Sentencing for child killer to take place Friday in Augusta County Circuit Court
STAUNTON — First reported missing in September 2021, the case of 3-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell gripped the region as the search for the toddler ramped up.
But she was already dead.
That same month, the Augusta County Sheriff's Office announced that two suspects in the child's disappearance — Travis R. Brown and Candi J. Royer — had been arrested at a motel in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Shortly after the pair's capture the agency reported Khaleesi was no longer alive.
During the questioning, Brown, 32, admitted the toddler was dead after initially lying and telling investigators a Child Protective Services official in a state car had taken her away in January 2021.
Brown and Royer, 44, were both convicted last year in the child's death. Khaleesi's body has never been found.
On Friday afternoon in Augusta County Circuit Court, Brown will be sentenced on a charge of aggravated murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole.
Evidence at Brown's trial in August showed the toddler was burned, malnourished, cut and most likely beaten before her disappearance.
Khaleesi was placed in the care of Brown and Royer, who lived on Cattle Scales Road in the county near Waynesboro, in October 2020 after the child's mother, Amanda G. Arey, was incarcerated at Middle River Regional Jail on a probation violation. Arey initially sought to place the toddler with a relative, but testimony revealed Child Protective Services, a division of Shenandoah Valley Social Services, stepped in and wouldn’t allow the move.
Despite Royer being on home electronic monitoring while serving a criminal conviction at her home during the pandemic, a CPS employee took Khaleesi to the residence and placed the child in her care, not knowing Brown was also living there. Nobody from CPS ever returned to check on the toddler, according to testimony.
Khaleesi would be dead by January 2021, authorities now believe, but she wasn't reported missing until nine months later after Arey told a jail official she’d lost contact with the couple and hadn’t spoken to her daughter in several months.
After lying about the state official taking her away, Brown admitted Khaleesi was dead by claiming she killed herself by purposefully slamming her head into a doorframe. "It's what she did, man," he said in a recording with Augusta County investigators. Brown told them he attempted CPR on the toddler but was unsuccessful. "I tried so hard, dude."
A drug addict at the time, Brown said he then passed out. After waking, Brown told investigators he left Khaleesi on the floor until the next day, when he said he wrapped her in a blanket and put her body in a garbage can.
Some of the damaging evidence against the couple were videos taken by Royer that were later confiscated by authorities. Over 46,000 photos were also collected.
Evidence at Brown's trial revealed Khaleesi was being abused soon after she began living with the couple. Videos and photographs showed most of her body was already covered in bruises, cuts and burns just several weeks after being left at the couple's home. Large swaths of hair were also missing.
Photos showed Khaleesi's injuries grew progressively worse. Less than three weeks after her arrival, she had slight bruising on her forehead, a swollen cheek and an abrasion underneath her bottom lip. Three days later, another photo showed some of her hair was missing, and the bruising was more noticeable. Soft-tissue injuries to her face became more pronounced. The toddler thinned considerably during her stay, and had what appeared to be burns on her right ear that were most likely caused by a cigarette, according to testimony. She also had two ulcerated blisters on the inside of her mouth that were indicative of burns, and her feet were discolored in other photos.
Video of Khaleesi taken Jan. 12, 2021, perhaps her last day alive, according to Augusta County Commonwealth's Attorney Tim Martin, showed a frightened and confused child being verbally berated by Royer while being made to stand naked in a dry bathtub in her own feces. Missing most of her hair by that time and covered in cuts and bruises, the toddler visibly shook during the ordeal.
An expert on child abuse and torture testified the case fit the definition of child torture.
After authorities arrested Brown and Royer in Pennsylvania, Virginia State Police searched the couple's home where investigators found bloodstains on a wall that contained Khaleesi's DNA. One of the bloodstains was six feet off the floor. Police located a wire hanger with a handle made of tape that contained both Royer's DNA and the toddler's, evidence showed. Khaleesi's door to her bedroom was also found to have a lock on the outside.
Brown, also convicted of child abuse, has a sentencing hearing that begins at 2 p.m. on Friday. Royer, convicted of first-degree murder, is scheduled to be sentenced next week on Thursday, court records show.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Sentencing for child killer to take place Friday in Augusta County
