HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The father of a Glen Allen girl who died last month has been charged with murdering her.
Avinaya Rana was indicted by a grand jury on Friday on charges of murder and child neglect in connection with the death of his daughter, 12-year-old Avianca Rana, who died at the hospital on July 8 after suffering a medical emergency at her home.
The girl’s stepmother, Sulakchhana Basnet, was indicted Thursday on a charge of felony child neglect.
On July 8, Henrico emergency crews responded to a home on Kingscote Lane for a reported medical emergency. Avianca was taken to the hospital and later died.
Avianca was a student at Hungary Creek Middle School, according to an email sent out by the school when she passed away.
Neighbor Nuha Elnour told 8News that her 13-year-old daughter was friends will Avianca, adding that child neglect sounds out of the ordinary for the couple.
“If anything happened, she would talk to my daughter because they are best friends and my daughter would tell me that there’s something going on but nothing…it just like…disappeared,” Elnour said.
Both neighbors and the school say Avianca struggled with complications from diabetes.
It’s still unclear what exactly led to the child’s death.
Both parents had previously been charged with one count of child neglect.
Stay with 8News for updates.
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