Dad Kills Baby Because He Prefers His Bike With No Seat (And Broken Fish Tank)

Dad Kills Baby Because He Prefers His Bike With No Seat (And Broken Fish Tank)

On April 24th, 2014, Morgan Lawrence gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Maddox. Morgan and her husband, Ryan, were young and in love. Despite having limited financial means, the young couple was determined to love the sweet baby that had arrived in their life.

Ryan was 22 and had met Morgan while they both worked at various stores in the Destiny USA shopping mall in Syracuse, New York. Ryan had excelled in art in high school. His mother, a victim’s advocate, died from kidney cancer when he was 17.

Ryan had many low-paying jobs after high school, including jobs in the mall. He also began taking college courses after high school, but discontinued classes after a few semesters without earning a degree. Morgan and Ryan began dating shortly after meeting, and the couple was soon inseparable. They loved the outdoors and spent a lot of time hiking at surrounding parks and trails. It wasn’t long before Morgan became pregnant, and the two decided to get married and move in together.

Baby Maddox was loved fiercely by her family. Morgan’s family were heavily involved in Maddox’s life. Ryan’s brother, Rich, also had very young children, one born within just a few months of Maddox. Despite being born to young parents who likely did not plan on having a baby so soon, Maddox had so many people in her life that loved her.

Before her first birthday, Morgan and Ryan noticed that something looked wrong with Maddox’s left eye. It was getting darker and was no longer the same color as her right eye. Maddox was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma. The couple immediately went into action, seeking treatment for their little girl.

Multiple times each week, the family would drive 4 hours each way to New York City for chemo treatments, each of which took about 6 hours. Ryan and Morgan would sit with Maddox, holding her chubby little hands through long hours of chemo. A GoFundMe was established to help with the enormous financial strain on the couple, who were both still working fairly low-paying jobs. The page raised about $9,000 to help with the expensive treatment that Maddox needed.

There is very little that can be found about Maddox’s journey fighting cancer. Looking back, we can say that she seemed to beat the cancer fairly quickly. By the following winter, she was cancer-free.

Before, during, and after her treatments, Ryan was described as being a completely devoted father. Ryan worked an early morning job where he delivered pastries to local shops. He took Maddox with him every day. Everyone agreed that he was very attentive to his daughter. He didn’t leave her in the car when bringing the pastries into the shops; instead, he went everywhere with Maddox in one arm and the box of pastries in another.

Morgan’s parents, Michael and Robin Forester, also spent a lot of time with Maddox. On Michael’s days off, he had Maddox when Morgan would drop her off. She would say to Maddox, “Look who it is, it’s your best friend.” Michael said he loved being more than just her grandpa; it was an honor to be her best friend. They would snuggle up and watch Sofia the First. They had tea parties together. Michael said he loved to tickle and elicit a hearty laugh and a big smile.

Maddox’s grandmother, Robin, said Maddox had different dance moves for every genre of music. People were just so drawn to her. At not even 2 years old, she was so gentle that even Robin’s old cat trusted Maddox and sought her out. She had the ability to make you feel better just by being near you.

Saturday, February 20th, 2016, started just like any other for the Lawrence family. They only had one car, so Ryan dropped Morgan off at work at the mall and told her he would be back later to pick her up, as he always did. However, Morgan received a text later saying that the car would be waiting in the parking lot with the keys in it when Morgan got out of work at 10:00 p.m.

The car was where Ryan said it would be. Morgan drove home. When she got there, Ryan and Maddox were gone.

Soon, Michael received a frantic call from Morgan. She begged him to come immediately without any explanation. He arrived to find Morgan with a police officer and no sign of Ryan or Maddox.

Ryan had left a note and an 8-minute video where he said he had taken Maddox and was thinking of harming the baby and himself. Due to the nature of the video, where Ryan is described as being extremely emotionally disturbed, the police were just as worried as Morgan.

The family waited for hours to hear any news. Morgan had to retell the events of the evening over and over again to each new officer that arrived. As the police began working to try to find her daughter, Morgan and her family were beside themselves with worry for Maddox. Was she safe? Would they ever see her again?

They waited all night into Sunday morning, often in silence as no answers came. They oscillated between grief, fear, and hope that perhaps nothing was wrong and they would soon see her again.

On Sunday morning, with no further sign of Maddox or Ryan, an Amber Alert was issued. Maddox was last seen in a white shirt with brown poppies on it, pink pants, a blue coat with a pink interior, size 6 brown suede shoes, and a knit hat decorated with pom-poms. She was described as 2 feet tall, 26 pounds, with blonde hair and brown eyes.

