Judge Rules Body of 7yo Turned Over to Grandparents for Services

Lansing, MI - A Lansing judge ruled that the 7-year-old, whose death became a statewide scandal, was laid to rest in private by relatives of the adoptive parents who murdered him nearly two years ago. Ingham County Chief Probate Judge George Economy granted custody of the 7-year-old's body to Medical Examiner Dean Sienko, and ordered that separate memorial services be held by the boy’s respective families to avoid acrimony.

Sienko was ordered to coordinate the services within 45 days with the boy’s grandmothers and other relatives. The two families don't get along; the grandparents and other family members of the boy each blamed the other for the murder.

All parties involved were ordered to keep silent all details related to the boy’s services and final resting place, bringing a quiet end to the tragedy that unfolded after the parents reported Ricky missing from their Williamston Home.

Thousands of citizens and law enforcement personnel combed the fields, swamps and waterways of around the rural Ingham County community but never found the former foster child, whose three siblings also were adopted by the boy’s parents. The father's relatives now have custody of the surviving children.

The boy's body finally was recovered from an icy swamp near Dansville after the father led investigators to the place where he'd dumped the child body, wrapped in plastic bags.

Since then, his body has remained at Michigan State University's forensic anthropology department. Prosecutors didn't release the body for burial pending the outcome of the case against his parents.

The father, 38, confessed to second degree murder, claiming his son died after the mother struck him in the head with a tack hammer. The mother, 34, who maintains her innocence, was convicted of first degree murder. Both are serving life sentences.

The boy's death became an issue in last year's campaign for governor. He was a onetime foster child who was adopted by despite claims of abuse and neglect against the parents.