Ryan wanted to go to sleep-nothing more, nothing less- and repeatedly told officers as much. He made little sense when answering question after question tossed at him during an interrogation with officers at the Phoenix Polie Department.
Officers believed Ryan ki*lled his girlfriend and focused on nothing else, despite his account of getting into a physical altercation with someone who broke into the home, the huge black eye he sported, or his obvious slurred speech and confusion. Two bullets were stuck in the back of his head; Ryan had no idea and officers claimed they were also unaware he had been shot. Rather than get much-needed medical attention, Ryan was stuck at the police station, accused of a c*rime he did not commit.
It was December 25, 2006. Ryan Waller and his girlfriend, Heather Quan, watched TV together at their home, then planned to head out for holiday festivities with his parents. At 18 years old, Ryan was young, full of life, and one day hoped to become a famous rock star. He loved to play guitar and music made him happy. At 21 years old, Heather was more laid back than her boyfriend. She attended college and one day hoped to work as a prosecutor who would “put the bad guys away.”
As the couple sat on the sofa, Ryan heard a strange noise at the sliding glass doors in the back of the home. He walked to the doors to find out what was going on and two men came rushing through. After placing Ryan in a bear hold, the men shot Ryan twice in the head.Heather Photo: Myspace
After shooting Ryan, the men proceeded into the living room where they shot a stunned Heather in the head. She died instantly. The two men ransacked the house, taking guitars and other valuable items, then fled the home.
Where’s Ryan And Heather?
When Ryan and Heather didn’t show up for Christmas dinner, his parents thought maybe they were just running late. After a couple of unanswered phone calls, panic sank in and the parents immediately headed to Ryan and Heather’s place to check on them. It was Christmas and neither Ryan or Heather would miss a holiday dinner with family.
At 7:50 p.m. the Wallers arrived at Ryan and Heather’s home. Ryan’s father called the Phoenix Police Department and asked them to perform a welfare check when no one answered the door. Several hours later around midnight, an officer finally arrived.H Quan
The officer knocked on the doors; no answer. He looked through the blinds and thought he saw a body. He did not enter the home despite what he thought he saw. Instead, the officer told Ryan’s parents he thought he saw a de*ad body and waited outside with them as he waited on a judge to sign a search warrant granting him access to enter. (Although I’m almost certain you don’t need a search warrant to enter a house if you see a person lying unconscious or disabled on the floor. ESPECIALLY if you’re wearing a law enforcement badge.)
An hour or more later, the search warrant came and the officer opened the door. He immediately saw Heather lying obviously deceased on the sofa. As he walked through the home, he found Ryan lying by the sliding glass doors toward the back of the home. Ryan was still alive, although he seemed confused and disoriented and a huge, swollen bruise covered his eye.
The officer assumed Ryan had been in an altercation with Heather, then shot her. He called for backup. Suspecting the incident was domestic violence related, officers, placed Ryan in handcuffs and sat him in the back of the car for about four hours while they processed the cr*ime scene.
RYAN HEADS TO THE POLICE STATION
At the police station, Ryan acted very awkwardly and made very strange statements about simple things. He moaned, laid his head down on his head, and when asked questions about the night, told officers he had been shot twice in the head.
Ryan initially told officers he did not have a girlfriend named Heather. He then asked officers if they wanted her nickname or real name. He then said he could not spell her last name and said she was 16 or 17 years old. He mentioned someone named Christina, an unknown person.
He then told officers, maybe after a bit of coercion, that Heather hit him in the face, which in the mind of the officer, explained away the condition of his eye and maybe even the disorientation.
He was obviously confused about everything he said.
Ryan seemed to get himself together for a short period, but even when he told the officer two men broke in and shot him and Heather, he made awkward and strange statements. The officer laughed when Ryan told him two men broke into the home, shot him and his girlfriend, and left the home. The officer told Ryan he would be de*ad like his girlfriend Heather if he had been shot.
“Richie and his dad tried to break in,” Ryan tells Det. Dalton.