The Amber Alert also included information about Ryan, including photos of him so that the public could be on the lookout. He was described as being 6 feet tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a zodiac tattoo on his right hand and a round burn scar on his lower right leg.

On Sunday and Monday, Morgan, Robin, and Michael spent most of their time at the police station. Early Sunday morning, along with the Amber Alert, a press conference was held, and Morgan pled for Ryan to call or come home:

“If you’re listening, please just bring Maddox home. Max, I love—I love you, honey. Um, Ryan, please just—please call. We just want to know that the both of you are safe. Um, the whole family loves you, the whole family wants you both home, and, um, we just want to know that you guys are in a good place, and, um, we’d love to see you both as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, police were tirelessly searching the area near Destiny USA, assuming that Ryan had dropped the car off, which would make the mall his last known location. Police searched the parks nearby, abandoned buildings, airports, and train stations, but their searches did not yield any helpful information. The media continued to blast out the Amber Alert on every available platform.

It wasn’t until Monday that they finally heard something. At around 4:30 p.m. on February 22nd, a 911 call was made from Baldwinsville, about 10 miles from Syracuse. Ryan was spotted in a thrift shop purchasing a comforter. The two women in the store said he smelled strongly of campfire smoke, which initially made the cashier think that he might be homeless.

He was recognized by a former employee who was there shopping. Some sources say that she knew him as a regular shopper in the store. He came in with an attempt at a disguise that involved a wig, a hat, sunglasses, and a bandana, but the woman still knew it was him. The cashier remarked that he seemed off.

Luckily, the former employee, having seen the continuous Amber Alerts going out, felt like she needed to act. After Ryan left the store, the woman called the police and followed Ryan.

Ryan was arrested. Despite giving a fake name initially, his plan to evade police was clearly not well thought out. When asked to spell his fake name, he couldn’t, which was an obvious red flag for the police. He also made an error when the police asked for his age and date of birth, giving an age that did not match the date of birth that he had provided. When police pointed this out, he changed the story and gave his real birth date. Finally, they asked to see some identification, and he produced his real ID.

Officers said that he did not try to resist and was seemingly cooperative as he was taken into custody. At the time that he was arrested, he had a backpack full of camping gear as well as books about survival and evading capture.

When the news of Ryan’s capture reached Morgan and her parents, the family instantly reacted in hope that the police also had the baby. Unfortunately, Maddox was not with Ryan.

It was February in Upstate New York; the high temperature of the day was just 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The family feared she was alone and cold somewhere. In addition, because Ryan smelled so strongly of smoke, the assumption was made that wherever she had stayed for the past two nights, he had needed a fire to keep warm. So, if he was no longer with Maddox, who was caring for her? Who was keeping her warm?

While authorities waited for more information, helicopters combed the area Ryan had been found in, hoping to find a campsite where Maddox was waiting.

Police brought Ryan in to try to get more information. He was questioned for nearly 18 hours. Initially, his story was that he had left Maddox with a couple named Chris and Tyler, who then fled to Bolivia. The detective, doing his due diligence, continued to question him. There were many inconsistencies in his story, such as the claim that he had set up the arrangement with the couple by phone call, even though there was no record of any such call. Then later, he referred to them as Chris and Taylor instead of Tyler. He also mixed up which country the couple had fled to.

He eventually admitted the couple was made up. This put officers back at square one: if Ryan hadn’t given Maddox to someone else, where was she?

When pressed to tell where Maddox was, he had a chilling response: “You won’t look at me the same once I tell you what I did with her body.”

After being in custody for 18 hours, he finally agreed to help the authorities find her. The media followed as he took them to multiple locations, finally leading them back to the Creek Walk just down the road from Destiny USA at the Inner Harbor of Onondaga Creek. Police divers retrieved Maddox’s remains from the frigid water, wrapped in a yellow bag. Her body was retrieved just before noon on February 23rd. The Amber Alert was cancelled at 1:31 p.m.

Ryan was charged with second-degree homicide in the death of his 21-month-old daughter. This left everyone wondering what happened. How did this devoted father with no history of violence kill his own daughter—the same daughter he had fought to save from cancer for the last 10 months?

The answers detectives got were chilling. According to detectives, Ryan claimed that he was growing jealous of Maddox and all the attention she was getting, in particular the attention she got from his wife, Morgan. However, these claims have never been repeated outside of the 18-hour interrogation that followed Ryan’s arrest.

However, he did share the grizzly details of what he did do to her. Ryan told detectives that by the time he left the car at the mall for Morgan, wrote the note, and recorded the video on the night of February 20th, Maddox was already dead.

