JACKSON — Authorities say Carol Ryan, the 81-year-old woman who lived in a home where a body was found buried in the back yard Tuesday, was never a resident of a Brandon nursing home as was originally the story of family members when she was reported missing.
John and Samantha Ryan, ages 50 and 48, respectively, have been arrested and charged with desecration of a human corpse in the case. Both appeared before a Municipal Court Judge this morning. John Ryan received a $100,000 bond and Samantha Ryan received a $75,000 bond.
Brandon Police Chief Joseph French confirmed that Brandon investigators assisted Jackson Police Department in the investigation by checking with each of the four nursing homes in the city and establishing that Ryan had not been a resident there.
Jackson Police Chief and Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said there had been some conflicting information given as officials began to look into where Ryan was, and it had been several months since anyone had heard from her.
Neighbors confirmed that she had, at one time, lived with her son and daughter-in-law, but it’s unclear the last time anyone saw her at the home. French said the only Brandon connection to the case is that Samantha Ryan worked at a Waffle House in Brandon.
Human remains were found buried on the property Tuesday after around 24 hours of searching the property with a search warrant. Ground-penetrating sonar was used but was marginally useful since the body was covered with concrete, Jones said.
Coroner Jeramiah Howard said the other thing that prolonged the search at the home was that there were some family pets buried in the back yard as well, which alerted the cadaver dogs. He said they were covered in concrete also, and that he believed it could have been to keep animals from digging them up.
At this point, whether the body in the back yard is Ryan is under investigation and will be determined by the State Medical Examiner’s office, Howard said. Family members have been contacted to provide DNA in order to confirm whether it matches the body found at the home on Bayberry Lane Tuesday.
Both Jones and Howard say they expect the remains to belong to Ryan, but it has to be ascertained for the sake of the investigation. At this point it’s too early to tell if it might be foul play or if she died of natural causes, if it is, in fact, Ryan.
Jones said even though officials “don’t have anything to point to foul play,” the case is suspicious by its very nature.
“This body was buried in the back yard,” he said.
When asked how common it has been in his career as a homicide investigator dating back at least two decades to have a body buried in the yard of a home in Jackson, he said it was an anomaly.
“This is literally the first one. We’ve had bodies found in back yards, but never a grave dug in the backyard literally,” he said.
