Jor'Dynn Duncan missed 18 more school days than previously known before alleged torture death

Jor’Dynn Duncan was absent from her elementary school 18 days and late another 17 in the semester before her death in December, raising new questions about whether the school district missed potential signs of trouble at the home where prosecutors allege the 7-year-old girl was tortured and killed.

The previously unreported absences, confirmed by the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, came after the Bayport girl missed roughly 40 days over six months during the previous school year. That period coincided with Emily Kelly, the woman accused of her murder, gaining permanent custody of Jor'Dynn.

Newsday reported earlier this year that Suffolk County Child Protective Services conducted no investigations into Jor’Dynn’s care in the year before her death, meaning the agency received no credible allegations of abuse or neglect during that time from school staff or anyone else.

"Any reasonable person can look at that and see that there's something wrong here," Heather Palmore, an attorney representing Jor’Dynn’s mother, Portia Duncan, told Newsday of the newly disclosed absences.

School officials are required to report suspicions of abuse and neglect to child welfare authorities, including educational neglect, which can be triggered by chronic absences.

But the State of New York does not require districts to take any specific action over repeated absences. The state Education Department has increasingly encouraged districts to involve Child Protective Services "as a tool of last resort," a spokesperson told Newsday earlier this year.

Portia Duncan filed a notice of claim in July signaling her intent to sue Suffolk County and the school district, among others, for allegedly failing to ensure the girl's safety before she died. Duncan is seeking $250 million in damages, though the lawsuit has not yet been filed.

"The school was clearly on notice," Palmore said.

The Bayport-Blue Point school district declined to comment on Jor’Dynn’s absences from Academy Street Elementary or on any action the district took related to them, citing privacy rights and the pending litigation.

Former Bayport-Blue Point Superintendent Timothy Hearney, who retired in July and now serves as principal of a Catholic school in Huntington, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Suffolk County medical examiner determined Jor’Dynn died of an infection caused by a perforated colon. She was found with 90 recent injuries, including nine inflicted by "sharp force" and three or four bite marks that an expert determined were not self-inflicted.

Prosecutors revealed new details earlier this month about the alleged treatment of Jor’Dynn, saying in court filings that Kelly, her daughter Elyssa Seymore and Kelly’s mother, Barbara Renner, left the girl alone at their Bayport home for a full day.

Attorneys for Kelly, who is engaged to Jor’Dynn’s father, and Seymore did not respond to requests for comment.

An attorney for Renner declined to comment.

All three women have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Pink eye and fevers

When Jor’Dynn began racking up absences in early 2025, Kelly gave the school varying false excuses, prosecutors previously alleged, including illness, a death in the family and a trip to Disney World.

The recently filed court records showed that Kelly would respond via the school messaging application regarding the 18 absences between September 2025 and December 2025 and tell staff they were "for various illnesses like pink eye and fevers."

However, prosecutors said Kelly never provided a doctor’s note for those absences or for the dozens of missed days the previous school year.

Jor’Dynn’s godmother, Alisha Case, told Newsday she has been "shocked" by the lack of documentation for Jor’Dynn’s absences.

"Who are these people just believing this woman’s word with no documentation?" Case said in an interview with Newsday for this story.

Prosecutors said Jor’Dynn’s absences from school were "used to conceal the abuse" she was allegedly facing at the Bayport home she shared with Kelly, Renner and Seymore.

Few full school days

Kelly is asking a court to dismiss a depraved indifference murder charge against her and to be tried separately from her mother and daughter, Newsday reported earlier this month. Renner is seeking to have charges of manslaughter and child endangerment dropped.

A July 2025 text message conversation between Kelly and Seymore filed in court showed that the women appeared concerned about Jor’Dynn returning to school in the fall, Newsday reported earlier this year.

"Idk how she’s supposed to go to school ... like she’s a hot ass mess," Seymore texted Kelly as they were discussing marks on Jor’Dynn’s face. "Looks like she got beat the whole summer."

Kelly replied, "She will be healed up by school."

But as the 2025-26 school year began, Jor’Dynn was not often in school for a full day, according to prosecutors’ new court filings.

Of the 72 instruction days between September and December 2025, Jor’Dynn was either tardy or absent for 35 of them.

According to Bayport-Blue Point’s own policies, after a student’s 18th absence, a team of school officers "will discuss options including additional classroom support, contacting Child Protective Services, summer school, and anything else related to help the family."

District officials have not responded to questions about whether any of that occurred.