Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / January 2006

Oh geez.  I always wondered if it would end like this.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-31/1138499351160930
.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

Adoptive parents of missing boy face charges after remains found
1/28/2006, 8:43 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The adoptive parents of a Williamston boy who
was missing since July were arraigned Saturday on obstruction of
justice charges a day after remains of his body were found.

Tim Holland, 36, and Lisa Holland, 33, also were being held as material
witnesses in each other's cases. The Hollands were arrested separately
Friday and each was jailed in lieu of $5,000 bond on an obstruction
charge and in lieu of $1 million bond as witnesses, the Ingham County
Sheriff's Office said.

Ricky Holland was 7 when he vanished last summer. The sheriff's office
said Saturday that human remains found Friday in a rural section of
Ingham County were positively identified as that of the boy.

The identification was made by forensic anthropologists using dental
records, the sheriff's office said.

Andrew Abood, Lisa Holland's attorney, said his client maintains her
innocence in Ricky's disappearance.

"Obviously she's devastated by the whole thing. There's been a
tremendous change in her lifestyle ... a lot has been uncovered and
disclosed and it's shocking and upsetting," he said. "And she's been
taken away from her family."

Authorities on Saturday searched the Hollands' home and blocked off
their dead-end street, the Lansing State Journal reported on its Web
site. The house has been surrounded by yellow police tape since Friday
night.

Additional charges could be filed. According to Michigan State Police
and the prosecutor's office, the Hollands offered differing accounts of
what happened to Ricky that implicated each other, the newspaper said.

"Lisa Holland provided testimony to officers that she had direct
knowledge that Ricky Holland was in fact killed and taken out of the
home," Ingham County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Roy Holliday said in
court.

A message seeking additional information was left Saturday night with
Holliday.

Abood said Lisa Holland faces a Feb. 7 pretrial and a Feb. 9
preliminary exam.

Her husband's next court date was not immediately available.

A felony obstruction charge carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in
prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Tim Holland and his lawyer had requested a meeting Friday with Ingham
County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III and state and county law
enforcement officials. The remains were found afterward.

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth on Friday said both Lisa
Holland and Tim Holland had provided personal knowledge concerning
Ricky's disappearance and death.

Messages seeking comment were left Saturday with Dunnings' office and
Tim Holland's attorney, Dennis Hurst.

Ricky Holland disappeared from his house about 15 miles east of Lansing
over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Police and volunteers searched
roadways up to 5 miles from the boy's home and lakes, ponds and rivers.
Detectives, dive teams and K-9 units were on call to check any new
leads.

The case was featured on the TV program "America's Most Wanted" in
July.

During the early days of the search, authorities said they suspected
the boy ran away from home. He had run away before, but never for that
long.