Solved TX - Cristy Ryno, 3 - Kidnapped and murdered from Irving, 1999

[phylliyum]

3 yr old Cristy Ryno was from Irving, Texas. On the morning of April 17, 1999, Cristy's mother went to wake up Cristy, but instead found her to be missing. Cristy's twin sister, Tiffany, was still sleeping. An Amber Alert was issued.
The little girl's body was pulled out of the Trinity River, roughly 5 miles from her home, on April 21, 1999. As of today, her killer is still at large, and her great aunt now has custody of her twin sister. Focuses appeared to be on the family, however DNA found on Cristy's body cleared all 4 adults she was living with.Police say probable causes of death are suffocation, strangle, or drowning. However, due to the state of compostion of the body, they may never know.


I was just wondering if anyone knew of any updates in the case. They first thought it might be related to the disapearance of Opal Jennings, as the abductions happened close together and the towns were not that far apart, but that was later believed to be untrue. Cristy was an adorable little girl - I hope one day her killer can be brought to justice. There is so little available on her abduction/murder, it is very frustrating.

[Bluecat]

This one appears to be solved.

Brett Bednarek was charged with her murder; he was convicted in 2002 or so of sexually assaulting her, and he's in jail. Can't find anything right now on the murder trial; one or both are up on appeal. However, the police used DNA evidence to convict.

From what I could gather, it sounds like the home environment was bad for these little girls - there are allegations that there were drugs in the house, and when the girl went missing it was deemed that the other girl could not stay in the home and was given to another relative to be raised. Apparently the mother was sharing the apartment with several other people.

Of course, those allegations were made by Brett's family...they have a website stating their side of the story (if you Google his name, you'll find it). So who knows. Custody of the surviving twin was definitely given to another relative.