Sickening Facebook texts have emerged revealing years of alleged torture a five-year-old girl suffered at the hands of her mother and grandmother before her death, according to newly released court documents.
Kinsleigh Welty was found unconscious when Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers arrived at a home on Denver Drive on April 9.
Officers observed that the young woman was severely malnourished with bite marks, lice crawling on her face and head, and feces in her hair and feet. She was transported to Riley Children’s Hospital and she died of severe malnutrition. officials reported.
The message exchange between Kinsleigh’s mother, Toni Renee McClure, 29, and his grandmother, Tammy Halsey, 53, details how the couple allegedly tormented the young man over the years.
The alleged torture included frequent beatings, deprivation of food and drink, and the use of duct tape to prevent the girl from escaping a locked closet in which she was kept, part of the reason being to keep her hidden from the Department of Child Services. Law and crime reported.
Kinsleigh Welty was found unconscious when Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers arrived at her home on April 9. Officers observed that the young woman was severely malnourished, with bite marks, lice crawling on her face and head, and feces in her hair and feet.
The mother-daughter duo frequently talked about ways to punish the young woman, including locking the refrigerator and cabinets so she would not have access to food or drinks, the texts revealed.
Authorities said the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl weighed less than she did when she was two years old.
In the texts, Kinsleigh would be referred to as “demon,” “fool,” and “evil.”
In a text from May 2022, the grandmother was seen telling her daughter to ‘put something in front so she can’t push the door’, when the little girl escaped from the closet.
“I already tried,” McLure said.
Halsey replied, “You’ll have to keep her home for a weekend just to show her you’re serious.”
McLure responds: ‘She hates being hit in the belly just so you know.
Grandma replies, “Oh, I know.”
In a text message from May 2023, the grandmother asked, ‘Didn’t you wrap his ass?’
McClure tells his mother that he “did it,” but Kinsleigh “came out.”
His mother replied, “Damn, make it louder.”
In a July 2023 exchange, McLure asks his mother to take care of Kinsleigh.
When her mother responds that she is “too tired and has work the next day.”
McLure tells him, ‘Do the duct tape thing.’ Sleep. I won’t ask again.’
The horrendous texts from two years ago, May 2022
Another thread of texts from May 2023 and July 2023 show the atrocious abuse that mother and daughter did to Kinsleigh before her death in April 2024.
On October 6, 2023, McClure said Kinsleigh had broken the lock on the door and stuffed excrement under the couch. Halsey told her daughter to ‘tie her fucking ass’
On October 6, 2023, McClure said Kinsleigh had broken the lock on the door and stuffed excrement under the couch.
Halsey told her daughter to “tie her up.”
McClure responded “take one for the damn team man,” with laughing, skulls and crossbones emojis.
She continued: ‘You do your method and it works. I can’t do that here. I’ll clean it first.’
On January 2, 2024, Halsey asked McClure if he was babysitting that day.
“It doesn’t matter,” McClure wrote. ‘As long as you promise (if one) of the bastards shows up that you will make them leave and tell them (that the children are not) there. That’s the only thing I’m worried about,” Fox 59 reported.
On March 22, Halsey informed McClure that DCS had “showed up again.”
“Oh my God,” McClure responded. “I guess we have to find a day when you can take Kinsleigh and I can deal with it, but I really don’t want to.”
On April 9 of this year, McLure texted her mother that the Department of Child Services was coming to her house.
“I don’t have much in my refrigerator or cabinets, but DCS is coming out today,” he wrote. “Call me at lunch time.”
That same day the authorities discovered the young man’s lifeless body.
April 9, 2024 was the day Kinsleigh was declared deceased.
In April, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office arrested Kinsleigh’s mother, Toni McClure, and McClure’s boyfriend, 27-year-old Ryan Smith.
McClure was charged with murder, criminal confinement and neglect in the death of little Kinsleigh.
Smith was charged with three counts of neglect of a dependent.
Halsey faces five counts of neglect and one count of failure to report child neglect and abuse, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a news release Thursday.
“These charges are a direct result of law enforcement’s commitment to justice for Kinsleigh,” the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement, WXIN reported.
“We will continue to pursue leads and information and pursue charges, if warranted, as the investigation continues.”
Halsey and Smith are due back in court on June 18.
Smith has since been released on bail. McClure and Halsey are still being held in custody, according to a report.
Mother: Toni McLure, 29 years old.
Grandmother: Tammy Halsey, 53
Groom: Ryan Smith, 27
IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said, “My heart breaks knowing what Kinsleigh went through in her short life and how she left this world.”
‘The circumstances of Kinsleigh’s death are horrific and beyond comprehension. No human being, much less a child, should be treated like her.
“These alleged suspects, if convicted, should never set foot outside prison.”
Bailey added, “I am very grateful to the deputies, detectives, crime scene personnel, emergency room personnel, coroner’s office officials and deputy prosecutors for their unwavering dedication to the innocent.”
‘What they see and hear every day most of us couldn’t stand. They are truly special people.
“I pray that Kinsleigh has found inner peace and for her siblings, who will need a lot of love and care in the days, months and years to come,” he said. KTLA News reported.
