Virginia woman who was caring for missing 3-year-old girl cops fear is ‘in danger’ arrested with fugitive

State police in Pennsylvania arrested a woman in connection to the disappearance of a little girl who has not been accounted for since last winter.

In October 2020, Amanda Arey was to be incarcerated in Middle River Regional Jail in Staunton, Virginia, and placed her 3-year-old daughter, Khaleesi Cuthriell, in the care of Candi Royer of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

Arey recently told a guard at the jail where the missing child was supposed to be living and the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation.

According to the sheriff’s office, Royer told family in February 2021 that the girl, who was last seen that month, was removed from her home and was staying with her maternal aunt and grandmother. The claim, however, was untrue, the investigation revealed.

Royer was then reported missing on Sept. 3 and authorities believed she was with a man she previously dated, Travis Brown, who was a fugitive and wanted in five Virginia localities on a slew of charges ranging from strangulation, carjacking and grand larceny to breaking and entering, and assault and battery, according to The Roanoke Times.

On Sept. 8, authorities officially listed the child, Khaleesie, as a missing person.

Four days later, on Sept. 12, Royer and Brown were both arrested in Pennsylvania and were expected to be extradited to Virginia, where they currently face charges including a single count each of felony abuse and neglect of a child.

Despite the arrests, “our investigation into the disappearance of three-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell is active and continues,” Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith said in a statement. “While we are pleased that Mr. Brown and Ms. Royer are in custody, the men and women of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office will not rest until we discover the whereabouts of 3-year-old Khaleesi.”

Smith previously said authorities have “major concerns that this child has been harmed or is in danger.”

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Khaleesi Cuthriellis asked to contact the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office at (540) 245-5333.