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The Murder of Kinsleigh Welty
● Awaiting Trial
Child Victim
Indiana
Kinsleigh Welty | 2018–2024
| Full Name | Kinsleigh Welty |
| Age | 5 |
| Weight | 21 lbs at death |
| Location | Indianapolis, IN |
| Grandfather | Brian Welty — fought for her |
The Victim
Kinsleigh Welty
Kinsleigh Welty was five years old when she died on April 9, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She weighed 21 pounds, less than she had weighed at age two. She had spent the final months of her life confined to a closet.
Kinsleigh had a paternal grandfather, Brian Welty, who had fought for years to keep her safe. She lived with him and her grandmother Tricia Welty twice during her short life, after child protective services substantiated reports of neglect at her mother's home. Brian later described watching her be returned to her mother as the hardest day of his life.
Kinsleigh never had a chance to be a five-year-old child the way she deserved. The people who were responsible for her care failed her at every level. Her grandfather and father have filed a civil suit on her behalf seeking accountability from the system that was supposed to protect her.
01
Background
What We Know
On April 9, 2024, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a home on Denver Drive on the southwest side of Indianapolis. They found Kinsleigh Welty, age five, severely malnourished and emaciated, her bones visibly protruding. She had feces on her hands and feet and active lice on her scalp. Officers transported her to Riley Hospital for Children, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour after police arrived. The Marion County coroner determined her cause of death to be malnutrition resulting from neglect.
Investigators determined that for approximately five months before her death, Kinsleigh had been confined to a closet in the home for up to 20 hours a day, with little food or water. A dresser blocked the closet door from the outside. The closet had small handprints of feces on its interior. Food cabinets and the refrigerator had been locked to prevent Kinsleigh from accessing food. Court documents and amended charges indicate the abuse began as early as May 2021, when Kinsleigh was returned to her mother's custody after a period in foster care and with her paternal grandparents.
A DCS caseworker had visited the home on April 9, 2024, the same day Kinsleigh died, to check on a newborn sibling whose blood had tested positive for THC. The caseworker was told Kinsleigh was at her grandparents' home. Hours later, police found Kinsleigh dying in the same residence. The family's lawsuit against DCS alleges that five reports of abuse and malnourishment were made between November 2023 and January 2024, and that each was closed as unsubstantiated without a caseworker having made face-to-face contact with Kinsleigh.
Case Timeline
How It Unfolded
2018
First Report of Neglect — Before Kinsleigh Turned One Month Old
DCS receives its first report of neglect at Toni McClure's home before Kinsleigh is one month old. The report is substantiated. McClure is criminally charged with child neglect. Kinsleigh is placed with her paternal grandparents, Brian and Tricia Welty, for the first time.
2020
McClure Convicted of Child Neglect
Toni McClure is convicted on the 2018 neglect charge. Kinsleigh remains with her paternal grandparents during the investigation period.
2021
Kinsleigh Returned to McClure — Abuse Resumes
Kinsleigh is returned to Toni McClure's custody. Later that year, after Kinsleigh and her siblings are hospitalized with marks, welts, and bruises, DCS takes the children again, but returns them after DCS fails to present a medical witness at a fact-finding hearing. Prosecutors' amended charges allege the abuse of Kinsleigh began again in May 2021.
November 2023 – March 2024
Five DCS Reports — None Result in Contact with Kinsleigh
Five separate reports are made to DCS alleging Kinsleigh is being abused and malnourished. According to the family's lawsuit, each report is closed as unsubstantiated without a caseworker having made face-to-face contact with Kinsleigh. DCS caseworkers photograph Kinsleigh approximately one month before her death but do not remove her from the home despite her visibly emaciated condition.
April 9, 2024
Kinsleigh Found Unresponsive — Pronounced Dead
A DCS caseworker visits the Denver Drive home to check on a newborn sibling. McClure tells the caseworker Kinsleigh is at her grandparents. Hours later, police respond to a call of an unresponsive child at the same address. Officers find Kinsleigh severely malnourished, her bones protruding, with feces on her hands and feet and active lice on her scalp. She is transported to Riley Hospital for Children and pronounced dead. An autopsy confirms her cause of death as malnutrition resulting from neglect. She weighs 21 pounds, less than she weighed at age two.
April 2024
Three People Arrested and Charged
Toni McClure is charged with murder, criminal confinement resulting in serious bodily injury, and battery on a person less than 14 years old. Prosecutors seek life without parole. Ryan Smith is charged with three counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and criminal confinement. Tammy Halsey is charged with multiple counts of neglect resulting in death and failure to make a report. All three are held in Marion County.
December 5, 2025
Smith and Halsey Plead Guilty — 20 Years Each
Ryan Smith pleads guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. Tammy Halsey enters a separate guilty plea to the same charge. Both receive 20-year sentences in the Indiana Department of Correction, pending final acceptance by the court. Both agree to fully cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Toni McClure. Their pleas are taken under advisement pending the resolution of McClure's case.
2026
McClure Trial Set — DCS Lawsuit Proceeds
Toni McClure's murder trial is scheduled for June 22, 2026. Prosecutors continue to seek life without parole. Kinsleigh's grandfather Brian Welty and her father have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against DCS and 11 caseworkers for failing to protect Kinsleigh despite repeated reports of abuse. "Kinsleigh's Law," House Bill 1036, has advanced through the Indiana Senate Family Services committee.
02
Investigation
The Investigation
Child abuse detectives began investigating at the scene on April 9, 2024, and continued at Riley Hospital. The investigation drew on physical evidence, digital records, and statements from those charged. McClure told investigators she had regularly placed Kinsleigh in the closet and done the bare minimum to feed her, and admitted that she wanted her daughter out of her life. She stated that both Smith and Halsey had warned her that Kinsleigh would die if she did not change how she was treating her.
Ryan Smith told investigators he had seen Kinsleigh outside the closet only approximately ten times in the last three to four months of her life. Tammy Halsey told co-workers she had tied Kinsleigh to a bed to prevent her from getting up at night to find food. Halsey later acknowledged to investigators that she had known Kinsleigh was being kept in the closet but had not reported it to DCS because she did not want McClure to lose custody of her other children.
A review of Facebook messages between McClure and Halsey, obtained through a search warrant, documented repeated discussions about hiding Kinsleigh from the public and from DCS, and referenced locking food cabinets and the refrigerator to prevent Kinsleigh from accessing food. Prosecutors amended their charges to reflect a timeline of abuse beginning in May 2021, extending the window significantly beyond the initial November 2023 to April 2024 period. Physical evidence included the closet interior, which bore small handprints of feces.
The investigation also placed scrutiny on the Indiana Department of Child Services. The family's lawsuit, filed in November 2025, alleges DCS received six reports of abuse and neglect against Kinsleigh dating back to her first weeks of life, that caseworkers repeatedly closed reports without seeing the child in person, and that DCS returned Kinsleigh to her mother's custody on multiple occasions despite a prior criminal conviction for neglect.
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