A memorial for Khaleesi Cuthriell, a 3-year-old who died while in the care of an Augusta County couple, has been established at the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office in Verona.
“This memorial was established to honor this child and remind the family and our community that the ACSO is working diligently to bring justice for Khaleesi,” Augusta County Sheriff Donald L. Smith said Wednesday.
The memorial, located to the left outside the main door of the Sheriff’s Office, is for the family, friends, and our community to remember her life.
The only request Smith has made is for those attending the memorial not to paint, attach or deface the sheriff’s office building.
Toys, flowers, balloons and the rest are welcomed, but not a necessity.
Investigators determined in September that Cuthriell died while in the care of Travis Brown, 29, and Candi Royer, 41, at an address in Augusta County where the two had been residing.
The Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the address, 249 Cattle Scales Road, with the assistance of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI.
According to investigators, Cuthriell, the daughter of Amanda Arey, an inmate at the Middle River Regional Jail, had been placed in the care of Royer back in October 2020.
Arey reported this to a jail officer on Sept. 4, according to the sheriff’s office. She also said that she had been told by friends that Royer had placed her daughter in the care of the child’s aunt, who lives in Covington, or possibly in the care of her maternal grandmother.
Several friends and family of Royer also reported to investigators being told this by Royer, and that the child had not been seen with Royer since February of this year.
Brown and Royer were arrested in Pennsylvania on Sept. 12. Royer had initially been filed as a missing person by the Sheriff’s Office, but is now suspected as being a willing participant with Brown in a crime spree across the Commonwealth of Virginia and into Pennsylvania.
The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office is still requesting the public’s assistance in obtaining any information available on the whereabouts of Khaleesi Cuthriell. Citizens can contact the Sheriff’s Office at (540) 245-5333 or Central Shenandoah Crime Stoppers at 800-322-2017.
Story by Chris Graham
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