BLUEFIELD, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A North Carolina man has been arrested after his girlfriend was found dead inside a West Virginia hotel room, and children were found hungry, living in deplorable conditions.
On May 7, 2024, at around 6 p.m., Patrolman H.D. Browning responded to the Economy Inn at 3206 E. Cumberland Rd., Bluefield, WV 24701, for an unknown issue. Upon arrival, Patrolman Browning found the Bluefield City Fire Department providing medical attention to an unresponsive female in room 209. The fire department informed the officer that the female, later identified as Peyton Stanley, was cold to the touch and subsequently pronounced deceased.
Stanley lived in the room with her long-term boyfriend, Clifford Millner Jr., and their two children, under 10. During the investigation, police learned both Stanley and Millner had an extensive drug problem, and Millner admitted they had snorted heroin earlier that day. Millner was still noticeably under the influence.
A search of the room revealed poor living conditions – it was dirty, cluttered with trash, and had little food. Police also found evidence of ongoing drug use, which was readily accessible to the children. Child Protective Services arrived and removed the children from the premises. Millner had to be evaluated by EMS for a potential overdose, and he refused to allow EMS to check on the children.
Subsequent interviews with the children painted a disturbing picture. One child said the hotel was the “nasty house,” knowing his mother had overdosed on “daddy’s medicine,” and described going hungry, having to eat sugar, and stealing food. Another child talked about seeing her mother’s nose bleed, her father’s drug use, and the physical abuse he inflicted on both her mother and brother.
On May 15, Millner was charged with one count of child abuse for striking a child with a belt, as well as two counts of child neglect, creating a risk of injury due to his drug use, leaving the children unsupervised and without food. Millner had fled to North Carolina following Stanley’s death.
He is being held in Southern Regional Jail under a 5,000 dollar, cash-only bond.
