4 Indicted For Manslaughter & Endangering Children
The Scioto County Grand Jury indicted four people on charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering children during its latest session.
The four were also indicted for aggravated possession of drugs and for possessing a fentanyl-related compounds.
Indicted were Portsmouth residents Amye Knott,36, and 46-year-old Justin Sheets. Also indicted were Huntington West Virginia residents 29-year-old Robert Filius and 25-year-old Michaela Hupp. The Scioto County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hupp and Filius last February on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Back in September of 2021, Portsmouth Police were called to the home of Robert Filius and Michaela Hupp and found their 11-month-old baby dead in a crib.
The death of the baby became one of the first cases investigated by the newly formed Scioto County Special Victims Unit.
While the task force waited for autopsy results, the couple’s older children were placed under the care of Scioto County Children Services.
When the results came back, the case was presented to a Scioto County Grand Jury last Friday. The indictment was kept secret to prevent the couple from fleeing from authorities. The plan was to arrest the pair when they came to visit their children at Children’s Services. However, Filius and Hupp were no-shows for the scheduled visit.
That’s when the investigation turned into a manhunt involving law enforcement from West Virginia.
The SVU unit received a tip that the couple had moved to Huntington, West Virginia. Huntington officers found the pair in a Bridge street home and took them into custody on charges of involuntary manslaughter endangering children, possession of a fentanyl-related compound, aggravated possession of drugs, and being a fugitive from justice.