Ricky Holland Vanished

Below is a recap of prelimary hearing testimony up to Monday, March 6, 2006 published in the Lansing State Journal.

Recap of preliminary hearing testimony

A preliminary hearing for Tim and Lisa Holland – charged with killing their 7-year-old adopted son, Ricky – began Feb. 28 in 55th District Court in Mason. The hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence to advance the case to trial.

• Feb. 28A neighbor of the Hollands, Richard Cole Jr. testified Ricky overheard his parents “saying they wished they didn’t have him.” Andrew Abood, an attorney for Lisa Holland, challenged Cole’s testimony, saying it was different than what he earlier told police.Also that day, a child psychiatrist who diagnosed Ricky with attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder and bipolar mood disorder testified he saw no evidence of abuse.
• Wednesday

An Ingham County sheriff’s detective testified Lisa Holland failed to give police an account of her activities the day before Ricky Holland was reported missing. After questioning from Lisa Holland’s co-counsel Mike Nichols, the detective acknowledged he had not found any forensic evidence – blood, DNA or fingerprints – linking Lisa Holland to Ricky’s disappearance.

• Thursday

A school nurse where Ricky attended grade school testified the boy screamed, “Please don’t make me go home, nurse. Please don’t make me go home” when his mother Lisa Holland came to pick him up one day at school. But under cross-examination, the nurse said Ricky never told her his parents hurt him. The nurse, Carol Coxon, did say she once found coin-sized bruises on Ricky’s upper body and reported the incident to Child Protective Services. When confronted, Lisa Holland said the bruises came from a harness Ricky was required to wear on the school bus, Coxon testified.

• Friday

A school psychologist and social worker who evaluated Ricky Holland while he attended school in Jackson said they did not suspect anyone was abusing him. Social worker Linda Spisak also testified she thought Ricky seemed to have bonded well with his adopted parents. Spisak also said she didn’t think Ricky had severe emotional or developmental problems, despite what Lisa Holland continually told her. Prosecutors said in court that the Hollands misstated and exaggerated Ricky’s symptoms and conditions – part of a pattern of emotional abuse.

• Monday

A fellow inmate at the Ingham County Jail testified that Lisa Holland told her she killed her son Ricky by hitting him on the head with a hammer. Lisa Holland also described how Lisa and Tim Holland cleaned up the scene and disposed of the body, according to the inmate, Crystal Mountain. Lisa Holland’s co-counsel Andrew Abood repeatedly challenged Mountain, at one point calling her a “jailhouse snitch” who lacked credibility. Under cross-examination, Mountain acknowledged she suffers from short-term memory loss – the result of being struck on the head several years ago during a robbery.

Also, Ricky’s first-grade teacher, Peggy Cox, said Monday while she did not suspect he was being abused, she did believe Lisa Holland was intentionally humiliating the boy.

Up until today the prosecution had nothing, in my opinion to justify the open murder charges against Tim and Lisa Holland. The testimony of fellow inmate Crystal Mountain sounded believable to me. She made references to things that have not been reported in the media. She even mentioned the area of the house where the murder is alleged to have occurred, if Lisa Holland is the murderer. She also mentioned that there were two different colored bags in which Ricky was deposited after his death.

Although Mr. Abood tried to discredit her because of her short-term memory loss, she was able to mention in another account of the story that she took notes after her conversations with Lisa Holland.

I hope that Ricky’s medical records will shed more light on what happened to him over the course of his short life with the Holland’s.

I think it might be helpful to the prosecution if they were able to get a clear definition of the word “abuse”. Some of the witnesses refer to instances of emotional abuse but call it “maltreatment”. Ricky’s teacher, Mrs. Cox referred to Ricky’s emotional abuse as “humiliation” at the hands of Lisa Holland.

I have decided to move the blog to another server. In order to comment you will need to register. I may change my mind later but for now registration will be required.I am also setting up a forum on the same server. I believe you will be better able to discuss the case within the forum and leave the comments section for what it is intended, comments on the entry.

I appreciate that comments have become so active and that is the reason why I have set up the forum. I believe you need a place to discuss the case.

Please leave comments here about what topics you would like on the forum so I can put them there.

Topic suggestions:

1. Ricky’s death
2. The trial of Tim and Lisa Holland
3. Casey Jo Caswell custody issues
4. DHS – Where did they fail Ricky and his brothers?
5. DHS – What changes need to be made to avoid another tragedy?
6. DHS- What citizens of Michigan can do to affect change.

The URL for the new blog: Ricky Holland Vanished

I will post the URL for the forum when it is up and running. All of this transferring takes time, so please be patient.

Thanks for following the blog, more importantly, thanks for caring about lil’ Ricky.