When questioned about Richie, Ryan told the officer he was his roommate (he actually lived in the home before Ryan and Heather moved in.) He then told the officer that Richie and his dad Larry shot him with a bow and arrow, but changed it seconds later to say that one of the men shot him with a revolver.
Ryan then tells the officer that Richie and his dad shot him and Heather and shot him in the eye.
“I really dont know man. I really dont. I just want to go to sleep, man,” Ryan continually repeats to Detective Dalton.
SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH RYAN
More than six hours passed since the break-in and interrogation began when Det. Dalton finally realized maybe something was wrong with Ryan after all. He called paramedics down to the station.
The EMT who picked Ryan up from the station immediately recognized that he had been shot. At the hospital, medics discovered Ryan had two bullet holes in his head.
He was not lying to Det. Dalton after all.
An infection had set in because Ryan did not receive immediate medical attention after getting shot twice in the head. This meant that an operation was too dangerous until the infection went away, although medical staff felt he desperately needed the operation.
Ryan underwent the operation three days later. Doctors discovered that he sustained a skull fracture, a blowout in the left eye socket that was broken into six pieces that had made their way into the brain. Ryan was also shot in the side of the head and had a broken jaw.
Ryan spent 35 days in the hospital. Things were never the same after Ryan returned home. He lost his left eye because of this incident and suffered Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI.) He suffered seizures so bad, he often injured himself. Once, he hit his head in a store during a seizure, which required 40 stitches.
RICHIE AND LARRY
The Richie and Larry that Ryan referred to during the interrogation were tenants who previously lived in the home he and Heather currently rented. Larry was Richie’s dad. Despite having moved out of the home, Richie Lee came around often for various reasons, whether asking if he had any mail or looking for objects that he left behind.
Ryan caught Richie poking around his house about a month before the Christmas Day incident. He told them he was looking for his “pet iguana,” a very odd thought indeed.
The trip likely was Richie’s chance to scope out the place in order to burglarize it in the coming weeks. Richie knew Ryan played guitar and hoped the couple had lots of high-dollar items sitting around to grab.
Richie had always been a troublemaker. He had served four years in prison on robbery charges and had been in trouble on domestic violence charges in more recent years.R Carver
Richie Lee Carver and his dad Larry Carver decided to break into the house on Christmas, assuming no one would be there. He was wrong. He thought it’d be the perfect cri*me because he had lived in the house before, which would explain why his DNA would be there. He also knew the house well, so getting around it would be a breeze.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and as you likely expect, Larry had a troubled cr*iminal past as well. Previous charges on his record include assault and assault on an officer.
Police did not attempt to find Richie or Larry during the 35 days Ryan spent in the hospital. Det. Dalton was taken off the case after Ryan finally recovered enough to go home from the hospital. Larry and Richie were eventually arrested and charged with burglary, aggravated assault, theft, and first-degree murd*er.
Richie was acquitted of robbery and found guilty of the remaining charges. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of life in prison.
It took time but police eventually prosecuted Larry in 2011. He was convicted on all charges and sentenced to life in prison.
LAWSUIT AGAINST PHOENIX POLICE
Had Ryan received medical attention immediately after police found him, his life would likely be much, much different. Instead, officers insisted he hurt Heather and antagonized him despite logic showing something apparently wrong with him. Officers felt it was a domestic dispute and never considered alternatives.
Ryan’s family filed a lawsuit against Det. Dalton and the police department. Detective Dalton lied when his superiors asked about the interrogation with Ryan, even stating the incident occurred on December 23. It did not. Luckily, the entire interrogation was recorded.
Sadly, the lawsuit eventually was dismissed.
HEATHER’S LAW
Heather’s family fought to get justice for their daughter and eventually, Heather’s law was passed. This law allows married people to testify against one another in cr*iminal court.
You see, one of the problems prosecutors faced in Larry’s case was his wife -and other family members- who refused to testify and lied about Larry’s whereabouts.
RYAN PASSES AWAY
In January 2016, Ryan suffered from a seizure that resulted in his d*eath. The seizure was directly related to complications from the gunshot wounds.
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