The Tragic Murder of Samatha R. Richie
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Year: 1995
I can’t remember how old I was when my mother told me about the tragedy that had struck that neighborhood. This was the same neighborhood my father had driven me through at least one hundred times. I can still remember how I felt the first time my mom told me about what happened to Samantha Richie. It terrified me down to the bone. I inadvertently imagined my own mother victimizing me with the same atrocities that Samatha’s mother did to her and it made me sick to my stomach.
This particular case holds a very special place in my heart. And even though this case still gives me nightmares to this day, I can’t seem to get Samantha out of my mind. After all, I still mourn for this sweet little girl, who I never met, and who was born and passed away years before I was even born. Even researching this case gave me the same sense of terror as the first time I heard this gruesome tale in the back seat of my mother’s Pontiac Sunfire.
Samatha Raylynn Richie was born on September 4, 1990 in Dayton, Ohio. Samantha was born to mother Therressa Jolynn Ritchie, who went by the name Jolynn. Jolynn was born October 21, 1970, and appeared to have a rough childhood and early-life. Jolynn has been reported to have been raised in Northridge, a neighborhood in northern Dayton.
At the young age of seven, Jolynn tried to kill herself by overdosing on the over the counter painkiller, aspirin. Young Jolynn then proceeded to leave home at the ripe age of thirteen.
From my research it appears that Jolynn ran away from home with her nineteen year old boyfriend to Tucson, Arizona. She then had her first child at age fourteen, followed by several others, and a miscarriage at the young age of sixteen.
Throughout her life Jolynn struggled with addiction to alcohol and drugs, which led to her arrest in 1994 for disorderly conduct and felonious assault. In 1990, Jolynn married Denton Richie, Samatha’s father. The Richies would later divorce in 1995.
I would like to take a moment to emphasize that the trauma that Jolynn went through during her early life does not excuse the actions I will describe later on in this article. However, I believe it is important to study these factors as they might offer an explanation as to why Jolynn decided to turn to violence to solve her issues, and help criminologists help understand why people commit violent crimes. Therefore, hopefully helping to deter future crimes of this nature.
On July 18, 1995, Joylnn Richie made a call to 911 to report her daughter Samatha Richie as missing, and who was just four years old at the time. Several local news channels covered the case, and several neighborhood searches were conducted. Hundreds of hopeful neighbors participated in the searches, while local news kept those at hope up to date. However, on July 22nd, local law enforcement made a gruesome discovery. Samatha had been found lifeless in a water filled pit near her neighborhood in a foundry.
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During the subsequent trial several facts of the case were laid out before the jury. On July 17, 1995 Joylnn Richie had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. Around 2:00 AM Richie and her neighbor, Ernest Brooks were engaging in sexual conduct in the basement of Richie’s residence. Brooks noticed Samatha sitting on the steps watching them and informed Richie. Richie then began hitting Samatha with the cast on her arm. Richie also stomped on Samantha with her foot. When Samatha stopped crying, Brooks and Richie took her body wrapped up in a blanket to the foundry. When they placed her body into the pit they used items such as rocks and steel to weigh the body down.
During the search, Richie had taken off her cast and had given it to her neighbor, who later called the police to inform them that it was under her porch. The cast was then tested, and was found to have traces of human blood, although the blood could not be identified as Samantha’s.
On August 3, 1995 both Joylnn Richie and her partner, Ernest Brooks were arrested. It has been reported by law enforcement that Richie confessed to her crimes two weeks after the murder took place. Richie told law enforcement that she had a cast on her arm at the time of the crime and used her cast to hit Samantha on the head. Richie also explained that after she had hit Samantha on the head with her cast she caved in the back of her skull with a wrench. Multiple news stations in Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio all reported on the events of this case during and after the searches for Samatha Richie were conducted.
In late August 1995, Samatha’s mother, Joylnn was indicted for multiple charges including murder, gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, inducing a panic, and making a false alarm. Ernest Brooks, who had been Joylnn’s romantic partner as well as her partner in crime was indicted of gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and obstructing justice. In September of 1995, Brooks pled guilty to his three felony charges. During Richie’s trial she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Richie was also found guilty of gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, inducing a panic, and making a false alarm. Her sentences were ordered to be served consecutively.
In July 1997, Richie filed for an appeal with the Ohio Court of Appeals. Richie claimed that the publicity surrounding her case led to an unfair and improper trial. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the opinion of the lower court, denying the appeal. Joylnn Richie was up for parole in 2010 but was promptly denied. Richie was also denied for parole in 2020. Richie’s next parole hearing will be in February 2030.
Samatha’s headstone features Barney the dinosaur as a nod to her childlike innocence, and life that was taken from this Earth too soon. She is still remembered by many of her neighbors in Dayton, who either actively participated in the searches or waited anxiously by their televisions in hope of finding the young girl. To Samatha, we still remember you. I still remember you.
Works Cited
(1996, February 15). The Trial of Jolynn Richie. https://michaeljesse.net/projects/Dayton/factfiles/backgrounders/samantha/samantha.html
(1997, July 25). STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee v. THERRESSA JOLYNN RITCHIE Defendant-Appellant, №15792 97-LW-1885 (2nd) Court of Appeals of Ohio, Second District Montgomery. https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/state-v-therressa-jolynn-889841305.
(2020, January 16). Convicted child killer Joylnn Richie up for parole, WHIO. https://www.whio.com/news/breaking-news/convicted-child-killer-for-parole/XKYxPO34Tv8ezjYPEjXLhL/
Samatha Raylynn Richie. Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9111411/samantha_raylynn-ritchie
The State ex rel. WHIO-TV-7 v. Lowe et al., Ohio Supreme Court. https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/1997/1997-ohio-271.pdf
Therressa Joylnn Richie. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Offender Search. https://appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch/Search/Details/W038096
