After killing her 3-year-old granddaughter and letting the body of the girl decay in a garbage can for many days, a 63-year-old Oklahoma grandmother will probably spend the rest of her days in prison.
Court documents reveal that Becky Ann Vreeland was sentenced to life in a state prison by Cleveland County District Court Judge Lynne McGuire for the 2022 murder of young Riley Lynn Nolan.
Riley was beaten to death by Vreeland, according to the authorities, who also left “child-sized” indentations on the bathroom wall. Last Monday, Vreeland entered a no contest plea to a single count of first-degree murder related to Riley’s passing.
According to Oklahoma state law, 45 years is equivalent to a life sentence. Because the crime was so serious, Vreeland must serve at least 85% of her sentence, which means she will have to be 99 years old to be eligible for parole, which would require her to serve more than 38 years.
The plea deal included the dismissal of one count of desecration of a human corpse.
Officers from the Oklahoma City Police Department responded to a “trouble unknown call” at a residence in the 600 block of SW151 Street at approximately 2:22 p.m. on June 21, 2022, according to the department’s first news release. First responders discovered a dead infant at the house when they arrived on the scene.
“Officers found the body of three-year-old Riley Nolan in a residential trash receptacle at the home,” as per the release. “The child had obvious signs of trauma to her body.”
According to investigators, young Riley was being cared for by her grandma, Vreeland, who was named in the press release.
Vreeland was taken by police to the department headquarters, where she was questioned and then taken into custody on suspicion of murder at the Cleveland County Jail.
Riley died after falling off a ladder in the backyard, according to Vreeland, who has consistently insisted that her granddaughter’s death was a tragic accident.
Riley’s body, however, was found inside a recycling bin just outside of Vreeland’s house, according to a homicide detective’s prior testimony. The bin had been covered with two blankets, one of which featured characters from the Disney film “Frozen,” and it also had the young girl’s toys.
Investigators found blood spatter in Vreeland’s house, including in the master bedroom, master bathroom, and a number of other places, the detective added. Many of the 28 swabs that were extracted from within the house and examined were positive for Riley’s DNA.
The detective also testified that officers discovered two tiny, circular indentations in the wall that “look to be the size of a child’s head” during their examination of the master bathroom.
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Vreeland admitted to authorities that she frequently stored Riley’s toys in the back of the house’s recycling bin.
She added that Riley allegedly climbed the pool ladder adjacent to the garbage before falling off and dying. The grandma claimed that when she woke up the next morning, she discovered Riley dead.
But Riley’s grandfather, Vreeland’s ex-husband, was the one who called the police after discovering the young girl’s already-rotting body in the trash three days after she passed away. Vreeland claimed she was afraid the authorities would take her other grandkids away, so she refrained from calling them.
According to the police, the ladder near the recycle bin was lacking its base and would topple over the moment someone attempted to use it.
Law & Crime: Grandmother who beat 3-year-old to death, leaving dents ‘the size of a child’s head’ in bathroom wall is sentenced
