His Son Was Murdered 4 Years Ago, And This Dad Is Still Fighting To Bring Him Justice
On May 29th, 2018 in Hustonville, Kentucky, 23-year-old Ryan Livengood was shot in a local parking lot that sits at 66 Isaiah Lane.
According to the Kentucky State Police, there was some kind of “an altercation” in the early hours of the morning there before someone shot Ryan at 1 a.m.
Although Ryan was rushed to Ephraim McDowell Hospital, he sadly passed away 33 minutes after the incident in the parking lot.
“An autopsy was performed by the State Medical Examiner’s office today in Frankfort where the preliminary report stated that Livengood died as a result of a gunshot wound,” the Kentucky State Police explained in a statement, before saying his death was being investigated.
4 years later, Ryan’s dad Ritchie is still fighting to bring his son justice.
“On May 28th, 2018, at 11:05 PM, I told my son Ryan good night and that I loved him,” Ritchie wrote on a GoFundMe page.
“I would never have imagined that those words were the last words that I would ever get to say to him because he was killed a few hours later.”
“We were startled by the knocking on our front door by 2 State troopers that informed us that Ryan had been killed and that it was a homicide investigation.”
GoFundMe; pictured above is Ryan
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Ritchie said that there was more than just one person there when Ryan was shot, and those individuals left the scene, ditched their weapons, and began covering up what had really happened in the parking lot.
Ritchie also said that the people present when Ryan was shot “lied continuously” and claimed that they were defending themselves.
When a Grand Jury was later presented with Ryan’s case, they decided not to indict those responsible for the end of Ryan’s life.
As soon as Ritchie was made aware of this, he began the process of trying to obtain the records so he could take a look at what was in there that alluded to self-defense.
That process alone took over 3 years, and when Ritchie and his oldest son sat down to take a look at the records they then held in their hands, they were disheartened.
Ritchie mentioned that a lot of things “were missed” in the investigation, such as evidence, and the accounts of what happened from those involved “did not match.”
Ritchie’s oldest son was part of the Navy when Ryan was shot, and he wasn’t even in the country when it happened.
He was stationed on a submarine and was told weeks after Ryan passed away that a brother of his had passed, but they didn’t know which brother it was.
“It wasn’t until he got stateside that he learned which one,” Ritchie explained. “That was pure torture for him, not knowing which brother had been killed.”
“He thought nothing could get any worse than that until he started to uncover the evidence that would prove Ryan was murdered, only to be met with such lack of cooperation from the State Police and the Commonwealth Attorney’s office. It’s like Ryan’s life is not worth their time.”
Ritchie and his oldest son have worked to uncover evidence all on their own that doesn’t point to Ryan’s death stemming from self-defense at all, and this evidence was also never part of the report that the Grand Jury was shown.
Ritchie pointed out that this means the Grand Jury didn’t get the full picture and that they were “presented with inaccurate information.”
Although Ritchie has reached out to the supervisor of the detective who handled Ryan’s case and the Commonwealth Attorney, nobody wants to review the new evidence.
Ritchie is continuously met with the same reply on all sides; that the Grand Jury already passed their vote and that’s that.
Ritchie doesn’t understand how that vote holds any meaning, since if the Grand Jury didn’t see all of the evidence that has been brought to light, how can they arrive at a conclusion?
“It’s like Ryans’ life is not worth their time,” Ritchie continued, yet even after being met with so much resistance, he’s not giving up the fight.
Ritchie wants justice for Ryan, and he wants the proper authorities to review the evidence that he and his older son have uncovered.
Ritchie’s next step is to hire “an excellent layer” and also find a forensic scientist that can look over all of the new evidence.
“We need to get those responsible for killing my son before they kill again and destroy another family,” Ritchie concluded.
You can view the GoFundMe page that Ritchie has set up to help him in his quest for justice here.
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