Family members plead guilty in neglect death of Indiana 5-year-old who weighed 21 pounds
12/08/2025 8:00 am PST
INDIANAPOLIS (TCN) -- Two people have accepted plea deals in the neglect-related death of a 5-year-old girl in 2024.
On Dec. 4, Tammy Halsey, the child’s grandmother, and Ryan Smith, the boyfriend of the child’s mother, both pleaded guilty to a felony charge of neglect resulting in death of a dependent in exchange for a 20-year sentence, WRTV reports. The child’s mother, Toni McClure, is facing murder charges.
Smith and Halsey are also required to cooperate with prosecutors against McClure, provide taped statements and sworn depositions, and testify at her trial. If they refuse to cooperate, they will go to trial, the outlet reports.
Kinsleigh Welty was found April 9, 2024, in a feces-covered closet, where she was allegedly kept for up to 20 hours per day. She died later that day at a hospital and reportedly weighed 21 pounds. She weighed more at age 2 than she did at age 5, WRTV reports.
WXIN reports that Smith, McClure, and Halsey were arrested and charged in connection with Welty’s death. Halsey allegedly used duct tape to restrain Welty, and she and McClure would reportedly limit the amount of food the child could eat.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by People, Facebook messages between Halsey and McClure in 2022 allegedly referred to the girl as a “demon” and “evil.”
In November, the family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against all three of the family members charged in the Welty’s death, as well as against 11 specific members of the child services department.
WXIN reports that Welty and her siblings were removed from McClure’s custody multiple times in 2018, but Welty was returned to her mother’s care in 2021.
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