Tag: Lena Lunsford

Mother Charged With Daughter's Death Makes Court Appearance

A woman who reported her 3-year-old daughter missing in West Virginia in 2011 has been indicted in her death.

A grand jury on Monday indicted 34-year-old Lena Marie Lunsford Conaway.

She is charged with murder of a child by parent by failure to provide necessities, death of a child by parent by child abuse, child abuse resulting in injury and concealment of a dead human body.

According to a criminal complaint, witnesses saw Conaway bludgeoning her daughter, Aliayah Lunsford. Witnesses said Aliayah fell to the ground and died hours later.

The complaint says Conaway then withheld medical attention and prevented others from summoning help, then allegedly took steps to conceal the crime.

The child’s body hasn’t been recovered.

Conaway was extradited from Florida in November.

Lena Lunsford Back in W.Va. Facing Charges

The mother of a 3-year-old girl who disappeared in 2011 was  arrested Thursday in Florida and is back in West Virginia to face charges.

Aliayah Lunsford was reported missing on Sept. 24, 2011, from her home in Weston.

In a statement this morning Lewis County Sheriff Adam Gissy said the missing child’s mother, Lena Lunsford is charged with death of a child by a parent by child abuse.

The Sheriff said that the investigation leads him to believe that the one person who possesses knowledge of Aliayah’s whereabouts is her mother.  The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the girl’s death was caused by her mother hitting her in the head who took steps to conceal it.

Lena Lunsford had reported she had checked on her daughter in her bed early that morning, and then found her gone when she looked in on her again later.

Lunsford spent eight months in prison for welfare fraud after her daughter vanished, then had additional short stays on probation violations. Her parental rights were terminated by the West Virginia courts, and her six other children were put in state custody.

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