Jor'Dynn Duncan death: Body of 7-year-old exhumed as criminal probe continues, a source and an attorney said

Suffolk County authorities have exhumed the body of 7-year-old Jor’Dynn Duncan as part of the criminal investigation into the girl’s alleged torture killing at the hands of her legal guardian last year in Bayport, a source and an attorney said Monday.

A source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed that Jor'Dynn's body has been exhumed, but declined to share any findings.

A spokeswoman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office — which is investigating Jor'Dynn's death as part of its prosecution of three women in the same family, one of whom was Jor'Dynn's legal guardian — declined to comment.

Heather M. Palmore, an attorney for Jor’Dynn’s mother, Portia Duncan, confirmed Monday that Jor’Dynn’s body had been exhumed recently, last month or in late August.

“My client gave them permission to exhume her body,” Palmore said. “We hope the exhumation will assist in uncovering the truth of what happened to Jor’Dynn and coupled with the evidence that’s already been advanced in this case, that we can move closer to finding the truth of what happened here and who’s responsible and where the failures lie.”

The three women who have been charged in connection with Jor'Dynn's death — Emily Kelly, 50, who was the fiancee of Jor'Dynn's father; Kelly's mother, Barbara Renner, 75; and Kelly's daughter, Elyssa Seymore, 24 — have each pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Prosecutors have said Jor'Dynn was the victim of "prolonged torture" at the Bayport home where she lived with Kelly and the other women. Prosecutors have presented several pieces of evidence against the women, including text messages and videos of the alleged abuse.

Jor'Dynn, who documents showed had been in state custody since she was a baby due to her mother's drug addiction, was placed with Kelly by Child Protective Services on Dec. 24, 2024, and Kelly gained full custody of Jor'Dynn in April 2025, at which point prosecutors said the abuse escalated.

Attorneys for the three women, who have claimed the girl committed "self-harm" because she was devastated that she lost contact with her biological mother, declined a request for comment Monday.

In recently filed court motions, Kelly has asked the presiding judge to be tried separately from her mother and daughter and to dismiss the murder charge against her. Renner has sought to have charges of manslaughter and child endangerment dropped. Renner's attorney has said Renner has dementia.

Prosecutors have said there was a "dysfunctional family relationship" at the small Oak Street home that the women shared. Jor'Dynn's father, Derrick Dixon, was locked up in an upstate prison during the time that Jor'Dynn lived with Kelly, who told authorities that he had "disappeared" from the girl's life.

Dixon was recently released, but he could not be reached for comment.

Jor'Dynn died on Dec. 29 — a year after she was first placed in Kelly's home. Kelly called 911 and reported that Jor'Dynn was in cardiac arrest. Paramedics found the girl unconscious on the floor outside a bathroom in the three-bedroom home and took her to NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk in Patchogue, where she was pronounced dead about an hour later.

An autopsy of Jor'Dynn that was performed two days later showed that she suffered a perforated bowel and infected peritoneal cavity, injuries that were only days old at the time of her death. She also had nine sharp-force injuries "clustered in and around the anus," including a 4-inch wound inside the anus that led to the perforated bowel and what prosecutors said was a "massive infection."

The medical examiner also found several other injuries in Jor'Dynn's body, including bruises, scars and contusions, as well as bite marks on her arm, leg and hand.

She was buried at Washington Memorial Park in Coram.

Portia Duncan filed a notice of claim — a precursor to a planned $250 million lawsuit — against Suffolk County, Child Protective Services and the school district, among others, for allegedly failing to protect the girl.

Jor'Dynn missed nearly 60 days of school during the period she lived with Kelly, Newsday reported, but Child Protective Services didn't investigate any credible allegations of abuse or neglect in the year before her death. While school officials are mandated reporters, meaning they're required by law to report possible abuse and neglect to CPS, the state doesn't require school districts to take specific action if a student has repeated absences, Newsday has reported.