8-year-old girl adopted by her aunt Mandie Miller died due to unknown causes. Her body was transported by her adoptive mother and Aleksander Kurmoyarov, the mother's boy friend, to South Dakota.
The couple was attempting to bring the body to be buried on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Kurmoyarov told detectives that he and Miller tied Meelah up for several hours a day, and that Miller would hit her toes with a hammer when she misbehaved.
He said at nighttime they would put her in a bath robe and secure her like she was in a straitjacket. He admitted to tying her up for four to six hours a day, and zip -tied her to a car seat the day she died. He said he slapped her twice on the day she died, the documents said.