Rebecca Ruud Opening Statements in Savannah Leckie Demise
Savannah Leckie
Mere months after reuniting, a organic mom murdered her daughter and burned the sufferer’s physique to only bones at a farm, the prosecution stated in opening statements. Rebecca Ruud’s bench trial in Ozark County, Missouri, for allegedly killing Savannah Leckie, 16, started Monday.
Prosecutor Anthony Brown partly cited accounts from three ladies, who had been in jail with Ruud. One in every of them stated that Ruud admitted to drugging Savannah with hydrocodone, in response to Brown. Then Ruud, believing her daughter was useless, took her physique to a burn pile, however the teenager had not died, the prosecutor stated. The sufferer awoke screaming and Ruud beat her to dying, Brown stated.
“And through this screaming, the defendant hit her with a rake or different kind of long-handled implement till she may scream no extra,” he stated. “And in any case that, all that was left of Savannah was a bag of bones.”
Prosecutor Anthony Brown stated that #RebeccaRuud burned her 16-year-old daughter alive. “The defendant thought Savannah was useless and introduced her physique to the burn pile to get rid of the proof,” the prosecutor stated. “She wasn’t useless. She awoke screaming.” pic.twitter.com/CS5PhM8tvP
— Regulation&Crime Community (@LawCrimeNetwork) June 27, 2022
Protection lawyer Yvette Renee Duvall disparaged this story and the opposite jailhouse accounts, calling them “fantastical tales” that neither match the proof nor different accounts from individuals who have been really there. The legal professional advised the inmates fabricated these tales.
Based on Brown, Ruud gave Savannah as much as her pals Tamile Leckie-Montague and David Leckie after giving beginning and feeling she didn’t consider she was match to be a mom. Duvall described this era in tumultuous phrases, saying Ruud’s abusive mom kidnapped the toddler Savannah at one level.
Savannah grew up with Tamile and David in Minnesota, however the state of affairs began to vary in 2010, when the adoptive couple separated. As soon as a teen, Savannah started performing out, the prosecutor stated. He additionally described her as being on the autism spectrum. She minimize herself due to what was occurring together with her residence life, he stated. Leckie, who was recognized with melancholy and ADHD, was hospitalized twice for suicidal ideation and a plan to die by suicide, Duvall stated.
It was lastly determined that Savannah can be higher off together with her organic mom, the prosecutor stated. Ruud took {the teenager}, then 15, in late 2016, and introduced the woman to her farm in rural Ozark County, Missouri, Brown added.
Duvall described this as a combined expertise for Savannah. On one hand, she was hardworking and loved her time on the farm. Her grades have been bettering. {The teenager} loved being a cadet for a neighborhood hearth division, and the volunteers appreciated having her round. Alternatively, Duvall claimed that ultimately Leckie-Montague stopped returning Savannah’s calls. The protection characterised the adoptive mom as pushing the weak teenager out to Ruud in Missouri as an alternative of discovering family in Minnesota to handle her. Her adoptive household fell by way of on guarantees to see her, besides when her grandparents visited her in April 2017 and needed to depart due to flooding, the protection legal professional stated.
#RebeccaRuud‘s protection legal professional stated that her daughter Savannah was constantly let down by her Minnesota household, who adopted her at beginning. pic.twitter.com/4Swfdrza00
— Regulation&Crime Community (@LawCrimeNetwork) June 27, 2022
Leckie-Montague mourned her adopted daughter in a September 2017 report from The Springfield Information-Chief.
“You begin speculating in your head, that’s the toughest half,” she stated. “The what-ifs are the worst.”
Leckie-Montague stated Savannah would, within the phrases of the outlet, “generally assault her siblings with out provocation.” She additionally talked about the 2 hospitalizations. She stated she tried to get an in-patient care facility for Savannah however couldn’t. Opposite to Duvall’s account, Leckie-Montague stated she requested members of the family if they might take Leckie on a trial foundation, however Ruud, who had remained lively within the teenager’s life, supplied to take her in.
“Rebecca stepped up at that time,” Leckie-Montague stated. “She may see that Savannah actually wanted some assist.”
Authorities have beforehand stated that Ruud abused the sufferer on the farm, together with rubbing her wounds with salt and alcohol, making her roll in a pigpen, and forcing her to wash in a muddy pond. The adoptive mom Leckie-Montague stated she witnessed no indicators of abuse.
“Someway going and getting this contemporary begin, it simply fully reset her,” Leckie-Montague stated of her adopted daughter transferring to Missouri. “She was doing so nicely.”
Prosecutors stated Ruud would ultimately kill Savannah. Within the timeline of occasions that Brown offered on Monday, the girl with the hydrocodone story stated the homicide occurred on July 19, 2017. Brown advised the decide about Ruud’s suspicious habits amid the incident. There was an out-of-control hearth on the farm the day earlier than on July 18, 2017. Ruud, a volunteer firefighter, knew she was purported to contact the sheriff about this, however she contacted everybody besides him, Brown stated. She didn’t let firefighters go close to the camper trailer the place Savannah lived, didn’t allow them to see Savannah to examine on her, and she or he even refused them water, the prosecutor stated. She allegedly claimed Savannah was bare within the sealed up trailer, which was with out electrical energy. Brown described this as a sweltering summer season day.
Ruud’s then-boyfriend and eventual husband Robert Peat Jr. was indicted together with her for expenses together with homicide. The prosecution stated, nonetheless, that Peat Jr. is anticipated to testify about heading to the farm that July 18th together with his father, a volunteer firefighter. His dad, Robert Peat Sr., handled Ruud’s burns whereas he himself helped put out the flames. Peat Jr. is anticipated to testify that he noticed Savannah on July 19 very late into the night, chasing fireflies round what will need to have been 11 p.m. He’s anticipated to say there was an argument between mom and daughter over homework that was not carried out.
Savannah was reported lacking on July 20, 2017, Brown stated. Her burned stays have been found the next Aug. 4 on Ruud’s property.
Duvall asserted that investigators instantly handled this as a dying investigation, not a lacking particular person case. It was about ideas and emotions as an alternative of the proof, the protection insisted.
Whereas in lockup, Ruud advised numerous accounts to inmates, Brown stated. She allegedly advised one intimately about killing Savannah. She allegedly advised one other about crushing drugs and placing them in a drink. Based on one other, Ruud stated she wasn’t getting cash for baby assist, stated she was purported to be getting it, and stated she wasn’t going to lose her farm due to some “bratty child.” There have been additionally unprompted feedback of holding somebody down in a hearth, Brown stated.
Choose Calvin Holden, who will resolve the decision, can even hear a sure recording at trial. Ruud made it whereas chatting with members of the general public defender’s workplace, Brown stated. The Missouri Supreme Courtroom dominated that she waved attorney-client privilege as a result of she gave Peat Jr. the recording in a field.
“No proof within the report suggests, nor does Ruud assert, that she was compelled or coerced into handing over the field with the recording to Peat,” Choose W. Brent Powell stated in a Nov. 9, 2021 ruling. “Quite, the report signifies Ruud voluntarily gave the field containing the recording to Peat to organize for a visit.”
Rudd stated within the recording that Savannah died from taking medication, in response to Brown. She stated that she discovered the sufferer’s physique and burned it, in response to the prosecutor.
Duvall stated, nonetheless, that the decide wouldn’t hear at trial any scientific proof about reason behind dying, method of dying, or the precise time of dying. The protection lawyer acknowledged that her shopper admitted to burning Savannah’s physique.
“However that’s all you’re going to listen to as a result of that’s all she did,” Duvall stated.
[Image via Ozark County]
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