Parents Take 8-Year-Old Daughter's Corpse On Road Trip To 'Spend More Time With Her'

A couple from Washington State allegedly took their 8-year-old daughter's body on a cross-country road trip three months after she died because they "wanted to spend more time with her," police said.

Aleksander Kurmoyarov, 28, and Mandie Miller, 33, were arrested in Mitchell, South Dakota, Thursday and charged with one count of failure to notify law enforcement of the death of a child, according to Spokane, Washington-based CBS affiliate KREM.

The couple from the town of Airway Heights, which is just outside of Spokane, had been previously issued a warrant for their arrest on suspicion of homicide by abuse, Law & Crime reported.

The pair were reportedly on the authorities' radar after the Davison County Coroner called the Mitchell Police Department (MPD) and said their office had been in contact with them.

The coroner said that "he had been contacted by individuals stating that they were traveling from Washington State to Pine Ridge with their deceased daughter," according to the MPD.

The following day, officers found Kurmoyarov and Miller in Mitchell. The police department said they were at a residence with a U-Haul parked out front.

When asked by law enforcement, the couple allegedly admitted that the U-Haul contained a coffin with the dead body of Miller's "juvenile daughter" inside.

"During an interview with Kurmoyarov, he stated that the juvenile had died in Airway Heights a little before Halloween 2022," the MPD reportedly said in a press release, which conflicted with Miller's account as she said that the child died on Sept. 10.

Kurmoyarov allegedly admitted that they did not seek medical attention for the girl nor alert authorities when she died because "he and Miller wanted to spend more time with her and that he was afraid that they would get in trouble," police said.

"Miller and Kurmoyarov have been in South Dakota for approximately 4 days and specifically the City of Mitchell for approximately 2 days," the MPD wrote Thursday. "At no time while in the State of South Dakota did Miller or Kurmoyarov notify law enforcement of the juvenile's death."

Police later found out that the deceased was Miller's adoptive daughter. The girl's identity and the cause of her death have yet to be released.

A task force, including the MPD, the Airway Heights Police Department (AHPD), the Spokane County Major Crimes Unit, Spokane County Forensics, and Spokane Tribal Police Department, are working on the case as the investigation continues.