Ricky Holland Vanished

The person who should have been able to bury Ricky is the person who first saw him come into this world.

I have asked myself many times when the right time would be to close this blog or to write the final entry. I thought about moving forward for the rights of children in Michigan in Ricky’s memory but there does not seem to be enough interest in doing that.

Now, with the news released today of the details of the agreement regarding Ricky’s burial it appears there will no longer be anything left to write about the story of Ricky Holland.

The families agreed to keep each of their services private.

“They are not to notify the media or anyone … of the date, time and place,” say court documents signed Friday.

So, just as quickly as the public was drawn into the drama of the Holland family, the public is being pushed out. We are left to wonder where the little boy many of us grew to care about will be buried. Even if we wanted to go and pay our respects one day to the little guy, perhaps to place a single rose or a small toy on his grave, we are banned from doing this because it is forbidden by the terms of the agreement between two families who did nothing to keep him from being abused and murdered.

The two families, the Hollands and the Taylors will each have their own funeral service for Ricky with the keeper of his remains, Dean Senko, forced to transport Ricky’s remains from one memorial service to another. These two families who never really cared about Ricky in life both insist upon the right to “have closure” but need to have that process separately because they hate each other so much. The nuts don’t fall far from the tree on either side of the family.

I am just rambling now and that is because I am feeling upset. I know the public deserves nothing in this situation. We deserve no consideration when it comes to laying Ricky to rest but he left such a big impression on so many people from the time they first saw his sweet little face on that missing poster.

I will be writing a recap and closing entry for this blog within the next week or so. The blog will stay up after I stop writing entries.

[Source]

The end of this story is playing out like a child custody battle in divorce proceedings. Poor Ricky. Most of his short life has been about who would ‘own’ him. He spent the shortest amount of time with his biological mother, Casey Gann Caswell. No matter what many want to say about Casey and her lifestyle choices the truth is that short period of time living with his mother was most likely the happiest time of his short life.

Think about it for a minute. Ricky was not taken from his mother for abuse or even neglect. Casey Caswell decided to ask for help to care for her son because she knew she could not provide for him at that time. Her mistake, in hindsight, was to ask for help from CPS. Once she asked for that help she could no longer decide what would be appropriate living conditions for her and her son. If she determined that she and Ricky could afford to live in a home renting a bedroom from someone, CPS could determine that was not in the best interest of Ricky. They could determine at that point that Casey needed to rent an apartment, maybe even a one-bedroom apartment before her son could be returned to her care and control. They could determine that Casey could not have her son back if she remained unemployed. Can you imagine how many children could conceivably be removed from their parent’s homes in the state of Michigan alone simply due to unemployment?

As it turned out, Judge Schmucker made the ruling that Ricky should not have had to languish in foster care until he was perhaps 7-years-old, waiting for his parents to become responsible. It is eery looking back on that comment now considering Ricky died at the hands of people who were supposed to be giving him a life he deserved to have – a life that could be better given to him by strangers, according to Judge Schmucker. Only to see him murdered by those people in his 7th year of life.

Anyway, according to the article posted on today’s Lansing State Journal website it was determined this morning in Judge Economy’s courtroom that an agreement had been reached between the Holland family and Ingham County officials regarding legal custody of Ricky’s remains and burial.

According to the article:

“…Ingham County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Dean Sienko will retain legal control of the remains, which will be interred within 45 days, the agreement states…”

“…Sienko has said plans had not been “clearly defined yet,” adding that it was his intention to preserve the remains while laying them to rest…” [Source]

There will be more information released later regarding the details of the agreement. I am guessing that the Holland family agreed to sign over their rights – at this point it is just a guess.

Ricky’s biological mother was present at today’s proceeding and she shed tears as the judge read his ruling. Looking at her picture from the news article I couldn’t help but see a bit of Ricky.