That morning, after dropping Morgan off at work, Ryan drove Maddox over 20 miles to Labrador Hollow. Labrador Hollow is a nature conservation area where Morgan and Ryan hiked regularly. The 1,400 acres of this park straddled the borders of Onondaga and Cortland counties. It featured nearly five miles of hiking trails as well as a 2,000-foot handicap-accessible boardwalk.

Ryan took Maddox to one of their favorite natural features, Tinker Falls. As Maddox toddled ahead of Ryan toward the 50-foot waterfall, he prepared to strike. Ryan used a wooden baseball bat to bludgeon her in the back of the head and then continued to hit her until he beat her to death. He then put her body in a fire pit along with the baseball bat and burned her body beyond recognition. Some sources say he was at the fire pit for hours burning his daughter’s tiny body.

Presumably after the fire had burnt down and the body was cool enough to move, he put what was left of her in a yellow bag. It is later stated that the divers recovered her head, torso, and parts of her legs.

He then drove back to Syracuse to the Creek Walk, just down the street from where Maddox’s mother was working with no idea that her baby was dead. He tied a cement block to the yellow bag containing Maddox’s remains and sank the body to the bottom of the creek. After he disposed of Maddox’s body, he dropped the family car off at the mall and walked home. This is where he wrote the note to Morgan and recorded the video message.

From there, it is unclear exactly where he went for the next 2 days. It seems that he left their home on foot and walked the 10 miles to Baldwinsville. Some sources say he stayed in an abandoned house for the next several days until his capture.

When Ryan was interviewed later, he did not tell a story of jealousy, but rather made claims that he was hearing the voice of his deceased mother. He claimed he heard what he thought was his mom saying that she could take care of her by saying, “Give her to me.” He claimed to try to fight that thought, but another thought was telling him he was selfish for trying to keep her in the world while her parents suffered around her. He felt this was a mercy to release her and the people around her from suffering in their lives.

He insisted he was not evil; he was taken over by a storm or madness. He claimed that he was not trying to hurt anyone; he was trying to save Maddox, his wife, and his family from hurting and suffering. In fact, he told reporters that he was praying that God would give him a sign that he should not hurt her. He prayed to God that he should make Maddox stumble on their walk to Tinker Falls as a sign that he should spare her life, but she did not stumble, so he bashed her head in.

In a later interview, Ryan was asked if he said anything to his beloved daughter before he struck her down. He said:

“Maddox, we’re going on another trip. I’m going to see you soon. Daddy’s just got something to take care of real quick. I love you, and you’re the best baby in the whole world.”

This is what Ryan said to her before he murdered her.

In an emotional press release after Maddox’s body was found, Syracuse Chief of Police Frank Fowler had this to say about Ryan’s motive:

“Sunday night, that this was a pretty happy couple with no problems, there seemed to be no marital issues, no alcohol, drugs… I mean, can you shed any light as to what may have triggered this?”

“Without going too deep into the investigation, no, no, no. Because I—what you’re asking for me to do is to follow a logical thought process to describe a very heinous and illogical act. Just don’t work that way. Just don’t work that way. So, oh no, I’m sorry, I can’t.”

After being charged with second-degree homicide, Ryan was held without bail. He was evaluated by two psychiatrists and was determined to be competent to stand trial. He told psychiatrists that he planned to kill Maddox, evade police, and eventually self-checkout. When asked to elaborate on that, he said his plan was to either starve, get an infection, or otherwise succumb to the elements.

Now, this story did not add up. Plans of this sort are usually carried out immediately and with a clear goal in mind. Let’s not forget that he was also continuing to gather camping and survival gear when police found him; he even had a mosquito net in his backpack. This does not sound like someone who was planning on succumbing to the elements. In addition, though he told the psychiatrists that he did not plan to survive the incident, those claims were never made to the law enforcement that interviewed him after he was apprehended.

Perhaps the most disturbing and damning piece of all of the evidence found was the phone records tracking him from the day before Maddox was killed. On February 19th, Ryan appeared to have done a dry run of the killing. He took Maddox to all of the locations he would take her to the following day. It seemed that he even prepared the wood he would need to use the next day to burn her body. This shows his plan was clearly premeditated and thought out; it was not a moment where he just snapped.

