Ricky Holland Vanished

The remains discovered yesterday at a remote location in Ingham County, Michigan have been positively identified as those of Ricky Holland reported missing from Williamston, Michigan on July 2, 2005.

Tim and Lisa Holland were arraigned this morning in Lansing, MI and charged with obstruction of justice in the investigation of the disappearance of their adopted son Ricky Holland on July 1, 2005. Their bond was set at $1 million by special writ because they are each material witnesses in the murder investigation. Normally a typical bond amount for their charges would be set at $5,000.

Human remains were located in a remote area of Michigan yesterday and an autopsy is being conducted to determine if those remains are Ricky’s. The Sheriff is pretty confident that the remains found are Ricky’s. Now it is up to the coroner to determine the cause of death and the cause of death will determine which parent is the actual murderer.

If this story was not so sickeningly tragic it would be funny. At this time each parent is accusing the other of the murder. I don’t suppose it would occur to either one of these “parents”, oh I use the term loosely here, that it does not matter which one of them murdered Ricky. The point here is that no matter who murdered him the other kept the sick secret. The other parent allowed the charade to continue.

Tim Holland was employed by the U.S. Army as an Intelligence officer at the time of Ricky’s murder, how he could conceive of covering up a murder is beyond my comprehension. According to other things I have read about Tim Holland, prior to his employment with the U.S. Army he was employed as a Friend of the Court. From my research about that job I found that a Friend of the Court works in Family Court and is a sworn deputy, they work in child support enforcement. Tim Holland has been in law enforcement of sorts.

I wonder how these two people passed the rigorous investigation required for state or county adoptions. Certainly if they were administered a battery of psychological tests certain personality disorders would have shown up indicating that they were both capable of extreme deception let alone murder. What is also troubling to me is that according to the Victim’s Advocate the county or state allowed their most recent adoption to be finalized in August 2005; the month after Ricky’s disappearance.

I have heard from people close to the Holland’s that were upset about the focus being on them. It appears that the Holland’s were able to fool some of their closest friends as well as the Victim’s Advocate who contacted me a few months ago.

“…Neil Rockind, the attorney who had represented the couple since the summer, said he quit earlier this week because Tim had given information about Lisa to the police and Lisa had provided information about Tim.
Rockind said at that point he felt he could no longer effectively represent them.
“The idea that they could harm their own child is” hard to believe, he said. “I hope it isn’t true.”…”

My daughter and I have often wondered about defense attorneys and how they deal with clients who are guilty. We hate to think that defense attorneys make it a habit of defending clients they know are guilty of the crime for which they are charged. We also wonder what happens in the case of a defense attorney who believes in his client’s innocence only to find out at some point that the client is guilty. Can a defense attorney quit during a trial under those circumstances, basically firing his client?

In Mr. Rockind’s case he certainly defended Tim and Lisa Holland in the media and apparently he believed in their innocence. I am glad Mr. Rockind decided to quit representing Tim and Lisa Holland. As for Lisa Holland’s new attorney, Andrew Abood, apparently he is just as confident as Mr. Rockind when he accepted Tim and Lisa Holland as clients. I guess Mr. Abood is under the “Holland spell” for now. I found it interesting that during the arraignment Tim Holland’s attorney did not appear with his client.

I hope this case goes to trial and that there are no plea agreements. Ricky deserves a voice. Someone needs to speak for him and he needs to be heard.

Links used in this entry:

Lansing State Journal
Police: Ricky is dead parents charged

WILX
Ricky’s Parents Blame Each Other