Candi Royer: Woman accused of murdering toddler in her care pleads guilty to first-degree murder
Two weeks after her ex-boyfriend was convicted of killing the toddler in their care, Candi Royer has pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Khaleesi Cuthriell, according to WHSV.
On Sept. 13, 2023, Royer entered a guilty plea in exchange for the prosecution to drop the charges of child abuse causing serious injury, aggravated murder, concealing a dead body, and homicide, WHSV says. She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
Royer and her ex-boyfriend, Travis Brown, took three-year-old Khaleesi into their care when the child’s mother, Amanda Arey, was sent to prison in October 2020, WHSV says. In September 2021, Khaleesi and Royer were reported missing after Arey spent months trying to get a hold of Royer and Brown to check on her daughter.
It turns out, Royer wasn’t missing — she and Brown were on a crime spree, and little Khaleesi was nowhere to be found, the News Virginian previously reported.
Despite the extensive searches for Khaleesi, whose remains have never been found, prosecutors believe she was dead in January 2021, WHSV says.
