2 Ky. Juvenile-Detention Staffers Indicted on Misconduct in Death of Gynnya McMillen 

Two Kentucky juvenile detention center employees have been indicted on an official misconduct charge in the case involving the death of a teenage girl in January, a prosecutor confirmed Friday, the Associated Press reports. 

Reginald Windham and Victor Holt were both charged with a count of second-degree official misconduct as the result of a state police investigation into the Jan. 11 death of 16-year-old Gynnya McMillen. Medical examiners said that the teen, who was being held in detention, died in her sleep from a rare, previously undetected, genetic disorder that caused an irregular heartbeat, the wire reports. 

The investigation concluded that Windham and Holt failed to conduct regular bed checks on the teen and allegedly falsified documents relating to the supposed checks. 

Windham was fired early February for not making the checks, which are required every 15 minutes. Windham then went on to falsify a report claiming he did the checks, a report in which he referenced Holt, CBS News reported. 

“I conducted most of the 15-minute period checks on [Gynnya McMillen],” Windham wrote in his report, according to CBS. “Youth appeared asleep throughout the night. I made my last check at 05:45 hour while Mr. Holt was on duty first shift supervisor. We both was in intake everything appeared normal (sic).”

According to the AP, the Class B misdemeanor charges carry a maximum jail sentence of 90 days, Hardin County Attorney Jenny Oldham said. 

“Some of the misconduct smacks of outright indifference,” Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary John Tilley said Wednesday. Apparently, in one instance captured on video, an employee offered Gynnya a sandwich. When she didn’t respond, the employee reportedly closed the door to her cell and later ate the sandwich himself. 

“The longest void of time when she was not checked was 1 hour and 53 minutes,” Internal Investigations director Barney Kinman said, adding that there were at least two other gaps where more than an hour passed. 

On Wednesday, four other employees were placed on special investigative leave or were suspended or resigned as a result of the investigation. 

Tilley also said Wednesday that the nearly 60 hours of surveillance footage would be released to Gynnya’s family after the Kentucky State Police and Hardin County prosecutors finish their own investigations.