AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA: The murder trial for missing Augusta County toddler, Khaleesi Cuthriell, was reportedly postponed after attorney Michael Hallahan, who is representing suspect Candi J Royer, stepped down from the case due to a conflict of interest. A five-day jury trial was initially scheduled to begin on May 8 but it has now been pushed back to October 16 after investigators found some items containing Cuthriell and Royer’s DNA.
Hallahan, according to the News Leader, filed a motion to withdraw as Royer’s attorney, citing a conflict of interest involving one of his clients in another jurisdiction. The defense lawyer was reportedly told by Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin that a client of Hallahan’s had written a letter stating they wanted to assist the commonwealth in Royer’s case. The client, who is facing charges outside of Augusta County, seeks a more lenient sentence in exchange for testifying against Royer.
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“And even if the Commonwealth in this case declined to use this other client as a witness, the other client could blame this counsel for suppressing the opportunity to get credit and consideration on those other cases because I am counsel for this defendant,” Hallahan said in the motion, the outlet noted. Attorney Jessica Sherman-Stoltz has now been appointed to handle Royer's case. Royer, 43, has been charged with aggravated murder in the presumed death of Cuthriell while her boyfriend Travis Brown, 31, has also been arrested on similar charges. Cuthriell’s body has not been recovered so far.
What happened to Khaleesi Cuthriell?
Cuthriell was the daughter of Amanda Avrey, who reportedly gave the three-year-old to her friend, Royer, in October 2020, days before being imprisoned in the Middle River Regional Jail. Nearly 11 months later Avrey told jail guards and Augusta County Sheriff Don Smith that her child was missing.
Avrey reportedly said that she entrusted her daughter with Royer but failed to contact the latter or her boyfriend, Brown, both of whom had been taking care of the girl. Months later she saw reports about Cuthriell going missing on the prison television. “The mother was talking to Royer and Brown from the jail [but] they stopped communicating with her, stopped taking her calls, stopped taking her text messages. Everything went black,” the sheriff told Inside Edition.
Smith opened the investigation on September 4, 2021, and learned that Avery's family had not seen the child since January. Relatives shared that Royer told them several stories, including how the child went to stay with her grandmother, and then an aunt, and was eventually picked up by social workers from Virginia's Child Protective Services.
However, all of those statements were proven to be untrue. After entering Royer's information into law enforcement databases, Smith learned that she was not missing but was with her boyfriend, Brown, both of whom were wanted for a series of crimes, including stealing a car, passing bad checks and drug-related offenses.
The couple was arrested at a motel in Pennsylvania on September 12 by state police and members of the US Marshal’s Office. Investigators reportedly found methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and stolen checks in their room. “Khaleesi is nowhere to be found,” Smith said at the time.
That same month, Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith announced Khaleesi was dead. “Investigators from the sheriff’s office and the Virginia State Police have interviewed both suspects over the past week,” a statement released by the sheriff's office said at the time, The News Leader noted. “The investigation has revealed Khaleesi Cuthriell died while in the care of Travis Brown and Candi Royer,” they added.
How is Candi J Royer’s DNA linked to missing Augusta County girl?
Legal documents revealed that investigators looking into Cuthriell’s death confiscated several items following Royer’s arrest. They found a wire handle wrapped with tape containing both Khaleesi and Royer's DNA. A picture frame had Brown’s DNA, and Khaleesi’s DNA was found on a wall as well. Officials also took bits of carpeting from the trunk of a 2002 S60 Volvo and from the backseat of a 2001 Toyota Camry but they did not contain any DNA, the files said.
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