MITCHELL, SD – New court documents reveal the Airway Heights couple arrested in South Dakota for failure to notify law enforcement of their 8-year-old adopted daughter’s death consistently abused her, pulled her out of school in early 2022 and tied her up for multiple hours every day.
Additionally, reports of the couple’s treatment of the child were made to local law enforcement and Child Protective Services (CPS). However, CPS caseworkers did not directly respond to the reports and police officers who responded were not able to make contact with the family.
28-year-old Aleksander Kurmoyarov and 33-year-old Mandie Miller were arrested in Mitchell Thursday charged with one count of failure to notify law enforcement of the death of a child. The couple had a no-bond arrest warrant in Spokane County for homicide by abuse, in relation to the death of Miller’s adopted daughter, Meelah.
According to court documents, an Airway Heights police sergeant was contacted by a police detective in Mitchell, S.D. on Wednesday afternoon. The detective told the sergeant he was notified of a possible dead 8-year-old girl “with suspicious circumstances” that was transported to Mitchell. The detective said he was trying to get in touch with Kurmoyarov and Miller at a funeral home in Mitchell.
That same day, another police detective in Mitchell was contacted by the Davison County Coroner. The coroner said he was contacted by a funeral home employee and told the funeral home was trying to get in contact with the Meelah’s family, later revealed to be Kurmoyarov and Miller.
Miller told investigators that her adoptive daughter had died on Sept 10 — which conflicted with Kurmoyarov’s account. He said the child died in Airway Heights, Washington shortly before Halloween, according to cops.
Kurmoyarov admitted that they didn’t seek medical attention for the girl or alert authorities when she died because he and Miller wanted to spend more time with her and were afraid they would get in trouble, police said.
They never notified law enforcement in Washington State or South Dakota of the 8-year-old’s death.
Police said on Friday that Aleksander Kurmoyarov and Mandie Miller were arrested on a no-bond arrest warrant for homicide by abuse.
