An 8-year-old girl named Miracle Bryan was found unresponsive early Wednesday morning at a home on Indianapolis's east side and pronounced dead at the scene. Her mother, 43-year-old Karrie Bryan, was arrested the same day on a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent, and newly filed court documents suggest Miracle may have died after getting into her mother's drugs.
Police were called to the home in the 700 block of South Bancroft Street, near English and Emerson avenues, according to Fox 59. “Police arrived to find an 8-year-old girl unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the scene,” the station reported. The Marion County Coroner's Office identified the girl as Miracle Bryan on Thursday, per the same report.
Court documents obtained by WTHR indicate the girl “likely died from consuming her mother's stash of meth.” The station reported that Karrie Bryan was booked into the Marion County Jail on a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, while Fox 59's reporting described the booking simply as a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent. Under Indiana law, neglect of a dependent covers a caregiver who knowingly places a dependent in a situation that endangers their life or health, according to Indiana Code § 35-46-1-4, and the statute allows for enhanced penalties when neglect results in death.
Conflicting Accounts of the Meth Found Under the Pillow
Accounts of exactly what investigators found under Miracle's pillow differ between the two outlets' reporting. Fox 59's report on the case states that police found an open container of the drug under a pillow on Miracle's bed, attributing that detail to court documents. WTHR's report instead says detectives found two glass vials of suspected meth under the girl's pillow, according to the same charging documents.
Karrie Bryan admitted to detectives that methamphetamine was in the home and said she uses it for energy, the station's report states. She denied that the meth killed her daughter, however, and claimed Miracle did not sleep in her own room. She also said Miracle would not have had access to the drug and claimed her daughter's death involved a can of dry shampoo, per the same account.
According to preliminary charging documents cited in the reporting, Karrie Bryan told investigators she put the meth container under Miracle's pillow before police arrived, saying it was closed when she placed it there and that she had opened it earlier only to check whether anything was missing. The reporting also notes Karrie Bryan has drug charges dating back to 2015 and 2019. The coroner's office said Miracle's cause and manner of death remain pending, per WTHR.
Siblings Remember a “Perfect Child”
Miracle's 20-year-old sister, Karma Mitchell, told Fox 59 that Miracle was unresponsive at 7:30 that morning. “She was perfect, just a perfect child,” Mitchell said. Miracle's siblings remembered her for her happiness, athleticism and silliness, and said she loved music, ramen noodles and K-pop Demon Hunters. Her siblings called her a princess, and Fox 59 reported that Miracle and her mother were described as best friends who did activities together.
Miracle's 24-year-old brother, Maliki Mitchell, said the memorial outside the home shows she was loved by many people. A growing memorial of stuffed animals, candles and pictures now sits outside Miracle Bryan's home, as family, classmates and strangers grieve her death. Her siblings said they hope people remember her for how she lived rather than how she may have died.
