SPOKANE, WA – A chilling case of child abuse reached its conclusion Friday as a woman was sentenced to more than three decades in prison for the horrific death of her 8-year-old adopted daughter, whose lifeless, emaciated body was concealed for months before authorities discovered the truth.
Mandie Miller, 36, faced judgment in a Spokane courtroom, where she heard her fate: 32 years in prison for the abuse and fatal neglect of Meela Miller, a child she had adopted and who was also her biological niece. The cruelty revealed in court stunned even seasoned investigators: Meela weighed just 26 pounds at the time of her death in September 2022, the result of starvation and repeated, brutal beatings. Prosecutors detailed how Miller and her boyfriend, 31-year-old Aleksander Kurmoyarov, used zip ties to restrain the child for hours and even resorted to smashing her toes with a hammer as a form of punishment.
Instead of alerting authorities after Meela’s death, Miller and Kurmoyarov kept her body in their home for three months. In an act that defies comprehension, the pair later rented a U-Haul truck, placed the girl’s remains in a coffin, and drove more than a thousand miles east to Mitchell, South Dakota. There, they requested Meela be buried, but when funeral home staff asked for documentation of the girl’s death, the couple’s story quickly unraveled.
Local police soon intervened, arresting Miller and Kurmoyarov on charges of failing to report a child’s death. Both were later extradited to Washington State to face much graver charges tied to Meela’s murder. Pressed by overwhelming evidence, including surveillance footage from their own home, Miller pleaded guilty last month to homicide by abuse, assault of a child, and unlawful imprisonment. Kurmoyarov also admitted guilt and is expected to be sentenced Tuesday.
Prosecutors told the court that the abuse Meela suffered was chronic and remorseless. Security cameras inside the home documented the extent of the torment: the child was repeatedly bound to a car seat with zip ties and subjected to beatings over an extended period. The footage—recorded without the adults realizing—painted a haunting picture of isolation and torture.
During the sentencing hearing, the emotional toll resonated through the courtroom. Andrea Miller, Meela’s biological mother and the sister of Mandie Miller, addressed the defendant with words both accusatory and forgiving. She mourned the loss of her daughter and the betrayal by her own sibling, linking Meela’s memory to another lost relative—Amelia Rose Miller, their late sister who died while serving in the Marines.
Despite the enormity of the crime, Andrea Miller chose to offer forgiveness. In a voice shaking with grief, she spoke of the pain of losing Meela but said that she forgave her sister for the irreversible harm done to her family.
Judge Rachelle Anderson rejected any suggestion that Miller’s troubled upbringing could excuse her actions. Noting that the recommended sentence was insufficient for such a harrowing offense, Anderson imposed an additional two years beyond what prosecutors sought. The judge made clear that abusing and neglecting a child—especially a member of one’s own family—represented one of the most profound betrayals imaginable.
Miller tearfully acknowledged her past in foster care and briefly admitted her guilt, confessing that her daughter did not deserve the pain inflicted by either herself or Kurmoyarov.
As Miller was led away to begin her decades-long sentence, the story of Meela Miller remained a bleak reminder of the fragility of those who depend most on the compassion and protection of others.