The conversation became emotional. Ryan's father said that if the allegations were truly proven, he believed anyone who abused a child deserved severe punishment. The detective asked him to speak directly with his son and encourage him to tell the truth if something had happened. He suggested that accountability from Ryan might also help his daughter understand that she was not responsible for what had been done to her.
Ryan's father initially reacted to the possibility of proven child abuse with anger, saying that anyone who committed such conduct deserved severe consequences. The detective used that reaction to ask for help. He believed Ryan might be more willing to speak honestly to his father than to law enforcement and suggested that a truthful admission, if there was one to make, could matter to the girl as much as it mattered to the criminal investigation.
A week later, the detective returned. Ryan's father said he had spoken with his son but now believed investigators had the wrong man. Ryan had denied having anything to confess. The detective did not argue further; he said he would contact Ryan himself and continue the investigation through the available evidence.
The follow-up with Ryan's father produced no confession. He said Ryan maintained that there was nothing to admit and that investigators had the wrong man. The detective then turned back to Ryan, hoping one more voluntary conversation might clarify the remaining contradictions.
Ryan eventually agreed to another interview. The detective confirmed that Ryan did not currently have a privately retained attorney representing him, although Ryan said the only significant money he had available for legal fees was in his daughter's savings account, money he had intended to use toward a car for her when she became older. The conversation began generally, with questions about Ryan's former relationships and whether he had other children.
But the interview did not last. When the detective moved toward more personal questions, Ryan said he was going to stop answering. The detective clarified whether Ryan meant one topic or the interview as a whole, and Ryan said he no longer wanted to continue. The detective ended the questioning rather than push past the invocation. Ryan's refusal did not resolve the case, but it closed the final voluntary interview without the confession investigators had hoped his father might persuade him to give.
The investigation ultimately did result in criminal charges. Ryan was indicted in August 2023. His case did not reach a jury until February 2025, more than two years after the school call that had set the renewed investigation in motion.
The prosecution did not rely on a single disclosure made on one frightening afternoon. The case included the 2022 school report, the girl's statements to multiple peers, the new forensic interview, the earlier interview in which she had recanted, the explanations she later gave for that recantation, Ryan's denials, the search of the residence, and the firearm-related investigation. Those pieces were presented to the jury as a chronology rather than as isolated facts.
At trial, prosecutors presented the girl's disclosures, the forensic interviews, evidence gathered from the home, testimony about the prior investigation, Ryan's statements, and the broader timeline of the alleged abuse. The jury found him guilty of 18 counts of first-degree criminal sexual penetration, seven counts of criminal sexual contact, and six counts of incest. Every count involved a victim under the age of 18.
Ryan had told investigators earlier that he feared a prosecution of this magnitude could mean he would never leave prison. In April 2025, that fear became reality. The judge imposed a 391-year sentence, described in the source as the longest sentence in the history of New Mexico's 12th Judicial District.
The sentence reflected the number and severity of the convictions rather than a single count. The source describes it as 391 years, with Ryan required to serve at least 85 percent before parole eligibility. It also states that this was the longest sentence imposed in the history of New Mexico's 12th Judicial District.
Because Ryan must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence, the source states that he will not become eligible for parole until the year 2357. At the time covered by the source, he was appealing his conviction. He was also awaiting trial on a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a felon, arising from the gun-related evidence and statements uncovered during the investigation.
The case had begun with an assistant principal calling 911 because an 11-year-old was afraid to go home. At first, Ryan framed the situation as a child angry over ripped jeans and strict parenting. But the investigation did not stop at that explanation. Detectives compared two forensic interviews taken 15 months apart, followed the child's descriptions of items inside the home, investigated Ryan's contradictory answers about firearms, spoke to his family and coworkers, and continued the case long after the initial urgency had disappeared from public view.
For the girl, the most important change had happened before any indictment or verdict. In the earlier investigation, she had said she loved her father and wanted to protect him from jail. In the second, she said she had been afraid, had lied to keep him safe, and could no longer continue doing so. The criminal case ultimately turned those allegations into convictions, but the moment that changed its direction came when a frightened child decided that this time she would not take the story back.