‘As a community, it should never leave us’: The case of 8-year-old Meela Miller’s torture and killing has finally come to a close as the second suspect is sentenced

Three years after an 8-year -old girl died after severe abuse, her second killer was sentenced on Tuesday.

Aleksandr Kurmoyarov will spend nearly 23 years in prison for his role in the killing of his girlfriend’s adopted daughter, Meela Miller, in 2022. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree assault and three counts of unlawful imprisonment.

His girlfriend, Mandie Miller, was sentenced last week to more than 30 years in prison.

The facts of Meela’s ongoing torture until her death are nothing short of a “litany of horrors,” Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michelle Szambelan said in court Tuesday.

“She should’ve had a childhood and continued to grow,” Szambelan said. “For the rest of the family … you wondered what else you could have done. It is not your fault. It isn’t anybody’s fault but Ms. Miller and the gentleman standing before me today.”

Miller and Kurmoyarov were raising Meela, Miller’s biological niece, together at their home in Airway Heights. Miller’s ex, Daniel Herrera, had also raised Meela like his own daughter and said he was under the impression he and Miller would get back together. The last time he saw Meela was in July 2022 as she played in the waters of Lake Omak. But in a few months, Meela would die.

When Herrera was notified of her death that September, he said his response was, “What did you guys do to her?”

Meela’s body was found in the back of a U-Haul in South Dakota. Miller and Kurmoyarov had transported her body from Airway Heights to the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation where they intended to bury her, according to court documents. At the time of her death, she weighed just 26 pounds, about 30 pounds below the average weight for a girl of her age.

“They neglected, abused and starved 8-year-old Meela … They tied Meela to her bed in a car seat in the middle of the room,” Spokane County Prosecutor Emily Sullivan told the judge on Tuesday. “They restrained her, day after day.”

The couple spending decades in prison for Meela’s death is “necessary to punish, protect and deter,” Sullivan said at sentencing.

Court documents say Miller restrained Meela so often she eventually pulled her out of school and the abuse progressed. Neighbors, social workers and school counselors contacted police repeatedly during this time over their concerns.

Kurmoyarov decided to cooperate with investigators early on after the couple’s arrest. He told law enforcement Miller would hit the girl with a hammer and rubber mallet, and would spray chemicals in the girl’s eyes and gouge at them. She continued to restrict Meela’s food until the only thing she was allowed to consume was water.

When Meela died, Miller told family she was having chest pains, started to vomit and died. She later switched stories, telling police Meela choked on a milkshake. In December 2022, the couple rented the U-Haul and drove to South Dakota to bury her on tribal land where Miller is an enrolled member. But when the couple attempted to bury her with no record of her death, a local coroner intervened. He called the police and told them the couple’s behavior was suspicious, according to court records.

A medical examiner in South Dakota ruled the death a homicide, saying the girl’s wrists and ankles had lesions that were consistent with being bound by zip ties.

“What I did to Meela was horrible. I cannot bring her back,” Kurmoyarov said at his sentencing on Tuesday. “I am at a loss for words. My actions have said enough … I deserve this punishment, and I am sorry.”

Szambelan and attorneys made note of the long legal process that has played out in the years since the couple were jailed for Meela’s killing. While Kurmoyarov took responsibility early, the attorneys said, Miller played “games.” Szambelan thanked Kurmoyarov for accepting responsibility and sparing Meela’s extended family the pain of a traumatizing trial.

While Meela’s extended family did not speak in person on Tuesday, a victim witness advocate read aloud some of their statements.

“Meela was taken from a family that loved her. She had people who wanted to protect her. Her absence has left a hole in our family … Her presence is something we will grieve forever,” Meela’s aunt, Krystina Felix, said in her statement. “Meela deserved safety, dignity and love. Meela deserved better.”

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Preston McCollam spoke with media after Kurmoyarov’s sentencing, calling the killing “a case that should touch the community.”

It was not only difficult for the family, McCollam said, but for the investigators and attorneys who had to pore over the evidence day after day and bear witness to the horrors Meela experienced at the hands of people she trusted.

“As the years go by, the things that Meela will never be able to do – the highlights, the moments, the birthdays, the holidays that will never leave these families … As a community, it should never leave us,” McCollam said. “We should always be thinking about the impact of the lost ones.”