Lena Lunsford enters Lewis County court on Thursday.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — About 3 hours after she arrived at the Lewis County Courthouse from jail to await her probable cause hearing, a woman accused in the death of her 3-year-old child met with her lawyer.
Thursday’s session between suspect Lena Lunsford and attorney Barbara Harmon-Schamberger of Clay County, which occurred in the holding cell just outside magistrate court, lasted only moments before the two emerged.
Harmon-Schamberger then submitted a waiver of time limit — basically paperwork saying Lunsford agreed to a continuance — and Special Magistrate John M. Coffman of Upshur County reset the hearing for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Harmon-Schamberger has declined to comment.
Prosecutor Christina Flanigan also declined to comment following Thursday’s brief court session, which had been scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.
Whether there will be a hearing Wednesday remains up for debate.
Probable cause hearings often are waived by defendants and their attorneys in return for an early look at the state’s case.
Conversely, attorneys who opt for a probable cause hearing almost never receive the potential evidence until much later, likely after an indictment.
In Lena Lunsford’s case, the state is likely to have accumulated a daunting amount of evidence since the matter has been under investigation since September of 2011, when Aliayah was reported missing.
Lunsford is alleged to have injured Aliayah with a “blunt force strike to the head with a handheld object” and then withheld medical attention from the child, as well as preventing others from summoning help.
Aliayah died within hours on Sept. 24, 2011, and Lena Lunsford then took steps to conceal the crime, the criminal complaint alleges.
“These include, but are not limited to, originating a fictitious narrative regarding the death, destroying evidence, concealing the victim’s body and instructing witnesses to conceal the true circumstances of the victim’s death,” Carpenter has alleged.
Authorities have yet to recover Aliayah’s body. Lewis Sheriff Adam Gissy made it clear that the investigation — a collaboration among deputies, the State Police and FBI special agents — is ongoing.
Lena Lunsford, also known as Lena Conaway and Lena Marie Lunsford-Conaway, is being held on a $250,000 cash bond set previously.