Couple hid 8-year-old daughter's body in trailer for 3 months after her death ‘to spend more time with her’
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MITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA: A couple was arrested after allegedly traveling across state lines with the body of their 8-year-old girl in a U-Haul trailer three months after her death because they "wanted to spend more time with her." Aleksander Kurmoyarov, 28, and his girlfriend Mandie Miller, 33, were arrested in Mitchell, South Dakota Wednesday, December 14 when cops learned the pair was towing the girl’s body from Airway Heights, Washington State to the Pine Ridge Native American reservation in South Dakota, according to the Mitchell Police Department.
Authorities learned of the tragic crime after the pair contacted the Davison County coroner to alert them that they were traveling with their daughter’s body. After the coroner informed the Mitchell police, they tracked the couple at a residence in Mitchell with a U-Haul trailer outside. Inside the trailer police found a coffin containing the 8-year-old’s body. The child was later identified as Mandie Miller's adoptive daughter. But what alarmed the police was the couple had different accounts on the child's death.
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Mandie Miller told investigators that her adoptive daughter had died on September 10 which conflicted with Aleksander Kurmoyarov’s account. He said the child died in Airway Heights, Washington shortly before Halloween, according to KIRO. Aleksander Kurmoyarov admitted that they didn’t seek medical attention for the girl or alert authorities when she died because he and Mandie Miller wanted to spend more time with her and were afraid they would get in trouble, police said.
Investigators said the pair made no attempt to tell Washington state officials about the child’s death. Aleksander Kurmoyarov and his girlfriend Mandie Miller had been in the city for about two days and in South Dakota for approximately four days before calling the coroner, according to the Mitchell Republic. The 28-year-old Aleksander Kurmoyarov and 33-year-old Mandie Miller were charged with one count of failure to notify law enforcement of the death of a child. They were placed in custody as police in both South Dakota and Washington investigate. However, authorities did not mention the child's cause of death.