New charges against the woman accused of killing her 8-year-old daughter include homicide by abuse, assault

Prosecutors brought new charges earlier this month against the 34-year-old woman accused of abusing her daughter for more than a year, leading to her death in 2022.

The new charges, including homicide by abuse and assault, against Mandie R. Miller come months after her boyfriend, Aleksander Kurmoyarov, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, among other charges, and agreed to testify against Miller.

The couple is accused of killing 8-year-old Meela Miller in 2022.

They were arrested in South Dakota late in 2022 after the couple transported the girl’s body from Airway Heights to the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, where they intended to bury her, according to court documents.

Court documents filed on Jan. 11 contain information from Kurmoyarov detailing how the couple treated the girl.

Kurmoyarov said he immigrated when he was 13. He met Miller while playing World of Warcraft online and moved to Washington state to be with her in June 2021.

The couple moved into a house on Redding Drive in Airway Heights with the 8-year-old in July 2022.

He said Miller became increasingly controlling. Kurmoyarov said Miller was in charge of punishing Meela, and he only punished her at Miller’s direction.

The couple would restrain the child for long periods of time, Kurmoyarov said. In February 2021,

Miller pulled the girl out of school, at which point the “discipline” of the girl progressed.

They would restrain the girl in a car chair for longer and longer periods of time, eventually only releasing her to bathe her and change her clothes, Kurmoyarov said.

Neighbors, social workers and school counselors contacted police repeatedly during this time over their concerns about the girl’s living situation.

Miller would hit the girl with a hammer and rubber mallet, he said. She also would spray chemicals in the girl’s eyes and gouge at them, he said.

Miller restricted Meela’s food, eventually only giving her water, he said.

The girl lost weight and became weaker until she died in early September 2022.

They left the girl’s body in her bedroom for about a week until she started to decompose, then put her body in a plastic storage tote, which they used to transport her body to South Dakota.

Detectives have videos and images from surveillance cameras in the couple’s home that show the girl bound and restrained.

Miller was initially charged with unlawful imprisonment, first-degree criminal mistreatment and second-degree murder.

She is now charged with homicide by abuse, second-degree murder, two counts of assault of a child and six counts of unlawful imprisonment. All of the charges contain aggravating circumstances of deliberate cruelty, abuse of trust and domestic violence, according to court documents.

Miller’s trial is scheduled to begin in March.