Oklahoma grandmother sentenced to life in prison for death of 3-year-old granddaughter
A 63-year-old woman who was sentenced this week to life in prison for the death of her 3-year-old granddaughter told authorities she didn't report the girl was dead in a trash can because she wanted her son to enjoy Father's Day with his other kids.
On Tuesday in Cleveland District Court, Judge Lynne McGuire ordered Becky Ann Vreeland to serve the time after Vreeland pleaded no contest to one count of murder in the first degree – child abuse.
The sentencing came more than two years after the death of Riley Lynn Nolan.
In the afternoon of June 21, 2022, police responded to a "trouble unknown" call to a home in the 600 block of SW 151.
The man who called police told responding officers he found what he believed to be his granddaughter inside a green city trash can in the backyard of the residence, according to an investigator who wrote a probable cause affidavit for Vreeland's arrest.
Officers looked inside the green trash can and found Riley with "obvious signs of trauma to her body," according to court documents.
Homicide detectives later identified the calling party as Riley's grandfather. The grandfather told authorities his son, the biological father of Riley, had been released earlier that day from the Oklahoma County jail.
Becky Vreeland asked that Riley's biological father be brought to her house as soon as possible. When Riley's father along with her grandfather arrived, Vreeland told the grandfather there had been an accident and she found Riley inside the backyard trash can.
Vreeland said she found Riley three days earlier but did not call authorities or report Riley's death, according to the affidavit.
Riley's grandfather immediately called 911 and reported what Vreeland said. He also confirmed that, after what he was told, he also located Riley's body in the trash can.
According to the investigator's affidavit, Vreeland explained that the night before she found Riley in the trash can, she found maggots in her kitchen cabinet as a result of an open can of cat food being left inside.
Vreeland told the investigator she and her three grandchildren began cleaning up the mess while a male roommate in the house prepared spaghetti.
Vreeland said after everyone ate, they all went to bed around midnight.
She told the investigator, according to the affidavit, that at around 10 a.m. the next morning, she discovered Riley was not in her bed. As she searched for Riley, she found the back door of the house unlocked, although it had been locked the night before, she explained.
Vreeland said she saw the green trash can lid was closed. She told the investigator she had placed toys inside the trash can the night before and had left the lid open.
Vreeland went on to tell the investigator she saw a 5- to 6-foot ladder next to the trash can, which was not there the night before. Vreeland said she looked inside the trash can "and saw Riley's feet sticking out of the toys and Riley's head was below the toys," the investigator wrote in the affidavit.
She told the investigator she felt Riley's feet and could tell her granddaughter was not alive.
The investigator wrote: "Vreeland advised she left Riley in the trash can because she was so upset and she did not want to tell her son about Riley's death until he had been released from jail and been able to have Father's Day with the other kids."
Vreeland also admitted to using a wooden bed leg — which she called "the whooping stick" — to spank her grandchildren.
Authorities later interviewed Riley's two siblings. The affidavit did not list ages for the siblings.
One of them said they saw Riley the morning after they ate spaghetti. The sibling said Riley was asleep in her toddler bed in Vreeland's bedroom.
The sibling said, "Riley would not wake up, even when she opened Riley's eyes," according to the affidavit.
Both siblings said they noticed Riley had a purple bruise on her forehead. They explained to authorities they had been told Riley had been asleep in the shower because she wet the bed. However, the siblings reported, neither of them ever saw Riley in the shower.
They each reported they had not seen Riley since the day she was seen in her bed. They said Vreeland told them Riley had an accident and fell into the trash can.
Inside the residence, detectives located two separate areas where red stains consistent with blood were discovered.
The first location was in the bathroom near Vreeland's bedroom. Detectives observed marks in the drywall that appeared to have been made with a blunt object.
The second location containing red stains, and marks on the wall consistent with being struck by a blunt object, were located in the utility room.
According to the affidavit, during a preliminary examination of Riley's body, an investigator with the state medical examiner's office "located three separate skull fractures on the victim that were not consistent with a fall."
