To: State of Nevada Attorney General My son, Ricky Dyer, was found in his car on July 17, 1993. The left side of his head was blown off. He was only 21 years old at the time. Within ten minutes of arriving at the scene, the Storey county Sheriff's Dept. ruled it a suicide.
We knew better.
Ricky was a happy, well adjusted young man. On the day he died, he
had cashed his paycheck from Raley's Grocery Store. He paid his rent in advance and had bought a 12 pack of beer. Those expenditures would have still left him with about $150 in his pocket.
The manager and his co-workers at Raley's stated that he was his
normal, sunny, upbeat self that day. He had hung out in the parking lot for a short time after work, and shared a beer with a co-worker and friend, John Miller. The two discussed plans for getting together the following day. Miller said that in no way did Ricky appear depressed or unhappy. They shared only one beer. Ricky told Miller that his roommate, Donn Shaw, was at the house waiting, and Ricky was going to take the rest of the 12 pack (10 beers) home and share it with Shaw.
Ricky was looking for another apartment to move to, but was trying to get along with Shaw in the meantime. He had only been living with Shaw for 10 days, but had almost immediately realized that moving in to Shaw's apartment was a big mistake, and had told us so. He confided to his friends that Shaw and Shaw's friends were heavy into drugs and were into weird role playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons. He told us that there were lots of strange people coming to the house and that he was afraid to keep cash on himself, and that he wanted us to go with him to open a bank account. He wanted to get an apartment with his best friend from high school, and asked us if we would help him, and of course, we agreed to do so. This was on Wednesday. On Friday, he was dead. :**(
On July 17, 1993, at 3:00 pm, we were informed by the Sheriff's Dept that two hikers had found Ricky dead in his car. His shotgun was found to be on the right side of his right leg. It contained two unfired shells and a spent shell casing, and Ricky had an empty beer bottle between his legs.
There was also an empty shell casing located OUTSIDE the car.
We told Deputy Petty that we wanted Ricky's roommate, Donn Shaw questioned. The deputy went to the store where Shaw worked to get a statement. He waited TWO DAYS to go to his house! Shaw said that he had been at his friend, Matt Buchan's, house partying. He said he phoned home several times to try and get Ricky to come to the party, and gave the times he called as 10:08, 10:15, 10:30, and 10:45. (I find it extremely odd that Shaw would remember the exact times)
Investigators briefly talked to Buchan by phone, but never noted on record that he confirmed Shaw's story, and according to John Miller, who was a mutual friend of theirs, Buchan did not give Shaw an alibi.
Shaw's story was that he did not see Ricky at all that evening, yet he knew things he would have had no way of knowing unless he had been with Ricky that night. Donn Shaw described how Ricky came home from work, and the clothes Ricky changes into (a black shirt with stripe and a new pair of Wrangler jeans). He described how Ricky took his gun out of its case and threw the case on the floor. (Ricky was determined to keep his gun in good shape and keep it from getting scratched. He never removed it from its case until he got to the firing range. He would never do as Shaw had claimed he did) He even knew that Ricky's passenger side door was locked AND what kind of music was playing on the radio. (Even the cops didn't know that, because the battery had run down and the radio had been turned up full blast when Ricky was found!)
The Sheriff's Dept were requested to fingerprint the gun, and the inside of Ricky's car, but didn't, nor did they perform a gun residue test on Ricky's hands. We requested a full autopsy, but all we got was a medical report that stated there were no drugs in Ricky's system, and that he had a blood alcohol level of .127, which indicates that he seemed to have had a few drinks more after he left John Miller. The report didn't mention the cigarette burns on Ricky's arms, which John Miller stated were given to Ricky during one of Shaw's "mosh parties by Shaw. John told our investigator that Ricky received a lot of abuse at Shaw's parties. At these parties, Shaw's friends would dance around, slam into each other, and knock each other down.
Three days after Ricky died, a neighbor contacted us with more information. She stated that her daughter Nicole had a friend named Amber who told Nicole that she and another friend, Elisa were up in the same hills the night Ricky died. Neither Amber nor Elisa knew Ricky. Amber told Nicole she had seen two cars up at the place where Ricky died. She described the cars, one as a long car with white trim and the other as a "silver color." The descriptions fit those of Ricky's car and Shaw's car. Amber told how she had seen two guys arguing outside of the car that looked like Ricky's. When I talked to Amber she confirmed what Nicole's mother had told us. Her description of one of the guys she saw arguing matched that of one of Shaw's friends, a man named Dave. He is a disturbed young man who claims that he "hears voices" and that management at Raley's Grocery is involved with Satanic Worship and uses their employees for human sacrifices. Dave has been in and out of mental institutions since Ricky died.
