Four people have been charged in connection with the death of a five year-old boy in February in Ridgway. The Elk County District Attorney’s office has charged the boy’s aunt and uncle 35 year-old Kristy and 25 year-old Scott Murphy, both of Ridgway, with homicide and assault in the beating death of O’Ryan Murphy.
The boy’s parents, 26 year-old Daniel Murphy and 23 year-old Ashlee Druhot, both of Meadville, are facing charges too, including involuntary manslaughter and two counts of endangering the welfare of children. Murphy and Druhot had entrusted their two children, O’Ryan and his four year-old brother, to the Murphy’s care for over two months.
O’Ryan was found dead on the morning of February 3 in an apartment in Ridgeway which had little to no heat, animal feces on the floor and decomposing garbage throughout. The coroner says emergency personnel were called to the apartment for a report of a child not breathing and believes that the boy, who couldn’t be revived, had been dead for several hours. She says an autopsy revealed that the boy died of blunt force trauma to the head and had bruising on his arms and torso, bite marks and a scratch on his face.