The Onondaga County District Attorney, William Fitzpatrick, announced that he would be personally prosecuting the case. Ryan’s charges were upgraded from second-degree to first-degree homicide. The state of New York has some specific circumstances that would cause a homicide to upgrade from second-degree to first-degree. These include factors regarding the identity of the person killed and the circumstances surrounding their death—for example, killing a police officer or a judge will earn you first-degree homicide, or if you kill someone during a robbery, burglary, arson, kidnapping, or sexual assault. In this case, police determined that Maddox was first kidnapped by her father before he killed her, which qualified him for first-degree homicide.

Ryan was now eligible for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. With this upgraded charge, the rock-solid confessions he made to police, and the psychiatric evaluations ruling out an insanity plea, Ryan decided to make a deal.

Ryan pled guilty to first-degree homicide in exchange for a sentence that included the possibility of parole after he served 25 years. Ryan also claimed that he chose this path to save everyone the heartache of a long, drawn-out trial, again trying to claim that he was showing mercy to Maddox’s devastated family.

After Ryan was arrested, he divorced Morgan. What the family found most bizarre was that Ryan didn’t ask for memories of Maddox during the divorce proceedings. He didn’t request photos of his baby, her favorite toys, or perhaps a sentimental piece of clothing from her infant days. Instead, he asked for a photo of his dog, a broken fish tank, and a bike that didn’t have any wheels. These bizarre requests were interpreted as clear indicators of what he found to be truly important.

During Ryan’s sentencing hearing, Morgan and both of her parents made statements, in addition to Ryan’s brother, Rick, and Ryan himself. The prosecuting attorney and the judge made statements intended to go down in the permanent record so that they would be read when Ryan becomes eligible for parole at 49 years old. They all begged the future parole board to see how absolutely heinous this crime was and to not release him.

When Michael spoke of Maddox, he made some statements that sadly ring true for so many victims and families that we’ve spoken with. We wanted to share some of it with you:

“It melts my heart. I miss those days. I feel robbed, as if much was stolen from me, and it was. I was unable to celebrate her second birthday with her and watch her blow off the candles on her cake. I missed out on seeing her opening her gifts.

This summer, Maddox didn’t float around with me in my pool as I expected she would. She doesn’t spend the night anymore, and I no longer watch Sofia the First. I can’t take her for an ice cream cone or push her on a swing. I didn’t see her reaction to the beautiful fireworks and the loud explosions on the 4th of July. We didn’t attend the New York State Fair together, see the butter sculpture, or drink cups of chocolate milk. I missed her as we went apple picking. I didn’t see her in her Halloween costume. I won’t be able to rake the leaves and see Maddox jump in them, throw them up in the air. She won’t be with me for Thanksgiving dinner, nor will I have a picture of her sitting on Santa’s lap.

This year, I won’t see her learn to sled or even see her reaction to snow. She will not help us pick out a Christmas tree or decorate it with us. I won’t see her come to my house on Christmas Day, excited to see the gifts under the tree. I won’t see her tie her own shoes or hear her tell me she is a big girl because she uses the potty. I will miss out on her attending preschool. I won’t be able to take her picture on the steps of the school bus on her first day of kindergarten. I won’t hear her recite the alphabet or count to 100. Her special drawings won’t hang in my house. I will never see her sing in a chorus, star in a school play, or learn how to play an instrument. I won’t see her learn how to ride a bike, jump rope, or even swim. She will never show me her first loose tooth, nor will she bring it to me when it finally falls out. I will never see her first haircut or her hair grow to reach her shoulders. I won’t hear her tell the story of how she caught her first fish or how she climbed her first mountain. All of this, I feel, has been stolen from me.

I also feel that my future has been torn from me. I will never be part of the life that Maddox should have been allowed to experience, like seeing her attend her first school dance or hearing about her first kiss, congratulating her for getting her learner’s permit or watching her get ready for her junior prom, taking pictures of her and her date before seeing her senior ball or letting her drive my car when she receives her driver’s license. I will never hear Maddox’s name being called at her high school graduation, and I won’t see her walk across the stage to receive her diploma in the class of 2032. I won’t hear about the choice she has made of where to attend college, nor will I help her move into her dorm her freshman year. I will not hear that she has met the man of her dreams or see her graduate from college. I won’t witness her wedding proposal or see her fitted for the perfect wedding dress. Never will I hear that Maddox said ‘I do,’ and never will I see a wedding ring placed on her finger. I won’t hear the wonderful news that Maddox is pregnant, nor visit her after she gives birth. I will never have the opportunity to hold her baby in my arms.

But that is not all. Every second, minute, hour, day, month, and year of her future was taken from me. Actually, what was stolen from me was all of her life experiences to come. How unfair of a decision Ryan solely made for innocent Maddox, as well as for all of us. I cannot express enough how unfair it was that he chose to change Morgan’s life, and I cannot express enough how unfair it was that Ryan chose to negatively affect so many other people’s lives, including mine. So I feel it is only fair that all of Ryan’s remaining seconds, minutes, hours, months, and years on this earth be somewhat taken from him—that all of his future life experiences happen while behind bars in prison.”