The Sheriff's Deputies who investigated Ricky's death turned out to be friends of the girls' parents. The information Amber gave us is not in Ricky's file, and we believe it may be because the girls' parents did not want their daughters' names connected to the case. Even now, the Sheriff's Deputies insist there was no-one other than Ricky in that area that night. Up on the scene, the area was covered with rocks and it would be hard to see tire tracks, where Ricky's car was. And the road by the scene, there were a lot of tire tracks, as people drive up there all the time.
We are absolutely sure that our son did NOT kill himself. According to our own private investigator, Charles Parker (an investigator with a California based detective agency), "The death scene almost looks staged."
We believe that Ricky was killed or injured somewhere else. That someone cleaned out his pockets. His pocketknife that he ALWAYS carried was missing as was the $150 remaining from his paycheck or the change from his purchase of the 12 pack of beer. His killers (there had to have been more than one if the girls saw two cars) drove him into the hills, stripped him, dressed him in different clothes, and propped him behind the wheel, then used Ricky's own gun to blast away the evidence. The apron and tie Ricky wore at work were under his body. If he had changed his clothes at home, as Shaw stated, they wouldn't have even been in the car. (Shaw told investigators he found Ricky's apron on the bed, but Ricky only had one apron. How could Shaw find it on the bed when it was under Ricky's body in the car???) To top it all off, the shoes Ricky was wearing were not his own, and now, nobody can tell us what happened to those shoes. It seems to us as though the Sheriff's Dept got rid of the evidence as fast as they could.
Ricky was found with a can of Skoal in his pocket. He didn't use Skoal, he chewed Copenhagen and had for years, WHAT HAPPEN TO THE COPENHAGEN?!?!?! There was NO blood spatter on the beer bottle. None, not a drop!!
As for the empty shotgun shell found OUTSIDE Ricky's car door, why would Ricky fire off a round outside the car, then get in the car, place an empty beer bottle between his legs, and shoot himself? Ricky's blood was found on the middle of the door jamb, a place it would only be found if the door had been standing open when he was shot. He obviously didn't blow off half his head, and then close the driver's side door!!
Most important, we know our son. Even if he were depressed or unhappy, he would not have committed suicide. A few months before he died, a kid up in Susanville killed himself over a girl and Ricky had told me, "Mom, I want you to remember this, and never forget it- I would NEVER do that to you and Dad. That is the worst thing you can do to the people who love you." He had also said the same thing to the friend he was planning on getting another apartment with.
After two years of constant pressure from Ricky's family, in May of 1995, the District Attorney asked the Nevada Division of Investigation to reopen Ricky's case. Without any attempts to explain the inconsistencies in Ricky's case, in July of 1995, they, also, concluded that Ricky's death was a suicide. Authorities have also said that it's impossible to investigate further because the physical evidence is all either tainted or has mysteriously disappeared.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS CASE
Ricky did make it home with the beers, Shaw said one beer was in the trash, and told the Deputies there were nine beers in the refrigerator, so Ricky could of only drank another beer, but how did the 13th bottle or should say where did the 13th bottle come from that was in Ricky's car. Ricky and John Miller each had one beer (that makes 2), 1 beer in the trash and still 9 in the refrigerator, and 1 between Ricky's legs (since when does a 12 pack of beer have 13 bottles in it)????
Ricky didn't own the shoes that were found on him, Copenhagen he chewed wasn't on him,but Skoal that Shaw used and Ricky would NOT use was, pocket knife wasn't found, he would have had change from the beer purchase, none was found on him or work pants, had one apron and tie, but two came up, in the car and in his room, shells weren't his, never would buy that kind, and ten days being gone, what for, never shot ducks.. Yet the box left over had only 13 shells in it, who shot the others, BETTER YET WHO DID THEY BELONG TO????? Shaw says, Ricky killed himself not having enough money, so WHY would he buy expensive shells??? Napkin says he paid Shaw $75.00 a week, but Shaw says he only charged Ricky $50.00 a week, budget on napkin wasn't right. The point is, Shaw needs to be totally seriously investigated and Dave. And the two girls that were up there that night, by of what they said and know Shaw lost everything after Ricky's death, SO WHAT IS HE HIDING???????
I can't give up. I can never give up. Ricky's killers are still out there. Who is to say they won't kill again and destroy another family? Ricky's case needs to be investigated by law enforcement authorities who want the truth and not just a quick case closure. Donn Shaw, his friend Dave DeRiccio and the other guys they hung out with, and the girls who witnessed the scene where Ricky was found might even provide information that will solve the case if they are properly interrogated and pressure is put on them to do the right thing.
We pray for justice and peace for Ricky.
Josie and Ricky Lenn Dyer Sr. (Ricky's parents)
