AUGUSTA COUNTY, VA (WINA) – Candi Jo Royer has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 3-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell. Royer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in September 2023, with her sentence handed down in Augusta Circuit Court on Thursday, February 22, 2024.

Royer and her boyfriend, Travis Ryan Brown, took the Waynesboro girl into their home when her mother, Amanda Arey, was arrested for parole violation in October 2020. Royer was reported missing in September 2021 after a domestic dispute. It wasn’t until then that the girl’s mother realized her daughter was unaccounted for. Royer and Brown then fled Virginia and were arrested in Pennsylvania days later.

The girl’s body was never recovered, but evidence including photos and videos showed substantial evidence of child abuse and torture. During his own trial, Travis Brown admitted to putting Khaleesi’s body in the trash months before she was discovered to be missing. He was sentenced to life without parole last week.