Toni McClure was formally sentenced after a jury convicted her of murder in the 2024 death of 5-year-old Kinsleigh Welty.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — An Indianapolis woman convicted of murdering her 5-year-old daughter was formally sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing the central criminal prosecution in Kinsleigh Welty’s 2024 death to a close.
Toni McClure, 31, received the sentence Sept. 24 in Marion Superior Court after a jury earlier in the month found her guilty of murder, criminal confinement and battery. The same jury recommended life without parole after a separate penalty proceeding. Judge James Snyder formally imposed the life sentence Thursday.
Kinsleigh died in April 2024 after she was found unresponsive at a home on Denver Drive on Indianapolis’ southwest side. Investigators determined that the child had suffered severe malnutrition. Evidence presented in the criminal case showed that she had been confined in a bedroom closet and deprived of adequate food and water for an extended period before her death.
The case went to a jury after a trial in which prosecutors argued that McClure intentionally caused her daughter’s death. Jurors convicted McClure on Sept. 1. Because prosecutors had sought life without parole, the jury returned for a separate penalty phase and recommended that punishment the following day.
At Thursday’s hearing, Snyder described the case as among the most severe he had encountered and spoke about the emotional effect of the evidence on people involved in the investigation and trial. He also said many people had failed Kinsleigh before her death. The judge vacated McClure’s battery and criminal confinement convictions after prosecutors raised concerns that separately sentencing her on those counts could create double-jeopardy issues because the conduct was tied to the murder.
McClure was one of three adults prosecuted in connection with Kinsleigh’s death. Her former boyfriend, Ryan Smith, pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in death and received a 20-year prison sentence. Kinsleigh’s grandmother, Tammy Halsey, also pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in death under an agreement that called for a 20-year sentence.
Halsey’s plea agreement required her to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against McClure. Halsey was formally sentenced to 20 years on Thursday, the same day as her daughter. Her sentence and McClure’s life term followed Smith’s sentencing and brought the criminal cases against the three adults to an end.
The criminal proceedings developed over more than two years after Indianapolis police responded to the home where Kinsleigh was found unresponsive. The investigation led authorities to focus not only on the circumstances immediately surrounding her death but also on the treatment she received before she died. McClure was the only defendant charged with murder.
The end of the criminal prosecutions does not end the legal fallout surrounding Kinsleigh’s death. Her father and paternal grandfather have pursued civil litigation involving the Indiana Department of Child Services, alleging the agency failed to intervene despite earlier concerns about the girl’s safety. Those claims are separate from the criminal convictions and sentences imposed on McClure, Halsey and Smith.
McClure will serve her life-without-parole sentence in the Indiana Department of Correction. With Thursday’s sentencing proceedings completed, all three adults prosecuted in connection with Kinsleigh’s death have now received prison sentences.
Author note: Last updated September 25, 2026.