Ricky Holland Vanished

Ricky Holland should have been proudly celebrating his 9th birthday on September 8th. Instead, his skeletal remains are housed in a morgue somewhere, now considered evidence in his adoptive parents’ murder trial. His biologial mother gave birth to yet another sibling that has been placed in foster care. His biological mother had to appear in Family Court this week to determine whether she can retain custody of her fifth child. His adoptive father, Tim Holland plead guilty this week to 2nd degree murder in Ricky’s death and his adoptive mother, Lisa Holland, is set to start her murder trial on Monday. This is quite a birthday celebration week for Ricky Holland. Yes, I am being sarcastic. I wonder if these poor excuses for parents in Ricky’s short life have even realized that his birthday passed on September 8th.

Tim Holland entered into yet another plea deal with the prosecution this week; he agreed as part of that plea deal to testify truthfully against his wife Lisa Holland during her trial that is to begin on Monday, September 11, 2006. I cannot think of a more fitting date for her trial to begin. The date of 9-11 will always conjure up in the minds of Americans the idea of terrorism and the attack on our country.

Certainly, if the testimony is truthful that Tim Holland gave this past Tuesday, Ricky Holland was a victim of terrorism in his own home in Williamston, Michigan. Unfortunately for Ricky Holland the terrorist attacks against him could not be stopped by the local government officials in place to protect his interests.

Why is it that this country can go all the way to Iraq and other countries to fight terrorism and protect the interests of the citizens of other countries, but we cannot seem to arrest or even begin to stop the terrorism being perpetrated on our own children?

Tim Holland described Ricky’s life in his home and under Lisa’s rule as that of a child living in a concentration camp. He was denied food, was forced to submit to standing in one place until he defecated or urinated on himself, hit with objects, restrained at night to his bed with handcuffs and was publicly humiliated. Any of these actions perpetrated on prisoners in the U.S. or during wartime would produce a loud cry of outrage from Human Rights organizations. Ricky’s very rights as a human being were being violated daily in a free country.

Lisa was the warden of Ricky’s prison and Tim Holland was one of the guards. He stood idley by wringing his hands hoping one day, he claims through his love for his wife, that she would change. The more truthful statement made by Tim Holland when asked what he expected to happen in his home according to his testimony – he expected one day to come home and find either Ricky dead or all of the children dead at the hands of his wife.

His reasoning for hiding Ricky’s body was because his wife told him to do it. I have to wonder at this point, if Tim Holland’s worst fears had come true and he had come home from work one day to find all of the children murdered, would he have hidden the bodies of all of the children if Lisa had told him to do so. I am thinking that the answer is yes.
Tim Holland rolled over on Ricky’s captor. He is expected to testify truthfully in order to complete his deal and to receive some sort of reduced sentence. He pled guilty to 2nd degree murder. That offense entitles him to at least 20 years to life in prison with parole possible after 20 years served.

It is up to the Prosecution to prove that Tim Holland’s testimony is credible, the burden of proof is not on the defense. All the defense has to do is prove that Tim Holland is a liar. There is a lot of information out in the press to prove that Tim Holland cannot tell the truth. He is quoted in the press numerous times speaking of Ricky running away, speaking of how he hoped Ricky would be brought home by someone, speaking of how much he loved Ricky. Every word that passed through Tim Holland’s lips during the search for his son was a lie, now he wants a jury to believe what he says really happened that night. The only truthful thing we know – Tim Holland dumped Ricky’s body in a game preserve and he led investigators to Ricky’s body. Unfortunately the defense has a lot to work with to prove Tim Holland as less than credible. Here is an audio history at the Lansing State Journal online newspaper of Tim Holland’s statements made to the press during the search for Ricky. Click on the media files on the right.
If Tim Holland was any sort of real man he would just tell the truth without any sort of plea deal. He would take his punishment like a real man for not protecting the son he claimed to love so very much.

If you are interested in reading the transcripts from Tim Holland’s court appearance, you can read them here. I warn you the testimony is graphic.

The Legislature in Michigan is asking for some changes to DHS. One of the changes they are asking for is the Ombudsman be accountable to the Legislature and not to the Governor. Governor Grandholm appointed a Special Committee to look into the Ricky Holland case and how it was handled by DHS. The Special Committee has been fighting with the Ombudsman to have Ricky’s records released and has faced much resistance, this is why their recommendation is that the Legislature oversee the Governor appointed position of Ombudsman. The Governor’s position through her spokesperson is that the system works fine just the way it is.

If this is the case, then why is a murder trial being held for Lisa Holland, why did Tim Holland plead guilty to 2nd degree murder, why was it mentioned that Ricky Holland was not only abused by his adoptive mother as well as his adoptive grandfather? Most of all, why is Ricky Holland celebrating his 9th birthday somewhere in a morgue?

Tim Holland has plead guilty to second degree murder in the death of his adopted son, Ricky Holland. As part of the plea deal he also agrees to testify against his wife in her murder trial set to begin September 11th.

This is breaking news and I will update later. Thanks to fellow blogger Stacey for the info. She is blogging about the disappearance of Colton Clark from Seminole County, OK. The disappearance of Colton Clark has some similarities to the reported disappearance of Ricky Holland.