Oklahoma grandmother sentenced to life in prison for death of three-year-old granddaughter

A 63-year-old woman sentenced this week to life in prison for the death of her 3-year-old granddaughter told authorities she didn’t report the girl lying dead in a garbage can because she wanted her son to enjoy herself. of father’s food. Day with his other children.

In Cleveland District Court on Tuesday, Judge Lynne McGuire ordered Becky Ann Vreeland to serve time after Vreeland pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree murder: child abuse.

The sentencing came more than two years after the death of Riley Lynn Nolan.

On the afternoon of June 21, 2022, police responded to a “trouble unknown” call to a home in the 600 block of SW 151.

The man who called police told officers he believed to have found his granddaughter in a green city trash can in the backyard of the home, according to an investigator who wrote an affidavit for Vreeland’s arrest.

More: Update: Oklahoma grandmother charged in case child was found dead in trash can

Officers looked inside the green trash can and found Riley with “obvious signs of trauma to her body,” according to court documents.

Homicide detectives later identified the calling party as Riley’s grandfather. The grandfather told authorities that his son, Riley’s biological father, had been released from the Oklahoma County Jail earlier that day.

Becky Vreeland requested that Riley’s biological father be brought to her home as soon as possible. When Riley’s father and her grandfather arrived, Vreeland told the grandfather there had been an accident and she found Riley in the backyard garbage can.

Vreeland said she found Riley three days earlier but did not call authorities or report Riley’s death, the affidavit said.

Riley’s grandfather immediately called 911 and reported what Vreeland said. He also confirmed that after what he was told, he also found Riley’s body in the trash.

According to the investigator’s statement, Vreeland explained that the night before she found Riley in the trash, she found maggots in her kitchen cupboard because an open can of cat food had been left in it.

Be the first to know: Sign up for email alerts about the latest news

Vreeland told the investigator that she and her three grandchildren began cleaning up the mess while a male roommate was in the house preparing spaghetti.

Vreeland said after everyone ate, they all went to bed around midnight.

According to the affidavit, she told the investigator that around 10 a.m. the next morning she discovered Riley was not in her bed. While searching for Riley, she found the back door of the house unlocked, even though it had been locked the night before, she explained.

Vreeland said she noticed the green lid of the trash can was closed. She told the investigator that she had put a toy in the trash can the night before and left the lid open.

Vreeland further told the investigator that she saw a 5- to 6-foot ladder next to the trash can, which was not there the night before. Vreeland said she looked in the trash can “and saw Riley’s feet sticking out of the toy and Riley’s head was covered in the toy,” the investigator wrote in the affidavit.

She told the investigator that she felt Riley’s feet and could see that her granddaughter was no longer alive.

The investigator wrote: “Vreeland advised that she left Riley in the trash because she was so upset and she didn’t want to tell her son about Riley’s death until he was released from jail and could have celebrated Father’s Day with the other children. ”

Vreeland also admitted to using a wooden bed leg – which she called “the screeching stick” – to hit her grandchildren.

Authorities later interviewed Riley’s two siblings. The affidavit did not provide ages for the siblings.

One of them said they saw Riley the morning after they ate spaghetti. The sibling said Riley was sleeping in her toddler bed in Vreeland’s bedroom.

The sibling said, “Riley did not wake up even when she opened Riley’s eyes,” according to the affidavit.

Both siblings said they noticed Riley had a purple bruise on her forehead. They explained to authorities that they had been told Riley had slept in the shower because she had wet the bed. However, the siblings reported that neither of them had ever seen Riley in the shower.

They all reported that they had not seen Riley since the day she was seen in her bed. They said Vreeland told them Riley had been in an accident and fell into the trash.

Detectives found two separate rooms in the home where red stains that appeared to be blood were discovered.

The first location was in the bathroom of Vreeland’s bedroom. Detectives noticed marks in the drywall that appeared to have been made with a blunt object.

The second location with red marks and marks on the wall that appeared to have been hit by a blunt object was in the utility room.

According to the affidavit, during a preliminary examination of Riley’s body, a state medical examiner’s office “found three separate skull fractures on the victim that were inconsistent with a fall.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Grandmother of 3-year-old Riley Lynn Nolan sentenced to life in prison