We also think that Ryan’s brother, Rich, also very clearly explained the mental state of someone who was willing to kill their own child. He said, “अगर the love for your child doesn’t provide a bright enough future for you, nothing ever will. You murdered your best shot at true happiness.”

We don’t like to spend our time focusing too much on the killers in our show; we’d prefer to spend our time talking about the victims impacted in these stories. However, we felt this clip was so valuable to debunk the idea that this person was truly remorseful for what he had done:

“Would you say you’d do anything to make the grief you caused Morgan and the rest of the family go away?”

“I would do anything to take their pain away. I never intended to put them in this—”

“Would you go as far as to say, ‘I vow to never put—go up for parole, if that’s what—something they would—they would be glad, that would make them at least feel a little better’? I mean, you could do that.”

“Yeah, I guess I could, but I—um, I don’t know, I just feel so bad. I feel bad for them, and I feel bad for my family also. My dad and my sisters, they want to see me get out. I don’t think I’ll ever heal from this.”

“But you wouldn’t be willing to go that far?”

“I guess not.”

Clearly, he wouldn’t do anything to prevent them from experiencing further suffering.

After Maddox’s body was found along the banks of the Onondaga Creek Walk, a memorial in her honor quickly sprang up. For months after her death, the memorial grew. People brought signs, candles, stuffed animals, and toys. As time went on, it was clear that this story greatly impacted everyone in the community, and people felt they needed a place to return to honor Maddox. The memorial evolved over time; after a few months, the family requested that no more stuffed animals be brought to the site.

By October, a permanent memorial was installed that included a plaque embedded into the ground and a bench for people to stop and rest while they honor a life taken too soon. The memorial is well-maintained to this day, years later. J&R Landscaping, a local company, helps maintain it each year by adding fresh mulch and flowers.

The Facebook page dedicated to Maddox, called “In Memory of Baby Maddox,” is run by someone identified as Billy Yankee. He also appears to be the person who maintains the permanent memorial along the Creek Walk. It does not appear that Billy is a family member of Maddox, which makes his dedication to her memorial all the more impressive. We would like to thank you, Billy, for honoring her all of these years later, even through your own battle with cancer. Billy shovels out her memorial all winter and often posts photos of snowmen he builds for Maddox at her memorial.

Family and community members still leave her small gifts, like flowers, or a pumpkin on Halloween, or Easter candy in the spring. Every year on her birthday, donations in her honor are asked to be made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. On the Facebook page, pictures are posted of animals that come to visit the memorial, including frogs, deer, turtles, a bunny, geese, and hawks. It’s clear that Maddox is still very much missed and loved.

Maddox is honored annually in the Syracuse Ride for Missing Children, along with Jenny Lynn Watson. Each year, 100 or more bike riders make a trek that’s around 90 miles long. As bikers pass the site of Maddox’s memorial, many bystanders are seen each year standing in silent remembrance of both Maddox and Jenny Lynn Watson, who was killed in 2010.

Since Maddox’s death, a law has been introduced to change the requirements for a first-degree homicide child charge in the state of New York. The proposed change, called “Maddox’s Law,” adds to the previous list of victims that would warrant a first-degree homicide charge to also include victims under the age of 13. The law has been passed unanimously twice by the New York Senate; unfortunately, on both tries, the law stalled when it got to the State Assembly.

This is just another one of those cases that leaves us feeling disgusted and perplexed. With no history of abuse or neglect, an amazing family willing to do anything to help this baby—how did we end up with another dead baby?

During the press release after Maddox’s body was found, the chief of police was asked what people should do if they feel like they might harm a child:

“As adults, there’s some inherent rights that we have as becoming adults. We get to make our own decisions about how we want to live our lives, and I think we owe our children that—that are under our care and custody—the same right to grow up, to become adults, and to make their own choices in life. They deserve a chance.

And if a person out there struggling in whatever way they may be, just remember that that child deserves a chance. And if you can’t provide them with what’s—what it is, what it’s going to require for them to grow up and become a healthy adult, then separate yourself from that child. There’s plenty of agencies out here in Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse for that matter, where people are willing to help out. And this—sorry, no, this is a great community that we live in, and we’re surrounded by some great services for people.”

And we would like to beg the same: there are resources available no matter where you are. Please ask for help. There is no excuse for any of this.