A new lawsuit filed in the wake of 7-year-old Jor’Dynn Duncan’s shocking death details months of torture and “extreme pain” the girl allegedly endured at her caregiver’s New York home before she died.
The Tuesday, October 27, lawsuit filed in federal court accuses Suffolk County and the county’s Child Protective Services of placing Jor’Dynn Duncan in Emily Kelly’s custody in December 2024 without properly investigating her as a caregiver and failing to recognize clear signs of abuse, including alleged beatings and forced starvation.
Kelly, 50, officially became Jor’Dynn’s legal guardian in April 2025, months before the girl died of alleged prolonged abuse at Kelly’s Bayport, Long Island, home in December 2025, according to authorities.
Kelly is facing murder and other charges in connection to Jor’Dynn’s death, Us previously reported. Her mother, Barbara Renner, and Kelly’s daughter, Elyssa Seymore, have also been charged. All three women have each pleaded not guilty, records show.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a prior news release that investigators “found extensive photographic and video evidence from Kelly’s cellphone and cloud-based accounts documenting the alleged prolonged abuse and torture of the victim, which included prolonged restraint, physical injuries, and lack of medical care for those injuries dating back to January 2025.”
Around 90 injuries were found on Jor’Dynn’s body during an autopsy after she died of an infection that went untreated and stemmed from several sharp force injuries, according to prosecutors.
With the lawsuit, Jor’Dynn’s mother, Portia Duncan, accuses school officials at the Bayport-Blue Point School District of failing to report Jor’Dynn’s alleged abuse to New York State’s child abuse hotline while she attended the district’s elementary school, Academy Street Elementary in Bayport.
School district Superintendent Robert E. Haas said in a provided statement to Us that the district is unable to comment due to the pending litigation.
According to the lawsuit obtained by Us, no action was allegedly taken after Jor’Dynn told a school counselor in January 2025 that Kelly slapped her shoulder and threw food at her. The girl also revealed Kelly allegedly had been hitting a 3-year-old child in the home.
The next month, Jor’Dynn saw the school nurse for marks on her face and asked the nurse “not to call mom,” referring to Kelly, because “mom will get mad at her,” the lawsuit states.
“No one reported the marks or Jor’Dynn’s fear of Kelly” to the state’s child abuse hotline or CPS, according to the filing.
The lawsuit reveals the details of one video found on Kelly’s phone that documented alleged abuse over the following summer.
The video from June 2025 “shows Jor’Dynn naked in a bathtub with feces deliberately spread across her body and face and a soiled washrag in her mouth, trembling and crying hysterically, while Kelly threatened to show the video to the judge and have her removed from the home,” the lawsuit states.
Another video recorded December 28, 2025, a day before Jor’Dynn died, showed her extremely ill, with Kelly’s mother allegedly lying in an empty bathtub while holding Jor’Dynn, according to the filing.
Jor’Dynn “was limp, moaning, incoherent, and in medical distress,” the filing states.
Kelly called 911 on December 29, 2025, reporting Jor’Dynn was in cardiac arrest, according to prosecutors. Paramedics found Jor’Dynn unresponsive before she was later declared dead at a hospital.
The lawsuit names Suffolk County, the Bayport-Blue Point School District, CPS employees, school staff members, Kelly, Renner and Seymore as defendants. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
The civil case comes after Jor’Dynn’s body was recently exhumed in connection with the ongoing criminal investigation, per WABC-TV.
While addressing the lawsuit to the media on Tuesday, Duncan said “If I would have known the hands that were taking care of my daughter, it never would have happened,” the TV station reported.
“The mistreatment, the neglect, it just never would have been if I had known the care she was going under,” Duncan added.
Suffolk County and attorneys separately representing Kelly and Renner in their criminal cases didn’t immediately return requests for comment. Seymore’s criminal defense attorney, Katherine Fernandez, declined a request for comment from Us.
The lawsuit is represented by attorneys with the Cochran Firm, the Palmore Law Group, Mesidor PLLC and the Law Offices of LaWanda J. Williams.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
