submitted to the county superintendent at the completion of specific grade levels, but the Boone County school system never received one.

Abraham says in such cases, the county may reach out and issue a truancy petition, in which case there would be court intervention.

“It is not done as a matter of routine,” Abraham said. “It would be the exception. That’s been part of our discussion, that counties are not engaging in these truancy petitions on a frequent basis, so we think that if you want to say, what do we think is a fail in terms of what are we seeing, what do we need to fix? I think this is a fail that we need to see what we can do. Sometimes laws fix it, sometimes practice fixes it.”

We asked West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt if they’re considering requiring homeschool assessments to be submitted annually instead of every few years.

“That would be a discussion that would have to take place with our legislature,” she said. “We’re required by state code right now when the assessments are reported and how that process works.”

We also asked if they’re having any discussion whether teachers should begin making home-school assessments in person to check on those children’s well-being.

“There’ve been lots of discussions,” Blatt said, “and there are lots of things that, in a perfect world, we would like to be able to do, but I think our counties are bound by state code and what they are allowed to do when it comes to a homeschool student.”

Officials say they can’t comment on what Kyneddi’s school attendance record was like before she began being homeschooled.